Director, Project Management

Company Description

Leo Burnett is a communications agency powered by its HumanKind operating system, with the belief that creativity, data and technology work together to transform human behavior and drive prosperity for clients. Part of Publicis Communications, Leo Burnett Worldwide is one of the world's largest agency networks with 85 offices and more than 8,000 employees. The global agency works with some of the world's most valued brands including Aldi, Bank of America, Campbell's, Firestone, Jim Beam, , Nintendo, Tillamook and UnitedHealthcare among others. To learn more about Leo Burnett Worldwide and its rich history of creating iconic brands, visit our site, Facebook page and follow us on Twitter and Instagram via @leoburnett.

Website

http://www.leoburnett.com

Job Description

Director of Project Management

A Director of Project Management doesn’t just manage; they lead, innovate and create. They are responsible for fostering creativity, transforming ambiguity into clarity, and balancing the creative process with the realities of delivering projects on time and within budget. The Director is responsible for developing, evolving and socializing processes to ensure a standardized approach to the creative process and agency operational excellence. A Director is also responsible for leading large-scale, complex projects from start to finish, including timelines, estimates, workflow, communication, resourcing and the inclusion of stakeholders (within the Agency and Groupe) at the right time.

Leadership

• 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.

Creative

• 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.

Workflow/Timeline Management

• 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 repor