Program Director

Havas CX Canada; Toronto; On-site; CAD 130,000 - 165,000; Full time

Job summary

Havas CX Canada is seeking a Program Director to lead delivery across client programs, ensuring scope, schedule and budget align with client needs. You will supervise project managers and collaborate with creative, technical, and executive teams to ensure high-quality results.

You will drive risk management, contribute to business development, and uphold accounting standards while guiding teams toward growth and excellence across multiple brands.

Qualifications

• 10+ years’ experience managing large, complex cross‑functional projects in an agency setting.
• Solid understanding of agile best practices.
• Pharma brands experience is a plus.
• Agile certification is a bonus.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• 3–5 years of people management experience.

Responsibilities

• Planning: define approach, deliverables, schedule and tools for multiple streams.
• Execution: coordinate PM team and ensure quality output and timely invoices.
• Monitoring: manage scope, schedule, budget and risks to protect margins.
• Client communication: own client relationships and ensure clear updates.
• Team management: mentor juniors and promote best practices across teams.

Skills

Project management

Agile methodologies

Team leadership

Client communication

Risk management

Budget & financials

Job description

Program Directors at Havas CX have two primary objectives: 1 - Define the vision and structure of client programs and overseeing its execution by our team of project managers, and 2 – Continuously improve and refine the delivery practice. As a Program Director, you may be involved in overseeing multiple projects, across multiple brands or clients to ensure the overall project health in their portfolio (financials, resources, risks, relationships), or overseeing one large portfolio-sized account.

The Program Director serves as "Lead" on large client accounts and is accountable for the delivery management team's organization, operational efficiencies, and health within their assigned accounts. Within that role, the Program Director may be responsible for supervising one or more project managers and/or senior project managers. Program Directors will interface heavily with senior creative, technical, and executive management within the client to assure that the solution is understood and addresses the customer's business requirements. They will also ensure that the challenges and requirements are understood by the team and will participate in the solution developed by the team.

The Program Director will be responsible for delivering accurate financial management of the accounts/brands to which he/she is assigned and for delivering improved account margins. In addition to the project responsibilities, Program Directors will also participate in the business development process and will be a key member of the business development team where appropriate. They will proactively manage risk to ensure project success.

Responsibilities

Planning

• Has a deep understanding of the client’s business needs, expectations and requirements
• Leads the project team in determining the approach, deliverables, schedule, and tools to deliver multiple projects streams within established constraints
• Works with client team as well as members of the assigned project team to estimate costs and timing for tasks such as project strategy, functional design, visual design, technology requirements, etc., utilizing established estimating process and tools.
• Ensures the feasibility of project delivery given scope, time and budget constraints.

Execution

• Coordinates activities of the project management team and has overall responsibility for quality output
• Performs timely review, and approval of invoices and timesheets
• Leads the creation and delivery of SOWs and CRs
• Ensure that the Program meets and exceeds the company’s internal project delivery standards
• Ensures that the project management team is handling core functions of the PM role, such as scheduling and facilitating project-related team meetings (i.e. kick-offs, status, internal/client reviews, etc.), communicating action steps to the team, and delivering weekly status reports to project team, the client and management
• Helps update processes and standards for project documentation and ensures that the project management team is developing, maintaining, reviewing and/or disseminating all project documentation
• Is a contributor to the content and presentation of key client deliverables as required to ensure relevancy, strategy, quality, and timeliness

Monitoring – Scheduling, Financials and Risk Management

• Ensures adherence to processes for scope management and change control
• Oversees project management team to ensure that projects in the assigned accounts are completed according to schedule and within budget
• Responsible for accuracy and overall financial health throughout the project lifecycle including estimates, revenue forecasts, invoicing, payables, receivables, etc.
• Responsible for delivering work with sold margins
• Responsible for identifying and driving solutions to project risk challenges at the account and project levels
• Is also responsible for developing and adhering to processes for project and account financial management
• Is the point of contact for all team and client escalations

Client Communication

• Establishes relationships with key client team members and owns all client communications
• Champion a client focused culture to deepen client relationships and leverage broader company relationships, systems and knowledge.

Team Management

• Works closely with direct reports to ensure they understand expectations of their performance and helps them identify commitments; providing direction and feedback via regular meetings and as needed
• Champions a high-performance environment and contributes to an inclusive work environment.
• Builds team expertise by mentoring junior team members and offering training in relevant methodologies, techniques, frameworks, etc.
• Works with the Discipline lead, Solution Leads, Practice Leads and other team members to develop and/or promote best practices for the discipline

Qualifications

• 10+ years’ experience managing multiple large, complex and cross-functional interactive projects, preferably in an agency environment
• Solid understanding of agile best practices is required
• Experience managing pharma brands is a plus
• Certification in an agile methodology is a bonus
• Excellent understanding and performance of project delivery best practices including budget, scope and time management
• Expert knowledge of one or more of the following: software development life cycles, web/mobile technologies, web/mobile development processes and the delivery of solutions with creative and engineering components, digital strategy projects
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Excellent organizational and time management skills
• Experience in working closely with Creative and UX teams
• Preferably have a background or understanding of IT
• Expert understanding of project management methodology including the ability to identify and resolve issues, manage risk, develop detailed work plans and specifications, perform resource allocations and run team meetings
• Ability to work on multiple projects and manage multiple project managers and/or senior project managers at one time
• Demonstrated ability to motivate staff/project/account team, inspire teamwork and take a leadership role
• Ability to solve complex account-wide problems with keen instincts and organizational experience
• Must be able to simultaneously focus on the big picture, details, and driving results
• 3-5 years of people management experience

About Havas CX Canada

Havas CX is a global network of digital agencies dedicated to creating meaningful experiences across the customer journey. With deep capabilities in business transformation, experience design, CRM, and technology, we partner with leading brands to deliver exceptional digital products and services across B2B and B2C markets.

We are deeply committed to investing in the professional development of our team members, providing ample opportunities to expand skills, take on diverse challenges, and contribute to high-impact projects. Our passion for what we do drives us. Joining our team means being part of a culture and organization that prioritizes growth, innovation, and the pursuit of excellence...not to mention you would make some pretty cool new friends!

Additional Information

This role represents an active vacancy at Havas. You will be joining a collaborative, growth-oriented environment where ideas are encouraged and career development is supported. The base salary range for this position is CAD $130,000 to $165,000, with final compensation determined based on factors such as work location, skills, experience, and background.

Havas uses artificial intelligence-enabled tools to support certain aspects of the recruitment process. All hiring decisions are made by our recruiting and hiring teams.