Project Director, London

Project Director Wood Lane, London, W12Company Description

Who we are

Langland, a Publicis Health company, is the only health communications agency that thinks further across Clinical Trial Experience, Medical Strategy & Education, Public Relations & Policy, and Advertising, to create unique value with visionary clients.

What we believe

Health brings us together. In the diseases we suffer, the medicines we create, and the causes we champion, health shows us our collective humanity. When we break the barriers that divide us, when we think further, we can create healthier futures, together.

A passion for craft

Having expert thinking is only part of our story. To ensure excellence in everything we make, we have centred our disciplines around three essential crafts: science, strategy and creativity.

Job Description

Our Project Directors are our delivery experts. They show the way, ensuring Project Management excellence is at the core of what we do. They are delivery focussed but with the ability to see the bigger picture, being experts who help drive projects and teams forward. There are also operational aspects to the role ensuring we have the workload covered and are managing things in the right way.

The Role

As a Project Director you will be comfortable being the expert in the room from a delivery perspective. You will work across a wide variety of client, programmes, projects and tasks, leading multi skilled teams through all stages of the project lifecycle. You will ensure we stick to the right path and have considered all eventualities, making sure we are financially aware, have the right resource in place and are hitting our deadlines. You will also be seen as the go to person to solve our challenges and make sure everyone is on the same page. The role also manages other team members, their workloads, supporting and mentoring them and always promotes delivery excellence. The role is responsible for making the correct commercial decisions for the benefit of the Agency, whilst also enabling our creativity, expertise and craft to shine. You will be confident enough to bring all team members on that journey, communicating with all levels of stakeholders and helping other team members to do the same. You will have outstanding attention to detail, a logical approach and great communication skills. Financial systems, spreadsheets and timing plans come naturally to you, and you use them to flag and mitigate risks, whilst always looking to put in place ways of working that improve our approach and efficiency. You will be looked upon as a senior voice within the agency.

What you will do:

• Lead entire programmes of work and be responsible for ensuring all workstreams are planned, resourced and commercially covered
• Plan and lead the way on how to approach a given programme of work or project
• Build internal and client relationships easily and always communicate with clarity and certainty
• Gain trust in your decision making and show the way by doing
• Lead projects where required and be responsible for their overall delivery
• Create accurate scopes of work (annual and project-based), resourcing plans and timelines for projects
• Track the financial health of your projects and clients through burn reports and reconciliations
• Manage resource bookings for your projects where required and work with other departments to secure the correct resource
• Constantly highlight risks and provide solutions to mitigate them
• Manage change and be flexible in changing course with the overall delivery as the focus
• Work with 3rd parties to provide services and be responsible for them delivering
• Make sure project delivery remains on track at all times
• Own and actively manage PM casting and capacity across your programme of work
• Develop programme road maps and high-level programme plans
• Create capacity plans against all required resources to deliver against a programme of work
• Own and lead the programme governance process, preparing governance reports, running governance meetings and following up with documented actions and owners
• Ensure PMs within your BU are working correctly and efficiently
• Ensure the correct approvals are in place for any work going through the Agency
• Change ways of working and suggest improvements whenever you see the opportunity
• Support and mentor other team members ensuring they work in a consistent and effective manner
• Be a positive advocate for the project management team and represent them in senior management meetings
• Be willing to learn and ask questions to aid yours and the agency’s development

Qualifications

Who you are:

Skills

• You have the ability to manage complex, cross function, multi-channel projects influencing quality, budgets and timings
• You should have strong commercial acumen and ability to manage, understand and report on financial health of projects
• You should be able to identify gaps in knowledge and skillsets and recommend solutions to close those gaps
• You have the ability to understand resource management, forecasting and capacity planning
• You will have exceptional written and verbal communication skills and be able to influence internal and external stakeholders, consulting and negotiating at the correct moments
• You should be able to lead scope, timing and budget development including a way of managing risk on all projects and across a programme of work

• You will have the ability to choose the correct communication method for the situation and use it to build relationships across all levels of the organisation
• You should have strong attention to detail and an ability to influence and listen

Approach

• You must have an interest in working within healthcare – we’ll expect to see genuine enthusiasm for what we do here
• You’ll be willing to offer operational guidance and solutions for the entire agency and have the ability to positively influence all stakeholders to you point of view
• You should be action orientated, leading and showing by doing with the ability to be the bigger person in a conversation, if needed, to help the bigger picture
• You will be willing to work across all types of projects and tasks and thrive in a pressured environment where delivery is key

Experience

• You will have extensive experience within project management and agencies and show evidence of an ability to consistently deliver to a high standard
• You will have experience of leading large multi-faceted clients and project teams
• Healthcare delivery experience is not mandatory but highly desirable
• You must have experience of being the lead PM within a team and be able to show effective people leadership and a desire to develop more inexperienced PMs
• You will have experience of creating production and project strategies for brands or clients
• You will have experience of the full project lifecycle ranging from client brief through strategy, creative, design, copywriting, asset creation, production, execution and delivery

Additional Information

Publicis London has fantastic benefits on offer to all of our employees. In addition to the classics, Pension, Life Assurance, Private Medical and Income Protection Plans we also offer;

• WORK YOUR WORLD opportunity to work anywhere in the world, where there is a Publicis office, for up to 6 weeks a year.
• REFLECTION DAYS – Two additional days of paid leave to step away from your usual day-to-day work and create time to focus on your well-being and self-care.
• BENEFITS 24/7 helpline to support you on a personal and professional level. Access to remote GPs, mental health support and CBT. Wellbeing content and lifestyle coaching.
• FAMILY FRIENDLY POLICIES We provide 26 weeks of full pay for the following family milestones: Maternity. Adoption, Surrogacy and Shared Parental Leave.
• HYBRID WORKING, BANK HOLIDAY SWAP & BIRTHDAY DAY OFF You are entitled to an additional day off for your birthday.
• AGENCY DISCOUNTS , onsite gym, and discount in our Publicis-Owned Pub – “The Pregnant Man”

Full details of our benefits will be shared when you join us!

Publicis Groupe operates a hybrid working pattern with full time employees being office-based three days during the working week.

We are supportive of all candidates and are committed to providing a fair assessment process. If you have any circumstances (such as neurodiversity, physical or mental impairments or a medical condition) that may affect your assessment, please inform your Talent Acquisition Partner. We will discuss possible adjustments to ensure fairness. Rest assured, disclosing this information will not impact your treatment in our process.

Please make sure you check out the Publicis Career Page which showcases our Inclusive Benefits and our EAG’s (Employee Action Groups).

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