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Director, Project Management

Century City, California, United States

The Director, Project Management has overall accountability for all aspects of deliverables on large-scale, account(s). As the client team’s project management and operational lead, the Director, Project Management serves as a collaborative business partner to team leads and agency finance, ensuring that a cross-practice approach is applied to all issues related to deliverable quality and fiscal health.

The Director, Project Management is responsible for: ensuring that the principles of continuous improvement are utilized throughout the program development and delivery, and that project teams use flexible project planning designed to support the creative and executional process.

This position serves as the primary contact for internal team members, agency practice and discipline leads, and outside vendors. The position is directly or indirectly involved in leading projects from concept/strategy through flawless execution. One of the most important aspects of this position is the ability to be the conductor of the project/team and be a proactive, solution-oriented, operationally strategic leader.

He/she is responsible for the optimization of team staffing structure, ensuring the right skill sets are applied to the work to serve the business requirements, deliverable quality, and partners with the account lead to manage the financial health of the account. This role is also responsible for oversight of any day-to-day project managers assisting with specific programs and career management of his/her project management team.

Job Responsibilities

Financial Acumen
• Client-facing lead on all financial management issues; responsible for client and internal budget reporting in partnership with agency account lead and finance lead
• Professionally manages client engagements with a focus on balancing quality, cost and schedule while managing client expectations
• Partners with agency account and finance lead to help facilitate accurate and realistic forecasts; actively manages any forecast mitigation as needed
• Routinely monitors financial performance of accounts to maximize revenue recognition and profit margin, collaborating with agency finance lead on account
• Responsible for the development, review or oversight of all estimates, job creation, fees, burn reports, invoices and establishes team process for effective financial management of the account
• Primary agency contact for clients and client procurement relative to financial management of the account (SOW development; monitoring and tracking deliverables and budgets; change management and reporting). Partners closely with agency account leads and finance lead
• Creates or reviews all statement of work documentation for the team; accountable for top-down and bottom-up budgets to ensure scopes accurately reflect required work effort
• Knows when a change order is needed and works with account team to communicate the change proactively to the client

Management/Leadership
• Identifies needs on business for delivery support and appropriately aligns resources against those needs
• Supervises and mentors assigned delivery managers, project managers or producers
• Partners with agency account lead to manage team on-boarding processes
• Supports in educating the team on roles and responsibilities, process and templates
• Partners with cross-practice leads to identify and manage resource needs
• Helps to support client new-business opportunities
• Demonstrates strong, professional work ethic
• Accountable for contract management (client, vendor, and inter-company issues)

Performance Standards
• Well-versed in budget and resource management
• Considered an expert in creative and/or digital work and understands other mediums well enough to develop project plans, scopes of work, and budgets
• Provides a breadth of process and business skills as well as hands-on experience that fosters credibility and drives thought leadership
• Able to negotiate conflict, manage differences of opinion, and communicate effectively
• Uses excellent interpersonal and listening skills

Qualifications

• 8 + years of professional project management experience in an agency setting, preferably in digital marketing (including social, paid media, influencer relations and dynamic content development and distribution). Experience in public relations, management consulting is a plus but not required.
  • Expert skills in scoping, pricing, and scheduling projects from both a bottoms up and top down approach
  • Ideal candidate should have familiarity with different types of programs and deliverables, such as strategic planning, creative ideation, video, social and editorial content, digital, event based programs, and vendor management.
  • Ability to assess existing processes and identify opportunities to increase efficiency
  • Client-facing experience required
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills
  • Ability to effectively communicate with internal team members across multiple disciplines and levels, instilling confidence and trust in your abilities.
  • Strong organizational and time management skills
  • Effective negotiation and conflict management skills
  • Proficient in Microsoft Project, Excel, and Powerpoint

About Weber Shandwick

Weber Shandwick is a leading global communications network that delivers next-generation solutions to brands, businesses and organizations in major markets around the world. Led by world-class strategic and creative thinkers and activators, we have won some of the most prestigious awards in the industry. Weber Shandwick was named to Ad Age’s Agency A-List in 2020 and Best Places to Work in 2019. Weber Shandwick was also honored as PRWeek’s Global Agency of the Year in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, and PRovoke’s Global Agency of the Year in 2015, 2017 and 2019. The firm earned 25 Lions at the 2019 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Data-led, with earned ideas at the core, the agency deploys leading and emerging technologies to inform strategy, develop critical insights and heighten impact across sectors and specialty areas, including brand and B2B marketing, healthcare marketing, change management, employee engagement, corporate reputation, crisis management, data and analytics, technology, public affairs, social impact and financial communications. Weber Shandwick is part of the Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG). For more information, visit http://www.webershandwick.com

Weber Shandwick is proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. Weber Shandwick recruits qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, age, ethnic or national origin, protected veteran status, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status or citizenship status.