Project Manager

Who We Are:

We are a fiercely entrepreneurial ad agency that blends creativity and performance to build great brands. We call this approach Soul + Science. With offices in San Francisco, New York, Chicago and Seattle, we serve as collaborative business partners to some of the world’s best brands including Ben & Jerry’s, Jose Cuervo, Alaska Airlines, Charles Schwab and OkCupid, among others.

Being a Mekanista requires a rare combination of being a weird, fearless and wonderful person who enjoys birthday cakes, well behaved dogs, and shared sensibility of respect and not taking ourselves too seriously.

Mekanism has been named to Ad Age’s A-List and twice to their Best Places to Work list. Most recently, Mekanism was named Independent Agency of the Year by The Drum and a Top 10 Most Effective Independent Agency in the US by the Effie Index. We have been profiled by The New York Times, Fast Company and ABC’s Nightline. Our campaign methodologies are studied by Harvard Business School.

The Project Manager:

The Project Manager is a curious and inquisitive learner; someone with a project-management brain, a knowledge of integrated advertising tactics and a desire to facilitate great teams and their work. As a result, they wear many hats. 

They have 2+ years of experience as a project manager in an advertising agency or similar industry. They are strong leaders and creative problem solvers whose project management expertise allows them to manage all aspects of the project life cycle from inception to delivery moving projects through all teams and project milestones. They will identify the need or opportunity to involve other internal/integrated agency departments at the optimal time including finance, creative management, brand management, strategy, media, social, data analytics, and production, ensuring everyone is clear on assignments, workload is manageable, calendars make sense, hours are being billed to the correct job, and a general solver-of-problems.

They maintain an understanding of a project’s ever-evolving needs, while keeping it on time and of the highest quality. They are a strong financial supporter who is committed to tracking projects, hours, and raising red flags as needed. 

They should be interested in process, operations, system tools and have a desire to continue finding and developing improvement and efficiencies in the system. 

Key Areas of Responsibility:

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

Core Responsibilities

• Project & Account Ownership: Serve as the central hub for all project-related information, maintaining a constant pulse on workflow, status, and delivery.
• Operational Excellence: Proactively identify and address potential roadblocks, from scheduling conflicts and bandwidth issues to unclear briefs and incremental deliverables.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Act as the strategic link between internal departments, ensuring information, feedback, and documents are routed to the right people at the right time.
• Financial & Scope Management: Proactively manage project budgets and scopes, ensuring profitability and alerting stakeholders to potential issues.

Process & Deliverables

• Timeline & System Ownership: Create and own project timelines, working with all departments to secure alignment before a project begins. Maintain the project management system and ensure all entries are accurate and up to date.
• Meeting Facilitation: Lead or facilitate internal meetings related to project milestones, capturing notes, key feedback, and clear next steps.
• Production Support: Serve as a dedicated production supporter, ensuring production is involved at the right time. Create and manage holistic project schedules that allow for proper production time and resource allocation.
• Quality Control: Be accountable for the quality assurance and quality control of all deliverables before they are shared with the client.
• Asset Management: Create and maintain up-to-date project folders and server organization for all assets throughout creative development.

Embody the Mekanism Values

• Believe in bold
• Bring your weird
• Practice optimism
• Have each other’s backs
• Pursue what’s next
• Give a sh*t

Qualifications:

• At least 2 years of Project Management (or similar) experience
• Be a team player, ability to effectively play nice with others 
• Ability to lead multiple brands; solid communication and decision-making skills
• Exceptional organizational skills; able to juggle multiple projects as well as disparate information
• Comfort in working autonomously, while also keeping Head of Project Management and PM team abreast of all project’s status
• Agency experience mandatory; experience managing multiple brands highly preferred
• Curious and inquisitive: someone that wants to roll up their sleeves and build something new
• Able to work under tight deadlines and handle multiple tasks in parallel

Pay Range: $75,000 - $80,000