Vendor Management Project Manager

Direct Hire Opportunity in Chicago within  Pharmaceutical Communications Industry

Accepting Resumes Immediately!

The A&F Group, an Integrity Staffing Solutions company, is currently seeking an experienced Project Manager well versed in Vendor Management within the pharmaceutical communications industry in the Chicago area.  The A&F Group provides comprehensive professional level staffing services on a nationwide basis and has been bringing companies and professionals together for over 12 years.  At The A&F Group, we find the best, highest paying professional level positions within the top companies in the area.  Most of the positions we identify will never be found in a newspaper or online because of the exclusive relationships we have with our clients who trust The A&F Group's recruiting team to identify top talent to fill their critical hiring needs. Finding a top paying job at a great company is often like signing the contract of a lifetime; let us get to work for you today!

The Project Manager is responsible for ensuring that every project follows the Agency process and meets all necessary deliverables.  The Project Manager is expected to own/know the status of every project, from job initiation to release/deployment, in order to meet client deliverables on time and on budget.

Principle Responsibilities

Training/Management

• Collaborates with team in training clients on agency process during Agency Days or other client-attended meetings

• Maintains contact with Director to ensure he/she knows progress of all jobs and is aware of conflicts as they arise

Process/Workflow

• Demonstrates understanding of the scope of all assigned projects

• Creates and manages all timelines

• Has clear vision of next steps

• Works closely with members of the team across multiple departments to define deliverables

• Proactively manages details throughout project

• Prioritizes all projects to manage the workload

• Guides each project through the system

• Has complete ownership of all deliverables

• Identifies and manages all project documentation such as scopes of work, change orders, and completion of all client requirements/changes or agreements

• Demonstrates significant knowledge of Agency procedures, issues faced, and contributes to problem resolution for both digital and print projects

• Responsible for all project plans, job opening/start-up meetings, timelines, scheduling resources, tracking, risk analysis, change management, and overall quality for all print and digital projects

• Keeps all key team members in the loop on projects with full creative services staff and through brand-specific status meetings—ensures full team approval on all projects

• Actively participates in meetings, both internal (brand team) and external (clients, vendors) and delivers instructions in a clear and concise manner

• Works collaboratively with all team members and delegates responsibilities as needed to complete projects and meet client expectations

• Works with production staff through the course of a job to obtain and manage all technical specifications of a project and ensure the feasibility of the finished product

• Maintains detailed job history and shares all pertinent information with the team

• Maintains all online routing projects by monitoring online workflow managing any issues that prevent the completion of a project

• Manages resources to ensure projects are delivered on time and on budget—monitors brand workflow in relation to other brands in the agency

• Reviews workloads with department managers and adjusts timelines or recommends overall resource planning (internal or freelance) accordingly

• Involves art buying/editorial/multi-media/production as needed on projects and provides advance alerts on projects—ensures feasibility checks are being done

• Acts as the center of team communications and maintains constant contact with all agency team members regarding every aspect of workflow and keeps discussions on topic—troubleshoots when problems arise

• Maintains all project reporting (project status, change forms, tracking scope changes) and completes all necessary documentation

• Manages all client submissions and ensures submission accuracy and timely delivery

• Identifies opportunities to adjust process for continuous efficiencies, discusses with supervisor, and helps lead implementation of new workflow procedures

Client/Vendor Relationships

• Acts as primary point of contact on digital projects for vendors or client’s technical departments to identify technical specifications and guidelines necessary for each project to develop, test and deploy

• Identifies vendors to work with for complex digital campaigns and works closely with outside IPM and internal staff to meet client deliverables

• Uses negotiating skills to procure vendors and contracts on digital projects

Financial

• Responsible for cost management on all projects print or digital—runs financial reports (actual vs. estimate) and alerts team when a project goes off task and must be course-corrected

• Works with account management to ensure proper forecasting by developing budgets and project scopes of work and identifying issues that impact delivering a project

• Partners with Finance to ensure that all financial documentation is complete and up to date

• Understands what a project should cost and owns the process of estimating and managing that estimate should the project change and additional costs be incurred

• Raises concerns when there are changes in the scope of work and suggests when to revise estimates to better manage changes to the scope

Qualifications

• Bachelors’ Degree

• Full knowledge of Microsoft Office and Adobe Acrobat Professional

• 6+years of Project Management (including communications/digital); pharma agency experience (preferred)

• Account management experience 

• Experience in leading meetings

• Detail-oriented, self-starter—well organized and flexible

• Ability to manage multiple priorities and meet deadlines—exceptional time management skills

• Collaborative team player/positive influence on teams and individuals/team builder

• Excellent oral and written communication and listening skills

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Tags:  Pharma; pharmaceutical; advocacy; communications; public relations; marketing; print; digital; events; vendor management