Director, Project Management
Director, Project Management
Location: New York, NY (Remote)
Department: Project Management
About the Role
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Job Title: Director of Project Management
Role Overview
The Director of Project Management is accountable for the successful rollout of internal structure and processes across Underscore Marketing. This role includes developing comprehensive training materials and leading an end‑to‑end organizational rollout plan. The Director will partner closely with Business Unit leadership teams to drive change management and communications, ensuring organizational readiness and seamless integration.
Key Responsibilities
1. Strategic Portfolio Oversight:
o Own Underscore’s Project Management strategy and delivery standards, ensuring portfolio level alignment with business priorities, measurable benchmarks and its success.
o Provide executive oversight across brands within their portfolio that includes monitoring and balancing scopes, budgets, timelines, MLR requirement, while developing high-performing teams and driving a culture of accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement and success.
o Set clear standards for delivery excellence, including governance, risk management, escalation paths, and decision-making frameworks.
2. Project Management Operating Model:
o Define, standardize, and continuously improve Project Management frameworks, tools, and workflows across the organization.
o Establish governance models, reporting standards, and status cadences for internal and client stakeholders.
o Partner with Finance and Client Service leadership on estimating/scoping, SOW development, forecasting, reconciliation and resource planning.
3. Delivery & Operational Excellence:
o Own end-to-end delivery across multiple pharmaceutical accounts, maintaining alignment to defined scopes, schedules, budgets, and quality.
o Direct complex, multi‑workstream programs from planning through launch, ensuring compliance with regulatory, legal, and internal requirements and adherence to Underscore processes.
o Proactively identify delivery risks and lead mitigation strategies to maintain momentum and quality.
4. Media Activation & AdTech Delivery Experience:
o Proven experience managing end-to-end media activation projects, with strong working knowledge of Paid Search, Programmatic Display and Social ecosystems that includes campaign structure and workflows, as well as understanding of campaign trafficking processes (e.g., ad servers, DSPs, platform setup, naming conventions, and QA procedures).
5. Media Analytics & Measurement Experience:
o Experience managing analytics and reporting projects that support media performance and business insights, with practical knowledge of Google Analytics (GA4) and Google Tag Manager (GTM), including tracking implementation, validation, and troubleshooting.
6. Data & Technical Project Delivery:
o Experience managing data-centric projects, including data pipelines, integrations, or data platform implementations.
7. Systems, Process & Change Enablement:
o Lead internal system and process rollouts, including development of training materials and execution of full plan rollout.
o Partner with Business Unit leaders on change management and communication strategies to ensure organizational readiness and adoption.
o Drive consistent ways of working that support scale, efficiency, and quality across teams.
8. Cross Functional & Client Partnership:
o Act as a senior operational partner to Account, Creative, Media, Strategy, Data, and Production leadership.
o Lead client facing discussions related to timelines, resourcing, production feasibility, and delivery risk.
o Balance client expectations with internal capabilities and regulatory realities, serving as a trusted advisor.
9. People Leadership & Capability Building
o Lead, mentor, and develop a team of Project and Program Managers.
o Set clear expectations around performance, career progression, and development.
o Foster a culture of accountability, ownership, and continuous improvement across the PM discipline.
10. Financial & Resource Stewardship
o Ensure accurate budget management, forecasting, and burn tracking across programs.
o Partner with leadership to optimize resource utilization and capacity planning.
What Success Looks Like
● Business impact:
o Improves delivery efficiency and client outcomes (e.g., higher satisfaction, smoother launches, stronger margins) through continuous improvement and disciplined execution
● Team leadership and development:
o Builds and mentors high-performing PM teams; sets clear expectations, removes blockers, and improves ways of working.
● Proactive risk and issue management:
o Identifies risks early, drives mitigation plans, and escalates with clear options and recommendations.
● Operational rigor and governance:
o Implements repeatable PM processes (planning, status reporting, RAID, change control) that improve predictability and decision-making.
● On-time, on-budget delivery:
o Consistently delivers multi-workstream programs to scope, timeline, budget, and quality standards—with minimal surprises
● Stakeholder confidence:
o Maintains strong client and internal stakeholder trust through crisp communication, clear meeting objectives, and reliable follow-through.
Required Knowledge & Skill Sets
● Proactive Risk and Issue Management
o Risks are identified early, documented, and mitigated; escalations are timely and solutions-oriented.
o Partnering with Client Services and Business Units leads for business growth opportunities.
● Effective Cross-Functional Collaboration
o Work moves forward with clear ownership, clean handoffs, and fewer unnecessary meetings; teams report smoother coordination.
● Standardized, Scalable Processes
o The PM organization runs on repeatable methods, templates, and governance that reduce rework and enable faster onboarding.
● Strong financial stewardship
o Budgets and forecasts are managed transparently; variances are understood early and addressed; financial compliance is maintained.
● Clear Visibility
o Stakeholders have real-time clarity on status, risks, dependencies, decisions needed, and next milestones that are clear and align with Underscore workflows.
● AdTech Delivery Experience:
o Strong understanding of media tracking frameworks, including pixel-based tracking, conversion tracking and attribution set-up
o Understanding of marketing measurement concepts, including attribution models, KPIs, and campaign performance analysis
Qualifications
o Minimum of 10+ years in a project management role, 5+ years' experience with pharma clients.
o bachelor’s degree.
o PMP Certification and/or SCRUM Master Certification is a plus.
o Pioneers Operations Best Practices across agencies and ensures consistency in process across portfolios.
o Leads complex brands or portfolios of brands of $10mm+ revenue
o 6-8 years of supervisory experience managing and mentoring junior, mid-level and senior talent.
o Develops and owns annual SOWs and master staffing documents and partners with Account to ensure accurate annual forecasting.
o Deep knowledge of digital media best practices, including Paid Search, Organic Search, Programmatic, Social and Display.
o Ability to plan and complete product launch
o Extensive knowledge of Microsoft Office suite, SharePoint, Tableau, and Adobe Acrobat
o Extensive knowledge of project management software examples includes Jira, Wrike, Asana
Interested?
Apply by submitting your resume.
Underscore Marketing is a woman-owned, independent agency specializing in life sciences. Since 2002, we've helped clients gain a competitive edge through bold, data-driven promotional strategies that deliver measurable results.
Our team comprises media, strategy, and omnichannel analytics experts who thrive on collaboration, innovation, and results. When you join Underscore, you become part of a dynamic environment where your ideas matter, your growth is supported, and your work helps elevate brands in a competitive healthcare landscape.
If you're passionate about making a difference and want to be part of a team that values integrity, creativity, and results, if that sounds like you, we invite you to share.
Equal Employment Opportunity Statement
Underscore is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace. We provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law. We believe that diversity drives innovation and success, and we welcome candidates from all backgrounds to apply.
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