Resource Manager

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 Role

Edelman Saudi Arabia has an opening for a talented, driven and experienced Resource Manager to work with the Operations Team due to company growth.

As part of the operations and resource management team, the Resource Manager will support the agency’s operational excellence overall, helping develop and implement best practices to fully leverage our talent, ensure client satisfaction, and maximize profitability across accounts.

In this role, the Resource Manager will be responsible for managing and optimizing the staffing of our resources, providing accurate and insightful reporting and analysis to client leaders and project teams, identifying areas of opportunities, and providing strategic guidance and thoughtful staffing suggestions to client teams. Reporting to the Head of Operations, he/she will work closely with client teams, business managers and project managers to assess planning and project management needs on upcoming projects/retainers.

Responsibilities:

• Get to know the many talented experts in your respective resource pool – understanding their strengths, skills and working styles to effectively cast them against existing client work and new, incoming opportunities
• Work with client leads/project managers, people managers (capability leaders) and business managers to assess planning and project management needs on upcoming projects/retainer
• In partnership with client leads and capability leaders identify right staffing for project and optimize teams
• Manages periodic updates to staff planning throughout a project and update the resourcing tool accordingly
• Compiles reports on staff availability and billability on a regular basis
• Analyzes project trends and forecast data to inform the headcount planning process
• Analyze skills gaps and in partnership with portfolio leads and people managers (capability leaders), identify hiring needs
• Uses resource management tools to identify potential instances of over-or-under-utilization, and actively work with client leads to address and solve any issues
• Manages project assignments within and across resource pools, serving as the single point of contact for portfolio teams to fulfil specific resourcing needs
• Liaising with individuals line managers, staff projects intelligently, maximizing individual strengths and skill sets
• Mediate competitions over resources using set project prioritization guidelines
• Work with finance to ensure timesheets are completed
• Identify freelance needs and partner with client leads, finance and HR to secure and track resources
• Manages assessment process for contractors and freelancers
• Apply your critical assessment skills to evaluate new project details quickly and thoughtfully to source and identify the best solutions across full-time talent across centralized intake systems
• Communicate proactively and reactively with account teams, PMs and RM counterparts on the status and fulfillment of inbound talent needs
• Regularly join and/or lead meetings with talent pools (1:1 and group) to understand status of projects, capacity, and opportunities
• Actively participate in regular RM status meetings to update peers and managers on fulfillment of requests, escalate challenges and support needs and raise broader questions about talent, process or change management to continue to help grow and improve our offering
  
  
  

Requirements:

• Strong experience in operations/resource management ideally within communications, media advertising, creative or marketing agency with strong project management, planning and workflow management experience
• Strong team player and highly empathetic with proven ability to work cross-functionally and across multiple stakeholders to achieve goals and objectives
• Experience or transferable skills in resource management, coordination, operations, or project management overseeing teams of resources
• Open-minded and committed to changes in the resourcing system
• Inherent curiosity about key practice areas across an agency and their skill sets; able to match talent to the right opportunity
• Capacity to manage a busy workload and tight deadlines with high productivity
• Responsive and flexible to ever-changing needs
• Strong organizational and problem-solving skills; exceptional attention to detail
• Strong communications skills: demonstrated ability to communicate clearly with project stakeholders, addressing concerns and presenting mutually beneficial solutions
• Strong emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills; able to build consensus
• Strong character that is comfortable enforcing scheduling controls and setting realistic expectations with project stakeholders
• Organized, positive and proactive person who will not be intimidated by a fast-paced work environment and ongoing multi-tasking and expectations management
• Exceptional communications skills – you know how to synthesize information per audience and you’re comfortable escalating or following up with stakeholders of varying levels, expertise and priorities via email or in-person/on-camera
• Proficient in MS Office - specifically: Excel, Word, PPT, Outlook and PowerBI
  
  
  

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.