Associate Director, Project Management

Overview

The Associate Director reports into the VP, Director of Operations and is responsible for the day-to-day supervision of the Project Management group within their portfolio of brands. The Assoc. Dir. will be the problem-solving partner to the account leads for all things financial & logistical, leading the agency team to meet its deliverables with both decisiveness and confidence. The Assoc. Dir. will manage 2-4 or more PMs, at various levels. For certain key projects, an Assoc. Dir. will manage the projects directly.

The Assoc. Dir. has a proactive, can-do attitude, with a sense of urgency and willingness to take on additional tasks when necessary. The right candidate will have a strong personality and be direct in team communications, but will exhibit superb professionalism and diplomacy.

The Assoc. Dir. always projects a calm, positive attitude toward peers and conveys confidence without over-promising expectations. The right candidate will seek to be solution-oriented and build strong relationships across agency disciplines, as well as, with external Syneos Health partners and vendors. Strong conflict-resolution skills necessary.

The Assoc. Dir. exhibits strong leadership skills and collaborative approach to problem-solving. The Assoc. Dir. is a critical thinker that can both evaluate granular data, yet maintain ‘big picture’ focus of the overall project portfolio.

Responsibilities

Ensuring the financial health of the business portfolios:

• Monitor project performance w/weekly analysis of hours – ie. weekly financial meetings for all brands within the portfolio.
• Develop annual scopes in partnership with Account and dept. leads and update as needed. Trains Sr. PMs on how to develop.
• Develop/review project estimates and ensure they are approved internally and externally and entered into Advantage, the financial system.
• Manage project timelines and cost to approved scopes and estimates, communicating when change orders are required.
• Identify any financial risk to project budget or forecast.

Oversight of project development:

• Partner with AS and PM to determine project parameters, goals and intent.
• Attend project pre-kick and kick-offs to ensure project assumptions are defined and project hours/timing realistic to the project needs.
• Take the lead with more complex work, with a focus on oversight and risk identification/mitigation.
• Oversees timeline development efforts of PM(s), as well as, developing timelines for complex projects for int/ext approval.
• Oversee project timelines templates are utilized and adapted as needed.
• Leads lessons learned discussions with team when projects get derailed. This may result in process changes.
• Is familiar with Client/Brand standards.
• Has a client facing role when deemed necessary.
• Support special agency or new business projects as needed.

Agency process:

• Advocate and champion the Agency processes. Able to define and manage team adherence to work stream and delivery process; ability to identify risks to customizing processes and escalating to senior leads for confirmation prior to adoption as necessary to meet timeline or budget constraints.
• Partner with the VP, Director of Ops on agency projects, workflow optimization, and training.
• Support onboarding and training new employees.

Resource Management:

• Ensures proper resources are allocated to projects.
• Flag when team members have work conflicts that might jeopardize project deadlines.
• Facilitate resourcing discussions for spikes in work (launch planning, POA planning, etc.).

Problem-solving and leadership:

• Possesses a holistic view of risk assessment across projects being managed (whether direct or through projects owned by partner PMs under their supervision) both from a logistical and financial perspective.
• Leads the team with experience and confidence.
• Works collaboratively and builds trusting relationships across the agency.
• Always interacts with team in a professional and diplomatic manner.
• Is a proponent of change management and adapts to new business models.
• Continually demonstrates strong conflict resolution skills. Fosters problem resolution across core team.
• Takes initiative and is solutions-oriented.

Project Management team development:

• Manage 2-4 PMs of varying roles and experience.
• Ensure performance management for the group is an ongoing process throughout the year with real-time discussions around areas of improvement and successes through personal observations and 360 feedback.
• Continually build PM skills to align to dept., and personal goals through 1:1 meetings and trainings.
• Training and ensuring consistent pull-through of roles and responsibilities.

Job Requirements

• BA/PMP certification, a plus.
• 5-7+ years of experience in a PM leadership, supervisory role overseeing digital/print production of pharmaceutical sales materials (print and digital sales aids, iPad applications, videos, responsive websites, banner ads, email tools, 4C print collateral, etc.).
• Direct management and/or portfolio team management of $5-10M in brand revenue.
• Demonstrate excellent communication skills.
• Pharmaceutical ad agency experience with launch, med/legal and FDA 2253/OPDP submission experience.
• Finance: Proficiency developing scopes, estimates, and weekly project performance reporting.
• MS Suite: Word, Project, Excel, PowerPoint; Acrobat Professional; web-based paperless routing, project management system administration & finance system experience for estimating / budget monitoring; knowledge of digital ticketing systems and Client submission systems.

Syneos Health companies are affirmative action/equal opportunity employers (Minorities/Females/Vets/Disabled)

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