Strategic Program Director - AI-Driven Operations

Big-Spaceship-2; New York (NY); On-site; USD 150,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Big Spaceship is seeking a NY-based Program Director to lead delivery, operations, and financial management for a large-scale client account. You will oversee multiple pods, guide senior PMs, and optimize workflows, staffing, and AI-enabled processes to drive efficiency and growth.

You will own SOW development, staffing plans, budgets, and revenue tracking, partnering with Finance and Production to ensure on-budget delivery and strategic impact.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in a creative agency environment in Program Management, Project Management, or integrated delivery leadership.
• Significant experience overseeing large-scale, complex accounts with multiple pods and interconnected teams.
• Deep, hands-on experience scoping work, writing SOWs, creating estimates, and building staffing plans.
• Strong commercial and financial acumen: budgets, burn rates, revenue, invoicing, forecasting and scope performance.
• Experience managing engagements ranging from $500K to $10M+.
• Ability to design operating systems and workflows at scale across people, process, technology, and finance.
• Proven ability to integrate AI into workflows to improve efficiency.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; mentoring and leadership skills.
• NY-based with ability to operate in a fast-paced, multi-stakeholder environment.

Responsibilities

• Oversee program management across a large, multi-pod account and ensure operational excellence.
• Lead senior-level PMs and stay connected to day-to-day activity, risks, and priorities.
• Design and optimize large-scale operating systems, workflows, and processes across the account.
• Identify opportunities to incorporate AI and emerging tools into agency workflows.
• Manage a high-volume, fast-paced social and content ecosystem with rapid production and shifting priorities.
• Collaborate across disciplines to create effective workflows based on scope and deliverables.
• Own development of large-scale scopes of work and SOWs from draft to approval.
• Develop staffing plans and resource models based on scope, workload, timelines, and financial targets.
• Coach PMs in estimates, staffing plans, timelines, and budgets.
• Build program plans with internal/external resources and business objectives.
• Own financial health of the program including budgets, revenue tracking, and burn rates.
• Create program-level financial models to represent current and future scenarios.

Skills

Program Management

Budget management

SOW drafting

Staffing planning

Financial forecasting

AI workflow optimization

Cross-disciplinary leadership

Excel/Sheets

Communication

Mentoring

Job description

Big Spaceship is seeking a NY-based Program Director to lead delivery, operations, and financial management for a large-scale client account. You will oversee multiple pods, guide senior PMs, and optimize workflows, staffing, and AI-enabled processes to drive efficiency and growth.

You will own SOW development, staffing plans, budgets, and revenue tracking, partnering with Finance and Production to ensure on-budget delivery and strategic impact.