Director, Creative Project Management (Contract)

Bully Pulpit International; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Inclusive workplace

Equal opportunity employer

Job summary

A dynamic advertising agency in Chicago is seeking an interim Director of Creative Project Management. This short-term contract role demands leadership for creative teams during a critical period. Responsibilities include portfolio management, staffing oversight, quality control for high-stakes projects, and acting as a strategic partner for the creative team. The ideal candidate has 10+ years of experience and a proven track record of managing large-scale integrated advertising campaigns. A collaborative mindset and operational proficiency are essential for success.

Qualifications

• Must have 10+ years of experience in project/resource management.
• Capable of managing teams of 20-30+ and scaling operations.
• Experience in integrated advertising campaigns of $2M+.

Responsibilities

• Oversee staffing and health of all creative projects.
• Conduct reviews on critical SOWs for high-stakes campaigns.
• Act as a strategic partner for Creative Project Managers.

Skills

Project management

Resource management

Strategic decision-making

Team leadership

Creative problem-solving

Education

10+ years of experience in agency management

Tools

Monday.com

Job description

Director, Creative Project Management (Contract)

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About BPI

Bully Pulpit Interactive is an advertising agency made up of creatives, strategists, data scientists, and artists. We specialize in public affairs, corporate reputation, and social impact creative and content campaigns. We are an ambitious, quickly expanding team connecting Silicon Valley technology, Madison Avenue creative, Washington policy, and real people.

The Role

We are looking for a seasoned interim Director of Creative Project Management to provide senior creative PM leadership coverage during a medical leave. This is a high‑impact, short‑term contract role for a leader who can hit the ground running.

You will act as the “Chief of Staff” for the creative team project portfolio, thoughtfully connecting the dots between business requirements and creative capacity.

Your primary objective is to maintain stability, ensuring that creative team staffing and creative deliverable engines run smoothly during a critical period.

Remote / NYC, CHI, or DC preferred. Duration: Short‑Term Contract (January Coverage).

What You Will Accomplish

• Portfolio Management & Resource Strategy (Top Priority)
  1. High‑Level Portfolio Creative PM’ing: Oversee the staffing of all creative projects running through the team, maintaining a bird’s‑eye view of the entire client portfolio. Track project health to ensure the creative team is delivering on time and on budget.
  2. Creative Team Capacity Tracking & Optimization: Constantly assess the team’s bandwidth, utilizing analytics and reporting to identify gaps in personnel and ensure staffing needs are met with the right talent at the right moments.
  3. Strategic Resource Balancing: Work directly with the resource management team to resolve creative team staffing conflicts in real‑time. Make tough calls on competing priorities, ensuring the right talent is focused on the right work without burning out the team.
• Quality Control & Scope Defense
  1. Scope Definition: Conduct final reviews on critical SOWs and project plans for high‑stakes campaigns ($2M+). Validate that deliverables are clearly defined, assumptions and exclusions are explicit, and resource estimates align with budget realities to protect agency margins.
  2. Financial Health: Bring an insightful approach to reporting, finding potential sources of wasted funds and ensuring that project plans remain profitable.
• Navigating Project Challenges
  1. Unblocking the Creative Team: Act as a strategic partner and decision‑maker for Creative Project Managers when they face complex roadblocks. Help the team propose effective solutions for scope changes, timeline constraints, and competing priorities.
  2. Client & Partner Liaison: Serve as a critical liaison between the account and creative teams, seeing challenges from both the Creative POV and the Client POV to find creative solutions that work for everyone.

Requirements

• Seniority & Speed: 10+ years of experience in project and/or resource management at a creative, production, marketing, or advertising agency.
• Scale: Experience leading creative teams of 20–30+ people and scaling operations.
• Delivery Expertise: Ability to flex up to help staff and lead big creative projects (integrated advertising campaigns of $2M+) down to the smallest projects.
• Tool Proficiency: Experience with modern creative project management and resourcing tools is essential; familiarity with Monday.com is a plus.
• Operational Mindset: Know how to get to the heart of creative project requirements—budgets, staffing, deadlines—and understand which creative team members across copy, art, design, production, post‑production, and creative direction are the right fit for the right projects.

Benefits

We are an equal‑opportunity employer and make employment decisions based on individual commitment to excellence. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion or religious creed, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, status as a protected veteran, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information or characteristics (or those of a family member) or any other consideration made unlawful by applicable federal, state or local laws. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements.

BPI is dedicated to building an inclusive, diverse, equitable, and accessible workplace that fosters a sense of belonging.

We encourage you to consider submitting an application even if your experience does not align perfectly with every qualification in the job description. We consider applications holistically, and you may be just the right candidate for this role or another one of our openings.