Project Director

Department: PR and Influence

Location: London (Sea Containers)

Contract type: Fixed-Term (12 months)

Full Time/Part time: Full Time

Reporting into: PR&I Operations Director

About Ogilvy: 

Ogilvy UK has been creating iconic ideas that deliver impact at scale for clients ever since David Ogilvy founded the company in 1948. Ogilvy UK specialises in bringing together brand advertising, customer experience marketing, PR, influence and consulting, all fuelled by Behavioural Science. Our world-class award-winning creative campaigns deliver solutions for clients including Sainsbury’s, Argos, , Mondelēz International, Unilever, TK Maxx and Pernod Ricard.  

In 2023, Ogilvy UK celebrated their 75th anniversary and was the most awarded agency in Europe. Ogilvy is home to the largest influencer marketing practice globally, and hosts the world’s biggest festival of behavioural science and creativity, Nudgestock – now in its 12th year. 

The Role:

We are looking for a Project Director to lead operations and project management across a significant influencer marketing beauty brand account.

With a specialist focus in influencer marketing, this beauty account has been set up to service every element of the client’s influencer marketing business – from paid campaigns to gifting.

Given the scale and scope of the business we are looking for someone to take ownership of the complex operations of the account, streaming lining processes, putting in place new ones and holding the team to account. Solid skills and experience in project management fundamentals are a must (budgeting, planning, developing statements of work etc.) and managing operational success within an agency environment, including managing forecasting, resourcing and reporting. However, we are also after an individual with an appreciation and understanding of influencer marketing, from the creative process through to data- as well as the people skills to foster a collaborative and efficient team culture.

Key Responsibilities:

• Oversee project delivery and operations across a large client team, supporting team with all commercial and resource management 
• Support client teams to analyse and identify better ways of working, ensure processes are being followed and identify operational improvements
• Excellent at managing expectations and resolving project-related issues
• Work in collaboration with Account Leads on creation, and updates to statements of work, staff plans and project budgets
• Proactively identifying and solving issues and mitigating risk
• Working in partnership with the commercial accountant to achieve commercial targets - attend commercial meetings with client teams to ensure revenue forecasts, cap plans and resource needs are accurate
• Support account team and others to share our delivery process with clients and adhere to it
• Preparing and reviewing scopes of work and proposal development for consistency and accuracy
• Take an active role in project delivery and be responsible for delivering projects on time, within budget and to quality
• Monitor project costs and timeframes against budgets and milestones, proactively managing exceptions to ensure delivery to plan and budget
• Work with team to identify project risks and issues, ensuring effective mitigation and risk strategies are implemented
• Monitor budgets and work with the business to avoid overburns - Running weekly burn reports, providing analysis and support with servicing levels 
• Resource Management to plan proactively including resource trackers and capacity plans across departments 
• Provide regular training for the team on operational and finance processes
• Support team with financial administration such as raising POs, vendor creation and job number creation and working with Finance on issues relating to invoices / payments / budgets / vendors

Requirements:

• Strong interest in project management and operations management
• Demonstrate a proven experience of managing teams and delivering across a wide range of multi-channels, including influencer marketing
• Requires proven experience of working on a fast-paced account, ideally within the influencer marketing space
• Experience of having adapted a delivery process around client needs
• Strong organisation skills; responsive to colleagues for overall efficiency and effectiveness
• Ability to build strong relationships with peers, external clients, and suppliers, and can achieve results under challenging circumstances
• Ability to make sound commercial and financial decisions, quickly understand problems, propose solutions, and manage client situations
• Ability to stay calm under pressure and to have a focused and positive approach, and be self-motivated, self-driven and comfortable working independently if required
• Strong client service ethos, with a commitment to quality and the will to constantly drive improvements. Commitment to high standards of excellence and integrity
• Possess good business acumen and sound judgment. Must be able to be collaborative, supportive and adopt a team-based approach. Will be eager to provide insight and receive feedback
• An accomplished communicator who gains confidence of the business whilst being experienced at operating at all levels.
• Negotiates well, actively listens and makes compelling arguments. Can build strong relationships both with clients, peers, and business counterparts

Practitioner Skills 

• Negotiation skills - achieves the best possible outcome in every negotiation in which you take part. Anticipating, defusing, and resolving conflict between colleagues and clients
• Resource forecasting (across departments) – helps the company forecast resource requirements for the coming months by project
• Expert methodology selection - advanced knowledge and application of the company’s project delivery framework. Knowledge and application of industry best practice
• Knowledge of client methodology – the ability to deliver a project using a client's delivery methodology and reporting standards
• Presentation skills – the ability to contribute to and deliver considered, concise and relevant presentations to colleagues and clients.
• Knowledge of the company’s services offering and interdependencies - sound knowledge of all the company’s service offerings

Managerial Capabilities 

• Stakeholder management - ability to successfully manage multiple suppliers, partners and clients to ensure the best outcome for both client and the company
• Budget and financial management - ability to set, monitor and deliver projects and tasks within agreed financial parameters. Ability to understand, interpret and report on all financial aspects of the role
• Mentoring - supports and encourages team members and colleagues across the wider business to manage their own learning

Leadership Attributes 

• Thinks strategically - evaluates risks
• Inspires creativity and innovation - stimulates team creativity
• Drives results - holds self and others accountable to high performance standards
• Builds teams - proactively addresses performance issues and takes appropriate action
• Exhibits professional excellence - maintains composure under pressure
• Builds relationships - manages the needs of diverse stakeholders
• Communicates effectively - effectively persuades others to support ideas
• Champions change - builds commitment to change

How we help you Thrive:

•  25 days annual leave + 1 Volunteer Day 
• Bupa Healthcare
• Enhanced Maternity, Adoption and Shared Parental Leave
• We have a Flexible Working Model with core working hours: 10am – 4pm
• A 1.5:1 Matching Pension Structure
• Wellbeing and Health: Up to £25.00 per month towards physical or online exercise class membership, Unmind membership, LifeWorks tool and annual eye tests and development budgets and Wellbeing incentives and activities throughout the year 
• Season Ticket Loan and Cycle to Work Scheme
• Life Assurance

Our ambition is to attract the very best diverse talent to Ogilvy, and to be the employer of choice in the UK. We want everyone to feel welcome when they join us, and once they’re here, for them to want to stay with us, grow their career, and to feel they belong with us. 

We are an equal opportunity employer and we’re committed to creating an inclusive, welcoming environment for anyone who wants to work at Ogilvy. We believe that for creativity to flourish, everything about how we work must have diversity at its core. Your race, colour, ancestry, religion, gender, gender identity, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, or veteran status have no bearing on our hiring decisions. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know and we will do everything we can to accommodate.