Project Director

Edelman is a voice synonymous with trust, reimagining a future where the currency of communication is action. Our culture thrives on three promises: boldness is possibility, empathy is progress, and curiosity is momentum.

At Edelman, we understand diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) transform our colleagues, our company, our clients, and our communities. We are in relentless pursuit of an equitable and inspiring workplace that is respectful of all, reflects and represents the world in which we live, and fosters trust, collaboration and belonging.

The Edelman Project Management team is passionate about finding smart ways to deliver great work. We sit at the center of our business, collaborating with best-in-class teams to ensure Edelman ideas make an impact in our clients’ real worlds. From cars to consumer goods, fashion and retail, financial service, food and beverage, luxury, technology or healthcare – we are fanatics about integrated project management that enables our creative, strategy and account teams to deliver smart and brilliant programming for our clients.

This is an exciting opportunity for a process-oriented, go-getter who wants to become a key part of a forward-thinking, integrated team. We want passion and excitement. We want someone who is unafraid to ask questions, is willing to challenge the norm and is eager to be the best in the business. Our Project Directors have deep experience in integrated project management and are the upcoming leaders of the Project Management team, enthusiastic to develop their leadership skills and to be seen as a go-to for high priority program definition and delivery best practices.

Edelman Project Directors lead complex, integrated projects. Serving as the common thread on projects, they manage schedules, deliverables, priorities and teams towards flawless execution. They are a strategic partner to Account and Specialty leads in project setup and ensure that project deliverables connect with creative intent, while meeting time specifications and budget parameters.

About Your Day-to-Day:

• Own the intake of new work, cutting through the fog to provide counsel on a delivery approach that results in the definition scopes and staff plans with account leads and specialty teams, producing top-down and bottom-up estimates that match final deliverables and work effort.
• Lead the development and approval workflow of Statements of Work with Finance, Contracts and Account teams.
• Leverage project management tools and best practices to author and maintain project schedules, project briefs, cost estimates and project financial management (OOP & fee) and other relevant project documentation.
• Own the delivery of large, complex initiatives independently and with minimal oversight.
• Independently manage risks and provide solutions-oriented consultation to integrated team leads, proactively looking around corners, raising scope creep and collaborating with leads to strategically identify and implement win-win solutions; manage SOW change order procedures as warranted.
• Partner with Finance and Account teams to ensure projects are profitable, fees are appropriate, forecasts are accurate and SOWs are approved.
• Drive client discussions related to project plans, setting expectations on due dates needed in order to meet project goals, scope and budgets.
• Partner with Resource Management to establish staff plans, providing clarity that aligns specialty team needs with project future staffing requirements in order to identify the best talent for the work.
• Drive workflow among integrated teams, communicating status, next steps and ownership on a regular basis to ensure successful delivery against client assignment and scoped deliverables.
• Ensure the quality and consistency across all projects is consistent with brand guidelines.
• Contributes to project operations and “the work behind the work” – owning intake, definition and prioritization of new project opportunities, establishing ways of working frameworks/best practices with new teams, and providing input on PM team assignments.
• Directly manage more junior project managers in project-based and/or career growth capacities.
• Balance a sense of urgency with a calm and confident leadership at all times
  
  
  

About Your Background:

• A 4-year degree or equivalent work experience
• 6-10 years of project management, integrated marketing/PR agency, or related experience
• Mastery of mid to large-level sized project delivery, from planning through execution
• Fluency in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and Smartsheet (or other similar project management tool) is required
  
  
  

About You:

• A self-reliant multi-tasker, with the ability to work calmly and efficiently in a fast-paced environment
• A strategic mindset, with a knack for critical thinking and creative, head-on problem solving
• A bias for action and the unshakeable ability to confidently lead projects and teams through ambiguity
• A people leader with a “get things done” and positive mentality
• A passion for the art and the science of creative problem solving, as well as operational excellence
• A strong and fearless communicator, with the ability to navigate conflict resolution and influence teams to a desired end goal
  
  
  

We are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your experience doesn’t perfectly align with every qualification, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.