Project Manager, Program ​/ Project Manager, Operations Manager

VSA’s purpose is to design for a better human experience. As a strategy and design agency, we blend consumer insights and data with human-centered design to activate meaningful, motivating and measurable experiences in an increasingly noisy world. With offices in Chicago, New York and San Francisco, VSA offers a full range of fully integrated capabilities—branding, advertising, data science and technology—all under one roof.

VSA is also a proud member of Meet The People, an international family of unified and independent agencies. For more than 40 years, we have delivered solutions for business and creative leaders at some of the world’s most respected brands and forward-thinking organizations, including Google, Nike and IBM.

The Project Manager is responsible for supporting senior-level project managers on a given client, potentially across multiple clients and managing some smaller projects on their own. They are charged with the overall health of the projects, including day-to-day project communications, financial management, resources, risk mitigation, and both internal and external relationships.

• Project Management
• 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.

The Senior Project Manager has the following education, experience, and licenses:

• 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…