Project Manager

Summary

VSA Partners is a strategy and design agency that combines consumer insights, data, and human-centered design to create meaningful experiences. The Project Manager supports senior-level project managers, oversees smaller projects, and manages project communications, finances, resources, risks, scope, and client relationships.

Responsibilities

• Support senior-level project managers on a given client/program or across multiple clients/programs and/or oversee and direct multiple individual projects
• Ensure projects meet or exceed internal team and client expectations, including being on time and on budget
• Interface with senior marketing, technical, and executive management at the client to ensure the solution is understood and addresses the customer’s business requirements
• Contribute content and presentation of key client deliverables as needed to ensure relevancy, strategy, quality, timeliness, and adherence to SOWs
• Manage and control project scope and the change control process to ensure that projects are executed according to agreed-upon scope, schedule, and budget
• Supervise and raise awareness of all project issues and risks, working with appropriate team members to develop solutions
• Communicate relevant project information to the client, such as status, risk, issues, or deliverables
• Contribute to, review, and manage creation of client SOWs, ensuring accuracy and legal and financial compliance
• Collaborate with the project team to drive the approach, deliverables, schedule, and tools to deliver the project within established constraints; ensure accurate financial management of projects
• Coordinate activities of the project team and ensure project tasks, including scheduling and facilitating project-related team meetings (i.e., kickoffs, status, internal/client reviews), conveying action steps to the team, and delivering weekly status reports to project team, the client, and management
• Work with Accounting to manage project billing schedules, including reviewing invoices and tracking fees and expenses
• Develop, maintain, review, and/or disseminate project documentation, including status reports, invoices, change orders, project timelines, budgets, and sunset reviews
• Ensure project documentation is produced in the standard format, follows internal documentation processes, and is reviewed and approved
• Work with Resource Management to ensure projects are appropriately staffed, including both employee and contract resources
• Partner with, manage communications, and execute project scope requirements with sister agencies within contract parameters
• Additional responsibilities as assigned

Skills

• 3-5 years of demonstrated ability coordinating brand, marketing, campaign and digital projects, preferably in a consulting or agency environment
• Bachelor's degree in business administration with a concentration in project management, advertising/marketing, or related field
• Experience using project management methodology, including the ability to develop and track scopes of work, identify and resolve issues, mitigate risk, develop detailed task-based project plans and specifications, perform resource allocations, and lead team meetings
• Experience with project life cycles, print and digital production processes, and the delivery of solutions with creative and engineering components, advertising projects, brand strategy, and research projects
• Strong organizational and time management skills
• Strong team player; ability to assist with facilitating teams and clients
• Ability to be highly organized, accurate, and timely; able to prioritize
• Adaptability, flexibility, persistence, versatility, and ability to handle multiple projects and changing priorities
• Ability to organize information, pay attention to detail, accurately follow procedures, maintain confidential information, and remember important pieces of information
• Ability to maintain self-motivation and to work independently and in collaborative environments
• Ability to develop and demonstrate an understanding of the client's business, needs, expectations, and requirements
• Strong knowledge of one or more of the following: creative project management, web development processes and the delivery of solutions with creative and technology components, advertising, digital marketing, print, strategy, and brand research
• Strong digital literacy in Google Suite/MS Office (particularly Sheets/Excel), email, project, and team communication software (e.g., Workamajig, Smartsheet, Jira, Slack, DoneDone)
• Ability to interact at all levels of the company and with external parties in a professional manner, maintaining effective communication—both written and spoken
• Some evenings and weekend work may occasionally be required to meet deadlines
• Experience managing deliverables against a media plan is a plus

Qualifications

Must Haves

• 3-5 years of demonstrated ability coordinating brand, marketing, campaign and digital projects, preferably in a consulting or agency environment
• Bachelor's degree in business administration with a concentration in project management, advertising/marketing, or related field
• Experience using project management methodology, including the ability to develop and track scopes of work, identify and resolve issues, mitigate risk, develop detailed task-based project plans and specifications, perform resource allocations, and lead team meetings
• Experience with project life cycles, print and digital production processes, and the delivery of solutions with creative and engineering components, advertising projects, brand strategy, and research projects
• Strong organizational and time management skills
• Strong team player; ability to assist with facilitating teams and clients
• Ability to be highly organized, accurate, and timely; able to prioritize
• Adaptability, flexibility, persistence, versatility, and ability to handle multiple projects and changing priorities
• Ability to organize information, pay attention to detail, accurately follow procedures, maintain confidential information, and remember important pieces of information
• Ability to maintain self-motivation and to work independently and in collaborative environments
• Ability to develop and demonstrate an understanding of the client's business, needs, expectations, and requirements
• Strong knowledge of one or more of the following: creative project management, web development processes and the delivery of solutions with creative and technology components, advertising, digital marketing, print, strategy, and brand research
• Strong digital literacy in Google Suite/MS Office (particularly Sheets/Excel), email, project, and team communication software (e.g., Workamajig, Smartsheet, Jira, Slack, DoneDone)
• Ability to interact at all levels of the company and with external parties in a professional manner, maintaining effective communication—both written and spoken
• Some evenings and weekend work may occasionally be required to meet deadlines

Nice to Haves

• Experience managing deliverables against a media plan is a plus