Associate Director, Project Management

At Real Chemistry, making the world a healthier place isn’t just an aspiration—it’s our everyday reality. Our drive to transform healthcare is informed by our blend of deep scientific expertise, human-centred creativity, and AI-driven insights, fostering a unique environment where innovation thrives and our people are impact-obsessed. As a global agency, we provide a full suite of services across healthcare communications and marketing to our clients, including top players in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries.

Our #LifeatRealChem culture is rooted in our people—we believe we are best together and are committed to excellence for both our clients and colleagues. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just starting your career, if you share our passion for healthcare and connection, we invite you to explore our opportunities.

Discover your purpose. Embrace innovation. Experience #LifeatRealChem.

Job Summary:

Real Chemistry is looking for an Associate Director, Project Management to join our growing team!

The Associate Director of Project Management is responsible for the successful delivery of projects across a large portfolio of multi-faceted integrated projects, throughout all phases of a project’s life cycle, from initial scope to final delivery. They will ensure operational effectiveness through the management of delivery systems, financial systems, project management systems and resource allocation processes.

This person should have experience and proven ability in planning, staff management of various levels of project managers, and executing large end to end integrated campaigns involving various media partners, multi-functional in-house teams as well as outside vendors. They will understand the roles and responsibilities of each department’s team member on the project.  They will work with a disciplinary team of specialists to ensure delivery of digital projects (website/email, banners, app/social/VR), print projects (factsheets, infographics, brochures), branding projects (key messaging, logos, style guides), social activation projects (influencer, social campaign ideation, events, social posts on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter), creative campaigns projects (AI, photoshoots, illustration), conference projects (booth, displays, leave-behinds) and on occasion new business pitches.

The right person for this role will have to be Excellence driven, have an Accountable With An I mentality and will be solution-oriented, providing recommendations to the team when challenges arise.

This is a hybrid role, based in any of our US offices—including New York City, Lambertville, Boston, Chicago, Carmel, or San Francisco—or remotely within the US, depending on team and business needs.

What you'll do:

• Staff Management
  • Oversee and manage project managers to ensure excellent project delivery that is on time and within budget
  • Ability to develop the skill sets of project managers to work in an integrated manner
  • Responsible for the billability targets and resource allocation of direct reports
  • Foster an environment of growth and opportunity within the PM department and agency. Examples include developing training decks and leading team trainings.
  • Supporting updating processes & team job descriptions
  • Interviewing, be a part of the hiring consensus process, and training new project managers
• Fiscal oversight & responsibilities
  • Oversee program(s) of ~$6MM+ in revenue
  • Ability to estimate new business scopes and opportunities
  • Develop and review detailed staff plans based on information provided by SMEs as well as reviews staff plans from junior level project managers for accuracy of hours and assumption
  • Partner closely with Team Leads and Finance to effectively drive profitable margins on the accounts
• Responsible for ongoing analysis and dissemination of financial information such as project burns as it pertains to the program(s)
• Agency systems & operations
  • Understand agency systems and processes for operational effectiveness as well as to help onboard new project managers
  • Manage larger-scale, cross-pillar and/or “high-profile” project(s)
  • Partner with department leaders and resource management to create cross-functional teams that can deliver the best integrated solutions for our clients
• Individual contributor to projects
  • Understand project interdependencies and can identify, address, and carry through inputs and information from one project across all other projects within the program
  • Partner closely with the Account team and other key team members during the planning phase of projects to help guide on timing, feasibility of project and identify any barriers that may delay the initiation of the project/program
  • Identify delivery-related risks and develop mitigation plans in collaboration with account business leads and respective subject matter experts
  • Keep teams updated by sharing information (via timelines, hot sheets, status sheets, status meeting, burn reports, project retrospective reports) on a regular basis through the appropriate channels

What you should have:

• 7+ years of project management experience working in a creative advertising agency.
• 3+ years of experience managing a team of project managers.
• Understanding of client profitability management, scoping, and budgeting; has financial understanding accounts of $5mm+ in revenue
• Working familiarity with healthcare industry-specific processes, including MLR processes.
• Familiarity with platforms such as Workfront, Outlook, Veeva, Adobe, Box, OpenAir, JIRA.
• Experience in executing integrated digital marketing campaigns and have a comprehensive understanding of digital, social, and print marketing channels.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment while maintaining a positive attitude.
• Ability to communicate clearly and concisely with technical and non-technical teams across multiple businesses; excellent written, verbal, presentation, and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to identify and solve difficult challenges and be able to reach out to the correct SMEs for assistance.
• Excellent interpersonal skills with an ability to reason quickly combined with concise cross-functional collaborating and communication skills - verbal and written.
• Demonstrated understanding of project interdependencies (can identify, address, and carry through inputs and information from one project across all other projects within the program).
• Must be highly organized with a proven track record of leading multiple projects and accounts simultaneously.
• Comfortable consulting and interfacing with clients and have a proven track record of earning client trust and
• Experience managing or mentoring at least two direct reports.
• Excellent time management skills
• Experience working on Agency of Record (AOR) healthcare projects/accounts for pharma brands.
• Flexible with always evolving processes.

Pay Range: $108,000 - $120,000 
This is the pay range the Company believes it will pay for this position at the time of this posting.  Consistent with applicable law, compensation will be determined based on job-related, non-discriminatory factors including but not limited to work experience, skills, certifications, and geographical location. The Company reserves the right to modify this pay range at any time

Real Chemistry is proud to be Great Place to Work® certified; check out what our people shared about our culture and workplace on our Great Places to Work Profile here.

We believe we can do our best when feeling our best, which is why we’ve put together a benefits program designed to give you the support you and your family need at every stage of life. Real Chemistry offers a comprehensive benefit program and perks, tailored to your region. Globally, this includes offices in our key markets with free snacks to keep you running all day long, generous holiday and paid time off, options for private medical, dental, and vison plans, and support in saving for the future. Other perks include mental wellness coaching and support and access to more than 13,000 online classes with LinkedIn Learning.  Learn more about our great benefits and perks and search specific offerings in your region at: www.realchemistrybenefits.com.

Working with Real HART: Since the pandemic, we have adapted to how our people told us they want to work. We have office locations in cities in the US, UK, and Europe with many employees and clients that serve as hubs where and when they need us. For employees who are within an hour of one of our offices, we expect attendance in the office two days per week, either at a Real Chemistry office or onsite with clients. We are also actively opening new office locations, so if one opens near you, our Real HART policy will apply. We are not looking for attendance for the sake of attendance but believe that the opportunity to coordinate in-office team meetings, 1:1 meetings with managers, taking advantage of on-site learning, and connecting with client partners is a critical to delivering on our purpose of making healthcare what it should be. Outside of these offices, we have regions, where people work remotely but come together quarterly for collaboration, culture and learning opportunities. We call this our Real Hybrid and Regional Teams (Real HART) approach. Real Chemistry believes we are best together – and our workplace strategy fosters connection and collaboration in person – but also supports flexibility for our people.

Real Chemistry is an Equal Opportunity employer. We continually strive to build and sustain an inclusive and equitable work environment where our employees feel empowered to leverage all they bring from their personal lived experience and professional expertise, to make our team the best in the industry. We encourage motivated and qualified applicants to apply without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, ethnic or national origin, age, physical or mental disability, genetic information, marital information, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local employment discrimination laws where Real Chemistry operates. Should you require accommodations throughout the interview process please let your recruiter know.

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