Senior Project Lead

Recess Studios; Portland (OR); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Recess Studios in Portland, OR, seeks a Senior Project Lead to manage complex campaigns end-to-end, from scoping and budgeting to delivery. You will coordinate internal teams and clients, ensuring clarity, efficiency, and strong financial discipline.

The role requires autonomy, risk-aware judgment, and the ability to guide strategy, creative, and production through high-visibility engagements. Reports to an Account Director who sets overall direction.

Qualifications

• 7+ years in account management, PM, or producer roles in brand/creative/marketing.
• Proficiency in AI-optimized project management workflows.
• Experience delivering experiential and content projects over $1M on time and on budget.
• Experience packaging work spanning graphic design, strategy, branding, and spatial design.
• Excellent client communication: clear writing, recaps, calm escalation, meeting facilitation.
• Strong operational discipline: organized files, up-to-date PM tools.
• Proficiency with Keynote/Slides, Sheets/Excel, and collaboration tools.
• Ability to manage multiple projects concurrently and adapt to shifting priorities.
• Detail-oriented, decisive, and able to protect scope, margin, and dates.

Responsibilities

• Own creatively ambitious projects from scoping through wrap with plans, timelines, and budgets.
• Lead internal and client kickoff meetings to align objectives and success criteria.
• Serve as senior day-to-day client contact with proactive status updates.
• Oversee project financials, monitor estimates vs actuals, protect margin.
• Guide cross-functional teams to deliver high-quality work on schedule.
• Maintain accurate project documentation and approvals throughout the lifecycle.
• Lead project closeout, including final deliverables, financial reconciliation, and learnings.
• Collaborate with Strategy, Creative, and Production leaders to maintain momentum across disciplines.

Skills

Project management

Account management

Client communication

Budget management

Cross-functional leadership

AI project workflows

Multi-project management

Job description

TheSenior Project Leadowns complex campaign, content, & experiential projects end to end, including scope, scheduling,, budget, trafficking creative, and day-to-day client communication. This role serves as a senior point of coordination across internal teams and with clients, ensuring work is delivered with clarity, efficiency, and strong financial discipline.

Senior Project Leads operate with a high degree of autonomy and sound judgment. They are trusted to manage ambiguity, anticipate risk, and guide teams through complex or high-visibility engagements. This role partners closely with Strategy, Creative, and Production, and reports to an Account Director who sets overall account direction.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Project Ownership & Planning:Own creatively ambitious projects from scoping through wrap. Translate scopes into structured plans, timelines, and budgets that support both delivery and financial targets. Anticipate challenges and address risks early.
• Kickoff & Alignment:Lead internal and client kickoffs to align stakeholders on objectives, roles, timelines, and success criteria. Ensure teams are set up for efficient execution from day one, and able to originate a strong creative brief.
• Client Leadership:Serve as a senior day-to-day client contact. Run meetings with confidence, manage agendas and decisions, and provide clear, proactive communication. Maintain regular status updates that surface progress, risks, and required inputs.
• Financial Stewardship:Oversee project financials throughout the lifecycle. Monitor estimates versus actuals, manage scope changes, and partner with Account Directors to protect margin and address financial risk. Understand how to be extremely efficient when working with the creative team. Support accurate and timely invoicing.
• Delivery & Team Leadership:Guide cross-functional teams to deliver high-quality work on schedule. Resolve blockers, manage dependencies, and provide direction when challenges arise. Escalate risks thoughtfully with clear context and recommendations.
• Documentation & Project Hygiene:Maintain accurate, organized project documentation and approvals. Ensure timelines, budgets, and key decisions are kept current as projects evolve.
• Project Close & Retrospective:Lead project closeout, including final deliverables, financial reconciliation, and post-project learnings. Ensure all details are resolved cleanly and insights are captured for future work.
• Cross-Functional Partnership: Collaborate closely with Strategy, Creative, and Production leaders to align expectations, sequence work effectively, and maintain momentum across disciplines.
• Process Leadership & Standards:Model strong project management practices and reinforce consistent standards across engagements. Help raise the bar for clarity, communication, and accountability within project teams.
• Account Support & Growth Awareness:Support Account Directors by providing insight into client needs, project trends, and potential opportunities. Proactively flag shifts in client sentiment and identify moments where expanded scopes or services may add value.
• Mentorship & Team Development:Provide guidance and support to Project Leads and more junior team members. Share best practices, help troubleshoot challenges, and contribute to a culture of operational excellence.

QUALIFICATIONS

• 7+ years in account management, project management, or producer roles within brand/creative/marketing
• Proficiency in using AI-optimized project management workflows
• Proven record delivering both experiential and content projects with budgets exceeding 1 million on time, on budget, to spec
• Must have experience packaging work for the creative team that spans across discipline - graphic design, strategy, branding, and spatial design
• Excellent client communication: clear writing, clean recaps, calm escalation, meeting facilitation
• High operational discipline: agendas before meetings, recaps after, files organized, PM tool current
• Proficiency with Keynote/Slides, Sheets/Excel, and project collaboration tools
• Comfortable running multiple projects concurrently; steady under shifting priorities
• Detail-accurate, conscientious, and decisive; willing to be constructively disagreeable to protect scope, margin, and dates