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Full-Time

Director – Project Management

Confirmed live in the last 24 hours

Publicis Groupe

Publicis Groupe

10,001+ employees

Consumer Software
Enterprise Software
Consulting

Senior

Chicago, IL, USA

Hybrid role requiring 3 days/week in-office presence at 35 W. Wacker, Chicago, IL.

Category
Project Management
Business & Strategy
Required Skills
Communications
Management
Requirements
  • At least 7 years of experience of project management / program management experience, preferably within a creative agency environment.
  • Client facing experience
  • Experience working with executive-level leadership in a complex environment
  • Experience managing fully integrated campaigns, from TVC/Commercial/Film to Digital/Social
  • Experience with scope development, staffing conversations, estimates, etc.
  • Mentorship and Management experience critical to growing a team
Responsibilities
  • Functions as lead for their account/group of accounts.
  • Champions the Project Management function by continuously reinforcing department goals, agency vision and strategic plan.
  • Partners with Project Management leads to standardize best practices across clients and portfolios, troubleshoot outages, streamline process and strategically evolve function by keeping efficiencies top of mind.
  • Constantly assesses best practices and recommends ways to evolve Project Management function to support the best, most effective and efficient creative outcomes for our clients.
  • Assists senior leaders in translating information and historical knowledge, making it relevant to strategic initiatives.
  • Maintains strong internal and external relationships with Lead Teams, agency partners and clients (where relevant).
  • Is point of escalation for Project Management team to resolve issues and has a high level of visibility into activity within each of those client teams.
  • Accounts for project planning, oversight and execution of respective project assignments.
  • Acts as key liaison within agency and with agency partners to solve conflicts, drive workflow, build relationships and create a culture of transparency.
  • Promotes cross-functional collaboration among all departments and with agency partners, ensuring that feedback from various stakeholders is integrated into creative projects.
  • Possesses a deep understanding of the creative process; capable of supporting great creative output by influencing each stage of the process.
  • Builds relationships with creative team by responding to requests and questions throughout creative process.
  • Assists with preparing for creative briefings by being involved in and driving forward the Initiation phase of the process.
  • Coordinates logistics and monitors timing and issues associated with creative development.
  • Puts systems in place to avoid budget or timing issues.
  • Anticipates issues and flags to appropriate partners.
  • Address gaps and obstacles in existing creative process and proposes solutions and options. Installs methodologies designed to enhance team effectiveness.
  • Supports creative output by organizing final assets in partnership with Business Leadership.
  • Develops execution plans and project timelines that bring client’s scope to life.
  • Generates end-to-end project timelines from brief development to asset delivery, including production (in partnership with Production lead) and partner agency milestones.
  • Drives and updates project timelines while communicating and collaborating effectively with cross-functional teams.
  • Effectively manages workflow, establishing clear objectives and day-to-day priorities. Prioritizes projects and milestones.
  • Conducts project frame (kickoff) meetings to review scope of work and ensure stakeholders are aligned on vision, timeline and resource plan.
  • Ensures the right stakeholders are included in meetings and project milestones at the right time.
  • Maintains high-level visibility into status of work they are not specifically assigned to across direct reports, in case support is required.
  • Schedules internal project-related meetings, ensuring the right people are included as necessary.
  • Keeps stakeholders informed throughout project lifecycles, alerting team and agency partners to potential risks, delays, scope creep, etc. This may include a comprehensive summary of meetings, recaps via weekly status reports, daily hot sheets, issues tracker, deliverables lists, etc.
  • Ensures team is clear and aligned on feedback, recapping next steps and feedback through project lifecycles.
  • Manages risks and obstacles according to client and internal priorities and serves as internal point of escalation for risk and resolution.
  • Ensures all internal reviews/approvals, including CCO, are obtained and agency quality standards are met prior to client review or release.
  • Facilitates post-mortems as needed in partnership with Lead Team and key stakeholders.
  • Understands client business objectives and competitor set.
  • Acts as a resource for internal team regarding project information and client executional items.
  • Acts as internal expert when executional client issues arise.
  • Maintains oversight of internal team operations, leaning in when needed.
  • Contributes to evaluation of project results.
  • Leads internal process improvement initiatives within their pod and keeps process efficiencies top of mind.
  • Champions team processes and standardizes ways of working to create efficiencies in the way teams work across clients.
  • Ensures agency internal templates and operational standards are implemented.
  • Works closely with team partners to ensure Project Management principles are embedded in key processes.
  • Approves timesheets to ensure accuracy and is accountable for implications of approved hours against projects.
  • Accountable for all job codes being opened according to tracking and naming structure in a timely manner (even if they are not directly responsible for opening job codes).
  • Partners with Resource Management to collaborate on resourcing needs.
  • Requests new resources (outside of their assigned team) from Creative/Resource Management.
  • Stays closely connected to Creative/Resource Management to identify and mitigate potential resourcing conflicts.
  • Provides resource forecasts and project phasing based on estimates and timelines via agency-approved system(s) and process.
  • Understands talents and skill sets within their team.
  • Leans in when there are new-business wins or Project Management staffing gaps to maintain consistency and a standardized way of working.
  • Prioritizes scheduling conflicts within team (working across teams as needed).
  • Supports in securing backfills to keep work moving as required.
  • Tracks burn rates against projects and makes recommendations to resolve as needed.
  • Oversees designated account’s financial trends, proactively identifying solutions and escalating where needed to stay on track.
  • A partner in developing client scopes, estimates and staff plans.
  • Supports staff plan development by providing historical information and estimates as needed.
  • Is jointly responsible with Lead Team for financial impact of project and resourcing decisions.
  • Translates data to make it relevant while working through gray areas and staying nimble.
  • Proactively flags potential scope creep.
  • Has a deep understanding of network capabilities and has developed strong relationships with agency partners.
  • Manages project-specific communication and workflow with partner agency resources.
  • Streamlines project communication with agency partners.

Company Stage

IPO

Total Funding

N/A

Headquarters

Paris, France

Founded

N/A

Growth & Insights
Headcount

6 month growth

0%

1 year growth

0%

2 year growth

0%
Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Publicis Groupe's continuous expansion through strategic acquisitions offers employees opportunities to work on cutting-edge projects and technologies.
  • The company's global reach and diverse portfolio provide a dynamic and multicultural work environment, fostering professional growth and development.
  • The appointment of a new Global CMO to unify marketing and digital transformation efforts could lead to more cohesive and innovative strategies, benefiting employees and clients alike.

What critics are saying

  • The recent decline in European revenue highlights potential vulnerabilities in the advertising market, which could impact job security and growth opportunities.
  • Frequent acquisitions may lead to integration challenges, causing disruptions and inefficiencies within the company.

What makes Publicis Groupe unique

  • Publicis Groupe's aggressive acquisition strategy, including companies like Practia, Tquila ANZ, and Tremend, significantly enhances its digital transformation and AI capabilities, setting it apart from traditional advertising firms.
  • The integration of AI and digital business transformation through Publicis Sapient AI Labs and other acquisitions positions Publicis Groupe as a leader in innovative marketing solutions.
  • Publicis Groupe's focus on expanding its Salesforce capabilities and creating the world's largest affiliate performance marketing platform through acquisitions like VIVnetworks demonstrates its commitment to comprehensive, tech-driven marketing solutions.