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Associate Director, Technical Program Management

Chicago, IL; Boston, MA; Raleigh, NC; Kansas City, MO; Remote

At MERGE, we are Built Different. We are a marketing and technology agency purpose-built for the intersection of health and wellness—where human impact matters most. By weaving storytelling through technology, we move beyond traditional engagement to Whole Human Marketing. This approach recognizes that humans are multidimensional and complex, and uses AI to ensure every brand interaction feels natural, contextual, and relevant.

This commitment to human-first innovation is what brings us together and propels us forward. We are united by our North Star: to unite people and brands to empower healthier, happier lives.

Emerge to the Top of Your Career

At MERGE, we strive to create a superior work experience where talented and ambitious people grow. An experience that encourages people to think higher and feel deeper. An experience where people engage their minds and hearts to do the best work of their careers.

As our Associate Director, Technical Program Management, you will… 

Own delivery for client-facing technical initiatives—leading end-to-end website and application projects, maintaining project health (scope, timeline, budget), and coordinating handoffs between strategy, design, and engineering. You’ll act as the main bridge to account teams and Tech Ops, run disciplined planning, reporting, and risk-management practices (burn, forecasts, change control), optimize resourcing and team velocity, mentor junior PMs, and continuously improve processes—including automation or AI-driven workflows—while documenting and scaling best practices across the organization.

Be Accountable and Responsible

  • Delivery Excellence: Lead client-focused website initiatives through disciplined project coordination and technical oversight.
  • Project Health: Exercise ownership of all assigned technical projects from an overall health perspective, ensuring adherence to scope, timeline, and budget.
  • End-to-End Coordination: Oversee the full project lifecycle, including detailed technical estimates, scope definitions, rigorous timelines, and budget management.
  • Team Facilitation: Understand the connections and handoffs between strategy, design, and technical execution and ensure to make the proper touchpoints.
  • Operational Connectivity: In partnership with the account team, act as the primary bridge between the client and technical execution, relaying critical feedback and working closely with Tech Ops to ensure delivery excellence.
  • Resource & Velocity Management: Optimize resource allocation to ensure technical projects are completed efficiently, meeting organizational goals while enhancing the internal user experience.
  • Best Practices: Ensure project processes follow internal best practices, aligning with the agency’s client-facing PMO.
  • Team Management: Manage junior team members on their projects to ensure alignment with Agency processes, and foster their growth by training and looking for opportunities for them to exploit areas of focus.
  • Optimization & Efficiency: Optimizing internal workflows to increase client and/or internal team satisfaction and deepen relationships.
  • Scope Accuracy: Minimizing budget variance and tracking "Scope Creep" through rigorous change management.
  • Process Evolution: Identifying areas for internal improvement and developing implementation plans for AI-driven or automated workflows.
  • Knowledge Transfer: Systematic documentation, sharing of lessons learned and best practices across departments to prevent siloed information.

Operational Excellence & Delivery 

  • Structured Execution: Bring organization to the delivery approach, planning, and meeting execution. Own the agency process and enforce its use to ensure project quality.
  • Proactive Risk Management: Anticipate and identify project risks and bottlenecks early. Partner with stakeholders to manage scope and implement contingency plans that protect schedules and budgets.
  • Meeting & Communication Leadership: Plan and facilitate high-impact meetings and project estimations. Confront issues openly and quickly to maintain momentum.
  • Reporting & Financial Oversight: Deliver detailed progress reports, burn, and forecasts. Track scope changes and actual hours against project plans, making real-time adjustments to ensure profitability and on-time delivery.

Resource & Talent Optimization

  • Cross-Functional Leadership: Bridge the gap between Engineering, Client Experience, Finance, Casting, etc. to align technical output with corporate growth goals.
  • Capacity Planning: Coordinate with Casting colleagues to resource assignments and determine creative ways to distribute responsibilities across disciplines without burning out technical staff.
  • Conflict Resolution: Collaborate with discipline leads, managing personalities and resolving conflicts, fostering a culture of ownership and accountability.

These are the qualifications we’re looking for

  • Experience: 7+ years in a Technical Project Management role, preferably within a marketing/ad agency, or enterprise technology environment, managing multi-million dollar digital portfolios.
  • Platform Expertise: An understanding of marketing technology platforms (e.g. content management systems, digital experience platforms), marketing automation, CMS website development, and custom application development.
  • Communication: Exceptional ability to "translate" technical constraints into business risks for executive stakeholders.
  • Leadership: A proven track record of managing cross-functional teams where diverse disciplines (Creative, Dev, Data) must align under a single project vision.
  • CMS & Application Delivery: Led end-to-end CMS website builds or custom application launches (quantify number of full launches).
  • Financial & Reporting: Hands-on experience producing burn reports, forecasts, and tracking actual hours vs. plan for projects.
  • Capacity Planning: Capacity planning/resource allocation experience for technical teams (managed staffing for concurrent streams or team size).
  • PMO & Processes: Implemented/enforced agency PMO processes (change control, QA gates, sign-offs) on technical projects.
  • Risk & Contingency: Documented risk identification and contingency-plan execution that protected schedule/budget.
  • Automation & AI: Experience designing or implementing automation or AI-driven workflow improvements for delivery.

At MERGE, we’re committed to fostering an environment where our team members can thrive in both their careers and personal lives, ensuring they feel supported and empowered to succeed.

MERGE believes in transparency and equity. In accordance with state regulations, we’re proud to include salary ranges in our job postings to ensure fair compensation practices.

The salary range for this role is $89,000 - $130,000, based on the individual’s skills, experience, qualifications, location, and other relevant factors. The salary pay range is subject to change and may be modified at any time.  

MERGE is proud to invest in benefits that include meaningful Medical, Dental, Vision, Life Insurance, 401K, Lifestyle Spending Account, Employer Paid Life & Disability Insurance, Flexible Time off & Holidays plus many other benefits and rewards.

Applicants for employment in the US must have work authorization that does not now or in the future require sponsorship of a visa for employment authorization in the United States.

 

#LI-DP1

#LI-REMOTE

And here’s how we live our values at MERGE

  • Ability. Mastering our craft
  • Agility. Delivering with a growth mindset
  • Humility. Collaborating for shared success

MERGE is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer

MERGE welcomes and celebrates diversity regardless of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, veteran status or people with abilities. We believe that the more diverse we are, the more creative our work will be!

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