Senior Project Manager

TBWA\Chiat\Day; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 95,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

TBWA\Chiat\Day seeks a Sr. Project Manager to lead the US Army account, guiding multi-agency teams to deliver on time, on budget, and within scope.

You’ll own project integration, scope, schedule, cost, and quality management, coordinating with finance, account, creative, and production to ensure client satisfaction and successful outcomes. Ideal candidates bring 5–8+ years in agency project management, deep proficiency with Smartsheets, Workfront, JIRA, and Microsoft Suite, and a proven track

Qualifications

• 5–8+ years of project management experience in advertising or multi-agency environments.
• Bachelor’s Degree required.
• Proficient with Smartsheets, Workfront, JIRA, and Microsoft Office.

Responsibilities

• Lead project integration across multi-agency and multi-discipline teams.
• Manage scope and prevent scope creep; communicate shifts in timing, deliverables, budgets, and resources.
• Develop and manage project timelines; break work into stages with clear deliverables.
• Determine and report on project burn; coordinate with finance to track budget and hours.
• Ensure client billing accuracy; monitor risks and mitigation plans with management.

Skills

Project management

Leadership

Communication

Scope management

Risk management

Schedule management

Budget management

Client management

Problem solving

Education

Bachelor’s Degree

Tools

Smartsheets

Workfront

JIRA

Microsoft Suite

Job description

Reports to: Director of Project Management

Client: US Army

THE ROLE

At TBWA, our Sr. Project Managers are the lead of flight control for getting our work completed on time, on budget, and within scope. Our Sr. Project Managers are the hub that drives all work through our processes. The Project Management team sets the bar for problem solving and decisiveness across the agency team and functional groups to effectively lead the team to the best outcome for our clients.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

Project Integration Management

• Keen understanding of integrating multi-agency and -discipline team across a project.
• Responsible for project communications and process adherence across multi-agency and -discipline teams.

Project Scope Management

• Responsible for understanding project scope and preventing scope creep.
• Identify shifts in timing, deliverables, budgets, and resources while communicating potential impacts.
• Provides support to Project Management Director and PMO on scope development, proposal structure, and staffing recommendations.

Project Schedule Management

• Develop and manage project timelines based on our need to complete the deliverables required.
• Able to break project down into small pieces (stages) and understand the deliverables at each stage.

Project Cost Management

• Determine and manage project burn reporting with finance team including tracking, mitigating, and reporting on a weekly and monthly basis.
• Partner with finance, account, creative, and production teams to ensure weekly and monthly tracking of budget and hours is accurate and within scope.
• Ensure client billing is accurate by tracking, reporting, evaluating, and controlling projects.
• Strong understanding of agency finance processes encouraged.

Project Quality Management

• Working with Account Management lead, ensure process, documentation, reporting, and other enhancements are enacted as needed to ensure client satisfaction and optimal product delivery.
• Capture lessons learned throughout a project and apply to future projects, as well as develop and implement plans for best practice enhancements and improvements.
• Develop metrics and operational process to ensure quality control.
• Project Resource Management
• Engage and manage appropriate talent and resource allocation at all project stages.
• Demonstrate strategic thinking for resourcing all projects.
• Manage and communicate with risk management tools daily. Manage moderate to high risk/complexity projects.
• Ability to perform qualitative and quantitative risk management with skill and confidence. Ability to accurately articulate risk management/mitigation plans and escale high risk issues with management.
• Define, manage, and mitigate risks, including taking a proactive, approach to solve issues before they arise or manage as they come up.

Project Communication Management

• Ensure involvement of the appropriate teams during each project phase.
• Drive open and honest communications across all teams to ensure no roadblocks in projects.

WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR

• High self-confidence and not afraid to be a project management leader in the room.
• Ability to maintain focus under pressure, be thorough, and keep a positive attitude. Ability to think outside the box and understand the outcome, not just the process.
• Extremely high standards for work and behavior; accountable, reliable, and dependable. Acute attention to detail and accuracy.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills; ability to break down complex information.
• Proficient in project scoping, project planning, resource management, timeline creation, budget management and risk management.
• Experience managing multiple large-scale projects simultaneously with various disciplines and stakeholders, including multi-agency teams. Be comfortable managing and influencing people who are may be direct reports, as well as director-level and management personnel.
• Ability to interact with and represent the team to a range of people, from entry-level to upper management and Leadership, including clients.
• Able to establish leadership on project with internal stakeholders and clients. Easily recognized as the person who can answer questions on projects, process, and everyday activities around the team and client. Gains trust to build productive and constructive relationships. Encourage an environment of teamwork and excellence.
• Ability to work independently to tackle problems and direct to solutions. Be highly adaptable, able to anticipate issues and needs before they arise and take the necessary steps to alleviate and/or mitigate.
• Leverage project management tools (Smartsheets, Workfront, etc.) to manage day-to-day operations, automate tasks, ensure quality, and promote process efficiencies.
• Knowledge and experience with Smartsheets, Workfront, JIRA, Microsoft Suite.
• 5-8+years of project management experience within an advertising agency or with multi-agency teams across disciplines.
• Bachelor’s Degree required.
• Solid track record of successfully leading projects from initiation to completion on time, on budget, and within scope, including resource management across disciplines.
• Understanding of principles of marketing and communications planning, including strategy, creative, and production practices.
• Interest and desire to expand knowledge of financial operations
• Ability to navigate and comprehend new processes/platforms within digital space
• Experience with lead generation, SaaS, etc. and ability to interpret lead gen vernacular

WHY JOIN US?

Our Culture

We're driven by a simple belief: Good enough is not enough. We're bold, collaborative, and human-centered. We value curiosity, integrity, resourcefulness, and teams that work like pirates-creative, fearless, and committed to the mission. Here, you'll work with people who genuinely respect each other and bring their full selves to the table.