Lead Project Manager

Job Description

About the Opportunity

Epsilon is currently seeking an experienced Lead Project Manager, with a focus and desire to work within a creative environment for our Automotive Group.

This position will be hands-on, working with project and business stakeholders to define & execute Email and Direct Mail projects, and planning, managing, and executing projects according to predetermined timelines. The Project Manager also coordinates cross-functional teams through meetings and progress measurement activity which bring distinct, specific projects to completion.

Essential Functions

• Coordinates cross-functional teams through meetings and progress measurement activity which bring distinct, specific projects to completion
• Assigns and monitors work of personnel, ensuring that project steps are in alignment with business objectives and are on-time
• Monitors reliability and any internal issues that appear as a result of the project

Knowledge & Skills

• Excellent understanding of project management principles, such as organization, documentation, and delegation
• Excellent communication and negotiation skills
• Able to interact with staff/colleagues of varying levels
• Able to prioritize work and shift priorities as needed to meet aggressive deadlines and milestones
• Able to identify and resolve issues
• Able to complete successful projects that are on schedule and receive high satisfaction results
• Able to function, and successfully manage, in a demanding and stressful environment
• Able to negotiate, manage conflict, and manage customer concerns that cause disappointment, dissatisfaction, or frustration for the customer
• Able to identify the most effective and appropriate PM methodology(ies) based on project scope and complexity
• Able to mentor and/or manage other PMs
• Able to deviate from standard/established PM methodologies to accomplish dynamic project completion

Duties & Responsibilities

• Direct and manage project development from beginning to end
• Delegate tasks and responsibilities to appropriate personnel
• Identify and resolve issues and conflicts within the project team
• Identify and manage project dependencies and critical path
• Develop and deliver progress reports and required documentation
• Pro-actively manage changes in project scope, identify potential crises, and devise contingency plans
• Collaborate with senior management and stakeholders
• Effectively communicate project expectations to team members and stakeholders in a timely and clear fashion
• Liaise with project stakeholders on an ongoing basis
• Set and continually manage project expectations with team members and other stakeholders
• Track project milestones and deliverables
• Determine the frequency and content of status reports from the project team, analyze results, and troubleshoot problem areas
• Define project success criteria and disseminate them to involved parties throughout project life cycle
• Conduct project post mortems and create a recommendations report in order to identify successful and unsuccessful project elements
• Develop/enforce best practices and tools for project execution and management
• Estimate the resources and participants needed to achieve project goals
• Where required, negotiate with other department managers for the acquisition of required personnel from within the company
• Determine and assess need for additional staff and/or consultants and make the appropriate recruitments if necessary during project cycle
• Coach, mentor, motivate, and supervise project team members and contractors, and influence them to take positive action and accountability for their assigned work
• Work overtime, if required, to meet deadlines
• Update the Account Team on the project status
• Manage team assignments and balance workload in a deadline driven environment
• Manage change control process; perform risk assessments and analysis to identify and document impact of any proposed changes
• Ensure change requests are documented and stored appropriately
• Monitor performance against quality goals and implement corrective action as needed
• Ensure work product accuracy before delivery to client
• Ensure all project artifacts are maintained in our centralized collaboration tool (Basecamp)
• May manage one or more direct reports if required

Technical Requirements

• Familiarity with Project Management Software a plus
• Technically competent with various software programs, such as Microsoft Word, Excel, Adobe Professional, and PowerPoint
• Competent in Basecamp and Proof HQ