Program Director

We are looking for a Program Management Director to join SPCSHP in Detroit! In this role you will lead delivery and overall management of a portfolio of complex client engagements by working with a team of talented, cross-discipline leads, and you will serve as the focal point for tactical leadership, while staying up-to-date on daily project activities.

Role + Responsibilities:

• Collaborate with across disciplines for the development and delivery of agency content including print, digital, social, and video, creating the most efficient project workflow based on project scope and deliverables
• Stay up to date on the Clients’ business needs and priorities to understand the content needs and cohesion of messaging and visuals across all campaign assets
• Create project calendars with deadlines and phases managing project scope and deliverables and team assignments
• Manage up to 10 client projects and multiple lines of business simultaneously at various stages of development
• Documentation and tracking of your projects to ensure work stays on track
• Creation of project timelines
• Creation of project budgets (understanding when OOP is needed and consulting with production or vendors for estimates)
• Resourcing (Forecasting and management)
• Oversee the project team’s activities to guarantee the overall quality of work and ensure projects are delivered on time and on budget
• Consistent project status communication out to Account, Production, and Creative teams for weekly or daily internal and client status meetings
• Monitor and calculate the financial impact of scope creep and slippages and escalate as needed
• Keep clients on pace from a project milestone perspective and flag in real-time SOW implications when milestones are at risk of being missed
• Build strong relationships with agency discipline leads including Account, Strategy, Creative, Studio, Production, and Finance for support of projects
• Owner and operator of Agency process, knowing how and when to adjust based on project needs in conjunction with lead producer and senior resource manager
• Suggest and implement new processes that build on established processes to ensure consistent internal and client satisfaction, the most efficient workflow, and highest quality of deliverables
• Lead the development and creation of project scopes and staffing estimates in collaboration with the Account, Production, Creative, Strategy, and Analytics. 
• Lead the team in creating estimates and gathering approvals from Clients and Vendors
• Be aware of how the process flows alongside the Group Production Director on generating POs and approving invoices
• Liaise between the Group Production Director and project Producers regarding project needs if the scope of work has production staffed during the production phase
• Track and reconcile project budgets while ensuring revenue tracking tools are accurate
• Build project plans with an understanding of internal resources, third-party capabilities, time requirements, and business objectives
• Additional duties as Client and Agency needs to evolve
• Lead constructive strategies with team members to implement change.
• Anticipates and mitigates obstacles, risks, and business disruptions caused by change initiatives.
• Effectively leverages hard data as inputs to making decisions.
• Thinks several steps ahead in deciding the best course of action, anticipating likely outcomes, risks, or implications.
• Approaches challenging team situations with optimism and an open mind, focusing on coming to a respectful conclusion.
• Builds consensus to make and implement team decisions, often navigating through challenging tasks, ambiguities, or interpersonal obstacles.
• Can handle difficult discussions or dynamics with an open-minded and professional demeanor. Actively works to find a solution.
• Aligns project teams & clients around a vision focuses their efforts in the right direction & instills confidence in their ability to execute. 
• Monitors sold work and ensures successful delivery and client satisfaction and acceptance against the scope.
• Drives mitigation solutions in higher-level conversations with internal or external stakeholders around issues and risks to support project teams.
• Owns the development of large-scale, complex scopes and helps/coaches project managers in getting smaller scopes from the first draft to final.
• Assesses and monitors project financial performance; identifies potential risks and mitigates those risks.
• Creates program-level financial models that accurately portray both the current state as well as future scenarios and determines the path forward based on those models. 
• Ensures appropriate resources are available to achieve objectives which may include contracting freelance, or additional resources such as content creators. Once a resource is identified, understanding if their rates are within the budget and directly engaging the resource for contracting and onboarding to the need. 

Requirements

• 10+ years of experience within a creative agency environment in a project management capacity
• Candidate must be based in Detroit
• You have extensive experience in a client services organization, structuring, managing multi-year engagements with parallel and interconnected project tracks and teams
• You manage long-term, multi-million dollar engagements with multiple project tracks and teams, as well as a firm command of project management processes and methodologies.
• You have the ability to focus on goals and solutions that impact both individual work streams but also the program as a whole.
• You manage and set client expectations. At the end of the day, you make sure that everyone’s satisfied and put a plan in place if they’re not
• You are a mentor and manager; someone who both leads by example, while also actively fostering the talents of those working under them.
• Highly organized, highly motivated, goal and detail-oriented, self-starter who is passionate and experienced 
• Someone who is all about hustle, flexibility, creativity, and adaptability in a highly challenging, positive, rewarding environment
• Experience with projects and deliverables ranging from $500k to $10m
• Strong ability to manage cross-discipline teams
• Understanding of, and experience executing projects that adhere to platform guidelines, legal considerations, advertising regulations, and best practices
• Highly organized with strong attention to detail
• Strong Excel and Google Sheets skills
• Experience with contract writing
• Experience creating and managing budgets and staffing plans
• Experience in budget reconciliation
• Strong communication skills
• Ability to work both independently, and as a part of a team
• Ability to work well in a fast-paced environment