Associate Director, Project Management

Company Description

This is a hybrid role, requiring three days in-office each week. If you are contacted for an interview, your recruiter will discuss specifics with you, inclusive of any necessary reasonable accommodations.

About Spark Foundry:

Spark Foundry is a global media agency that exists to bring HEAT – Higher Engagement, Affinity, and Transactions – to brands. By combining flawless media fundamentals with aggressive innovation, Spark inspires consumers to pay more attention, to care more about our clients’ brands, and to buy more products and services from them.

Balancing the nimble spirit of a startup with the powerhouse soul of Publicis Media, Spark Foundry delivers the best of both worlds to a client roster that spans some of the world’s best and most beloved brands and companies. We combine boutique-caliber insights and service with the buying clout and first-look access of a global leader, bringing the heat to challenger brands that want to act like giants, and to giant brands that want to act like challengers.

With a bottom-up culture that celebrates diversity and aims for all voices to be heard, Spark has become a magnet for the industry’s best talent, with one of the best retention rates in the industry. And by applying a whole-person approach to professional and personal development, Spark develops a workforce that is well prepared for today’s challenges, and also poised to create meaningful careers in the years to come. 

Because we know that heat arises the intersection of complementary forces, our professionals come from myriad disciplines and backgrounds: data, analytics, and insights, content and creative production, communications and strategy, finance and marketing, and sociology, psychology, and other liberal arts disciplines.

Job Description

Overview:

The Associate Director, Project Management is an integral role within the Spark Foundry team. Our Project Management team enables and executes great work in the smartest way possible.  We are passionate about transforming ideas into results as we constantly negotiate, organize and understand the ever-changing landscape of marketing and technology.

To help with this, we’re looking for an outstanding Associate Director in Project Management – a producer with a passion for using collaboration, the creative process and emerging technologies to deliver on business needs for our clients. As an Associate Director, you will help develop and execute the plans that allow our teams to create exciting work. To succeed, you will need to be a media advocate, strive to be proactive, have a passion for technology, maintain a deep project management toolkit and exercise excellent communication skills.

Role Objectives:

• Acting as point person for client needs, requests, and feedback; guiding large teams – planning, investment, operations, and analytics - in process and timeline development and scoping of work, ensuring that timelines and scope are adhered to
• Define and adjust processes to meet project/business needs and look for ways to improve processes while coaching teams to do the same
• Build and develop relationships with client business directors and brand teams, ensuring that client and overall agency product proposition is relevant and aligns with strategy direction
• Build strong relationships with internal stakeholders and groups, facilitating synergy between the planning and activation functions that manage day-to-day client business
• Oversee annual and ongoing media planning in regards to holistic team deliverables; synchronizing internal and external team inputs to develop unified deliverables that address client needs
• Collaborate with senior management and cross-functional leads on complex projects and strategic assignments
• Lead client discussions on project plans to ensure client understands project flow and due dates needed in order to meet end goals
• Participate in new business RFI or RFP requests when necessary
• Demonstrate strong written and oral presentation skills
• Develop and articulate compelling decks and lead trainings
• Manage multiple direct reports and set career and capability goals with them
• Enforce team compliance to high company standards and professionalism
• Participate in team and cross-capability recruiting, interviewing and staffing
• Attend training seminars and continuing education as offered

Qualifications

• The candidate must have 6-8 years of experience in Project Management, consulting with clients to improve business results; retail experience preferred but not required
• Mastry of mid to large-level projects and programs
• Working knowledge of enterprise and project management tools (JIRA, MS Project, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint, SmartSheets), with desire to train in