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Creative Operations Executive
Jonathan Neubauer
M.B.A.  ·  Orange County, CA
Helping creative organizations scale with clarity, structure, and confidence.
$2.4M
Portfolio Managed
20%
Cost Reduction
55+
Team Members Led
25yr
Experience
Creative Operations Executive Available Now.

I build the systems that help creative teams move ambitious ideas from concept to delivery.

Whether you're scaling a creative studio, standing up production operations for the first time, or bringing structure to a growing team — I've done it, and I can do it for you.

Let's Talk → See My Work
Creative Operations Production Leadership Studio & Post-Production Ops Production Systems Workflow Design AI-Enabled Workflows Budgeting & Estimating Asana · Jira · Confluence Executive & Client Communication Creative Operations Production Leadership Studio & Post-Production Ops Production Systems Workflow Design AI-Enabled Workflows Budgeting & Estimating Asana · Jira · Confluence Executive & Client Communication

Creative.
Structured.
Delivered.

I help creative organizations scale with clarity, structure, and confidence. For more than 25 years, I've worked at the intersection of creativity, production, and operations — building the systems that help creative teams move ambitious ideas from concept to delivery.

My background started in hands-on production and grew into Creative Operations leadership. I've led commercial, branded, corporate, executive, and live productions; managed teams of 15–55; built production workflows across intake, estimating, budgeting, staffing, review cycles, and final delivery; and helped teams stay aligned through complex creative work.

What I care about most is enabling creative people. Great work happens when talented teams have clear priorities, clean communication, strong planning, and the right operational support around them. Today, my focus is Creative Operations, Production Leadership, Studio and Post-Production Operations, Production Systems, and practical AI-enabled workflow design. My goal is simple: remove friction so creative teams can do their best work.

Creative Ops
Production Systems
Studio Operations
AI Workflow Design
Budgeting & Estimating
Crew & Vendor Mgmt
Asana / Jira
Exec & Client Comms
Delivery Systems

Systems That Let
Creative Teams Do Their Best Work.

I don't believe in bloated frameworks or buzzword-heavy decks. Every engagement — whether a full-time leadership role or a targeted initiative — is focused on what actually moves the needle: clean production systems, engaged teams, and creative work that ships on time and on budget.

01
Creative & Production Operations

Build the systems that let creative teams do their best work — from standardized intake and vendor strategy to budget tracking and delivery health dashboards.

02
Studio & Post-Production Operations

Design the operating model for a studio or post house — resourcing, scheduling, review cycles, and delivery management that scale with the work, not against it.

03
Production Systems & Workflow Design

Create repeatable systems for intake, estimating, budgeting, staffing, scheduling, and reporting — the operational backbone that lets ambitious creative work move from concept to delivery.

04
AI-Enabled Workflow Design

Use AI as a practical accelerator — production schedules, crew briefing books, documentation, meeting intelligence, and case studies — to sharpen clarity and free up time for the work that matters.

05
Executive & Client Communication

Translate creative, client, executive, and technical feedback into clear action for teams — keeping stakeholders aligned and confident from kickoff through final delivery.

06
Creative Team Enablement

Remove the operational friction that slows creative people down — clear priorities, clean communication, strong planning, and the right support structure around the work.

A Career Built at the
Intersection of Creativity and Operations.

Over 25 years across creative agencies, technology companies, and digital delivery — always building better systems and better teams.

2026 – Present
JG Haus Productions
Founder | Creative Operations Consultant

Advise organizations on creative operations, production workflows, workflow design, documentation, production planning, review systems, stakeholder communication, and AI-enabled execution. Recent work includes AI-assisted production schedules, crew briefing books, production documentation, meeting intelligence, and an AI-powered interactive production case study for international live-event readiness. Recently served as Production Manager for an international live concert supporting a U.S. Embassy in Europe.

Creative Ops Consulting AI-Enabled Workflows Live Event Production U.S. Embassy, Europe
2025 – 2026
Leeward Digital
Vice President of Operations

Led operational execution across cross-functional delivery teams. Program-managed a multimillion-dollar e-commerce platform migration with a global team of 20 engineers across 2 parallel workstreams. Co-created an 8-week roadmap and MVP prioritization framework, and led security-risk assessments informed by NIST, HIPAA, and SOC2 frameworks.

E-commerce Migration Sprint Governance Security Risk Executive Comms
2019 – 2025
The Buddy Group
VP of Production & Content Development

Led a $0.8M–$2.4M annual production portfolio across 7–10 concurrent workstreams, with teams of 15–55. Reduced production costs by 15–20% through tech-enabled efficiencies and resourcing discipline. Delivered large-scale Investor Day productions — including global investor communications streamed across five continents — and built Asana-based dashboards for capacity planning, delivery health, and financial reporting.

Portfolio Management Cost Reduction Global Investor Events Asana
2018 – 2019
Secure Channels Inc.
Senior Project Manager

Led delivery of encryption-focused product initiatives across iOS, Android, and web. Coordinated three offshore teams across time zones with daily Scrums and sprint planning, providing high-visibility status reporting to executive leadership.

Agile / Scrum Offshore Teams Product Delivery Jira
2017 – 2018
Gigasavvy
Production Director

Redesigned production workflows companywide and implemented Asana as the organization's work management system (still in use today). Improved lead-time predictability by 40%+ and built financial tracking mechanisms that gave leadership real visibility into actuals vs. forecast.

Workflow Design 40% Predictability Gain Financial Tracking
2007 – 2017
The Buddy Group
Sr. Video Producer → Executive Creative Producer

Produced 100+ commercial, branded, corporate, executive, and live productions. Reduced production costs 30%+ while maintaining production value. Built proprietary estimation and analytical budget tools that became core to the company's decision-making infrastructure. Led creative pitch process from concept through client presentation. Recognized with a Gold ADDY Award from the American Advertising Federation of Orange County.

100+ Productions 30% Cost Reduction Gold ADDY Award Budget Tools

A Little About Who I Am.

The best leaders I've worked with are whole people. Here's what keeps me curious, grounded, and energized outside of work.

🏕️
Outdoor Adventures

Hiking trails, camping under the stars, and exploring whatever's around the next bend. There's something about being outside — away from screens, into the wild — that resets everything.

Hiking Camping Exploring
✈️
Traveling

New places, new spaces, new foods, flavors, and sights. Every trip is a chance to experience how the rest of the world thinks, lives, and eats — and I'm here for all of it.

New Places New Foods New Sights
📷
Photography

Life in moments. I love framing the world — landscapes that make you catch your breath, and small quiet scenes that tell a bigger story. The camera makes me slow down and actually look.

Landscapes Life in Moments
⌨️
Getting Things Done

I'm a genuine GTD nerd. Finding the right system, shaving seconds off repetitive tasks, and sharing a well-timed keyboard shortcut that blows someone's mind — this is my version of fun.

GTD Efficiency Keyboard Shortcuts

Ready to Bring Structure
to Your Creative Work?

Whether you're building creative operations from scratch, scaling a studio or production team, or navigating a complex program that needs a steady hand — I'd love to hear what you're working on. Based in Orange County, CA and open to on-site, hybrid, or remote.

Email
neubauer.jonathan@gmail.com
Location
Orange County, CA