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Job description
This job is hosted by: Ba Tran
Salary: $100,000 - $130,000 per year
Director of Project Management - Direct Hire - Irvine, CA (Looking for the right candidate who can effectively lead and create a solid operations work flow)
Global Advertising and Marketing company. We work with some of the best brands in the world and would like to hire a motivated, dynamic and sharp Project Management Leader at the Director or Head of Operations with a Marketing/Advertising agency level who will help us maintain and lay the foundation to allow us to keep up with expansion as the workflow increases.
Why join us?
Fun and progressive work environment and culture
Diverse
Driven, hard working and dedicated colleagues
Competitive, challenging and hyper-focused on delivering quality product and services
Job Details
We are seeking a Head of Project Management to take ownership of and elevate the Project Management function for a growing, fast-paced agency environment. This is an opportunity for a hands-on Project Management leader who knows how an agency operates and can bring structure, accountability, and operational discipline to the way work gets done. You will lead a team of three Project Managers while partnering closely with Account Services, Creative, Strategy, Media, Production, Analytics, and senior leadership. The goal is to create a more organized, predictable, and scalable project delivery operation — establishing the processes, workflows, resource planning, and accountability needed to help the agency operate more efficiently. This is not simply a senior Project Manager role. We are looking for someone who can step in, assess what is working and what is not, and lead an overhaul of the PM function.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
Lead & Develop the Project Management Team
Lead, manage, coach, and develop a team of three Project Managers.
Establish clear expectations, accountability, priorities, and performance standards across the PM team.
Provide day-to-day leadership while remaining hands-on with key projects and escalations.
Mentor Project Managers and help elevate the overall capabilities of the team.
Create consistency in how projects are planned, managed, communicated, and delivered.
Build & Improve Agency Operations
Assess the current Project Management structure and identify opportunities for improvement.
Establish agency-wide PM processes, workflows, standards, and best practices.
Create greater consistency around project planning, timelines, ownership, communication, and delivery.
Develop processes that improve visibility into the agency's overall project portfolio.
Introduce greater operational discipline without creating unnecessary bureaucracy.
Identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies and implement practical solutions.
Help establish a scalable PM infrastructure that can support continued growth.
Own Workflow & Project Delivery
Oversee projects from initial scope through final delivery.
Translate client commitments into actionable scopes, work plans, timelines, milestones, resources, and deliverables.
Ensure teams understand priorities, responsibilities, dependencies, and deadlines.
Keep work moving across Strategy, Creative, Digital, Web, CRM, Media, Production, Analytics, Account Services, and other functions.
Monitor project health and proactively identify risks before they become problems.
Establish an effective escalation process and serve as a senior escalation point when issues arise.
Ensure project status, reporting, and communication provide leadership with an accurate view of work in progress.
Resource & Capacity Management
Establish stronger resource planning and capacity management practices across the agency.
Evaluate workload, staffing needs, priorities, timing, and competing demands.
Identify resource constraints and potential delivery risks early.
Help leadership make informed decisions around prioritization and resource allocation.
Improve visibility into team capacity and utilization.
Partner with leadership to balance client commitments with available agency resources.
Project Financial & Operational Oversight
Monitor scopes, budgets, resource allocation, timelines, and overall project financial performance.
Identify potential scope creep, budget concerns, and additional work requiring approval.
Partner with Finance on estimates, budgets, forecasting, reconciliation, and project financial visibility.
Ensure project plans accurately reflect client commitments and available resources.
Help create greater accountability around project profitability and operational performance.
Cross-Functional Leadership
Partner closely with Account Services to ensure client expectations translate into realistic and executable plans.
Serve as a bridge between client-facing teams and internal delivery teams.
Build strong relationships across departments and create alignment around priorities.
Manage effectively up, down, and across the organization.
Communicate clearly with senior leadership regarding project health, resources, risks, priorities, and operational challenges.
Continuous Improvement
Conduct post-project and post-program reviews to identify lessons learned and opportunities for improvement.
Continuously evaluate PM tools, systems, reporting, and workflows.
Improve the accuracy and usefulness of project management data and reporting.
Help lead change management and business process improvement initiatives within the agency.
WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR
10+ years of progressive Project Management or Program Management experience, ideally within an advertising, marketing, healthcare, or integrated agency environment.
3+ years of experience leading, managing, or developing Project Managers.
Demonstrated experience managing complex, concurrent client programs and cross-functional teams.
Strong understanding of how an agency operates and how work moves from strategy and client commitments through creative development, production, media, analytics, and delivery.
Proven ability to build or overhaul Project Management processes, workflows, and operating structures.
Strong resource planning and capacity management experience.
Experience working with project scopes, budgets, forecasting, utilization, and project financials.
Strong understanding of cross-functional agency workflows.
Experience with project management platforms such as Smartsheet, Asana, Jira, or similar systems.
Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Communications, Business, or a related field preferred.
PMP, Agile, or similar project management certification is a plus.
THE IDEAL CANDIDATE
The ideal candidate is someone who can walk into an agency, quickly understand how work is actually getting done, identify where the process is breaking down, and put a better system in place. You are equally comfortable leading people and managing projects. You know how to create structure without slowing people down. You can have a strategic conversation with senior leadership in the morning, work through a resource conflict with department leaders in the afternoon, and jump into a project that needs hands-on attention when necessary. Most importantly, you are an operator. You understand that successful Project Management is about more than timelines and task lists. It is about creating accountability, managing resources, protecting budgets, anticipating problems, and making sure the right people are doing the right work at the right time. If you are an experienced agency PM leader who enjoys building, improving, and transforming the way an organization operates, this is an opportunity to make a significant impact.
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Worksite address
irvine, CA, 92713, US
Who can apply
Review the original listing for work authorization, qualifications and employer requirements.