Freelance Creative Operations Manager

Job Title: Freelance Creative Operations Manager — DACH Location: Remote (with CET time zone overlap) Type: Freelance · Project-based (with potential to expand to multiple projects)

🧠 About Shook Digital

At Shook Digital, we're building the production engine for the next generation of advertisers. High-performing UGC is no longer a "nice-to-have." It is the core of the modern ad stack. We help brands scale their TikTok presence by turning creative chaos into high-performing systems.

Founded in the era of short-form video, Shook has become the partner of choice for brands that need to move fast without losing creative quality. What unites our team is a relentless focus on learning speed, operational rigor, and a deep understanding of why people stop scrolling.

Our goal is to make Shook Digital the global standard for UGC. We want to build a system so efficient that "20-day delivery" feels like a law of nature, not a challenge. This role is central to that momentum, leading productions for our growing DACH (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) client base.

🎬 The Role

We're looking for someone to own the production machine — starting from the blank page. This isn't about "watching videos" or shepherding someone else's idea through a pipeline. It's about developing the concept and script yourself, then managing the complex lifecycle of talent, deadlines, and technical constraints that turns that idea into a high-performing asset, every single time.

The best producers make production look calm, composed, and smooth. Not because nothing goes wrong: creators go quiet, lighting fails, briefs get read three different ways. It looks smooth because they saw most of it coming. We aren't looking for a "project coordinator" who passes messages along. We're looking for a Producer who originates the idea, leads a shoot with the next three steps already mapped, and when something does slip through, has a solution ready before anyone has to ask for one.

🌐 Work Mode

Shook Digital is remote-first. This role is open to candidates with significant overlap with Central European Time (CET). We value deep focus and async work, but production is a live sport — and it's also a team sport. You need to be responsive during core hours to keep the gears turning, and genuinely engaged with the people turning them alongside you.

🤳🏻 What you'll do:

• Own the Machine: Manage the end-to-end production workflow. You are responsible for the balance between creative "taste" and 20-day delivery speed.
• Concept & Script Ownership: Develop the creative concept and script yourself before a single frame is shot. This is the highest-leverage part of any production, and it starts with you.
• AI-Augmented Workflow: We run an AI-automated production platform and use tools like ElevenLabs for voiceover. You're comfortable working within AI-assisted systems and see them as a way to move faster — not a threat to the craft.
• Creator Partnership: Source and "ghost-proof" our creator network. You don't just hire them; you build relationships that ensure they follow the brief and hit the deadline.
• The Feedback Loop: Review raw footage with a TikTok-native eye. If a hook is weak or the energy is off, you provide the firm, direct feedback needed to fix it.
• Systems Thinking: Help us refine our modular ad structures. You'll organize hooks, bodies, and CTAs so they can be tested and iterated on at scale.

📹 What we're looking for

• Language: Native or native-level German (C1/C2) — you'll be leading briefs, feedback, and creator relationships for our German-speaking client base, so this is non-negotiable.
• Craft Ownership: You have real hands-on scriptwriting and concept-development experience — this isn't something you're hoping to pick up on the job.
• Operational Ownership: You find "messy" workflows painful. You are the person who creates the spreadsheet that saves the project.
• TikTok Fluency: You understand the platform's DNA. You know why a native-feeling "CapCut" edit outperforms a polished studio commercial.
• High Agency: You are comfortable with ambiguity. If a creator drops out on Day 12, you don't wait for permission. You've already sourced a backup.
• Direct Communication: You can give critical feedback to creators without sugar-coating it, while maintaining a great working relationship.
• Taste: You know what "good" looks like. You can spot a high-retention hook in the first 2 seconds of raw footage.
• Collaborative by Nature: You build real working relationships with your team, not just transactional handoffs — this is a genuinely tight-knit group, and we want it to stay that way.
• Resilience: You don't take it personally when a creator fails to deliver. You see a ghosting creator as a data point to be managed, not a personal crisis. You stay calm when the timeline gets tight.

🌍 What we offer

• Interesting Challenges: Work on global campaigns for leading brands.
• A paid onboarding capped at 50 hours.
• Autonomy: We hire adults and trust them. No micromanagement, just putting things together and getting things done.
• Remote Flexibility: Work from wherever you are most productive, provided you can hit the CET overlap.
• Professional Growth: Opportunity to move from "Managing Projects" to "Owning Systems" as we scale.

💰 Compensation

During onboarding (up to 50 hours), your hourly rate is €40/hr. Once onboarded, you move to flat per-project rates starting at €650, scaling with scope and complexity — plus bonuses for language match, niche industry expertise, and top-tier accounts.

🪜 How we hire

We believe in a transparent process that prioritizes evidence of work over interviews. Our goal is to see how you think, communicate, and get things done.

1. The Brief (20 min): A focused call to discuss our production philosophy, your experience with short-form systems, and how you approach concept development.
2. The Work Trial (2 hours, paid): A real campaign brief and a common production bottleneck. You'll show us how you'd concept it, organize the workflow, brief the creator, and ensure the deadline is met.
3. Task presentation & final interview (1 hr, unpaid): You'll walk us through the task you did, present your ideas and explain your thinking. We're looking for operational clarity, attention to detail, and creative work that's on-brief.
4. Final Chat: A quick alignment on terms and start date. We move from interview to onboarding in days, not weeks.

👀 Ready to Apply?

If you’re excited about building efficient, scalable workflows for creative production—and love collaborating with creators—we’d love to hear from you. Apply now.