Senior Associate, Delivery Management
Description
Mindshare is a media services company that accelerates Good Growth for its clients in the age of transformation. The solutions we create are both Good for consumers and drive Growth for our clients. We were the first purpose-built company created by WPP and today we are 10,000 people working in 116 offices in 86 countries, helping to drive Good Growth for our clients, our people, the industry and the world. Mindshare is a WPP agency and a principal member of the GroupM network of Media agencies within WPP. Please visit us at www.mindshareworld.com
Summary
This role will work closely with multi-disciplinary teams driving transformation for our clients – helping to ensure the teams are delivering promised and expected results to unlock value for our clients. This critical role will act as a connector and collaborator across workstreams, specialists, and client stakeholders to translate scope into plans needed to deliver required outputs. This role requires coordination and facilitation across multiple internal stakeholders, timelines, and resources, ideally in an agile way. The ambition is to connect transformation efforts to the day-to-day, helping teams to optimize processes, deliver better quality and more efficient outputs.
Mindshare operates in a matrixed organization – you'll be part of the Delivery Management practice which will provide community of craft, frameworks / toolkits, performance expectations and career management while day-to-day work and priorities will be directed by the client leadership team on the accounts to which you’re assigned.
Key Attributes:
As a Sr Associate in the Delivery Leadership craft, you will work as an integral member of client teams driving marketing and media transformation. You will play a key role in the management of, communication about and coordination across multiple concurrent workstreams. You will help implement and drive simple yet effective project and program governance processes. You build strong relationships across the agency and client team to ensure visibility, clarity, collaboration and strategic alignment. You will be a strategic problem solver as well as an effective business operator. You will partner with Finance teams to look holistically at account financials, utilization data and capacity management. You will support teams to ensure strategic alignment with client and agency priorities. You will work across multiple workstreams and teams, identifying and solving unexpected issues, and facilitating collaboration to stay on track. A can-do, roll-up your sleeves attitude to problem solving is essential -- making sure you work with people from the client, GroupM, WPP and across the team to find solutions in a timely manner. You should be passionate about helping Mindshare to build a best-in-class delivery management culture focused on driving change, organizational agility and continuous improvement. When needed you’ll help coach others on project management, process design and change management fundamentals.
You’re comfortable wearing multiple hats including project manager, strategic thinker, process designer, change agent and consultative problem solver with a proven track record of driving results. You are are comfortable working in a matrixed environment where day-to-day direction, priority setting and in-the-moment feedback is coming from client engagement leadership team while coaching, career growth planning, best practices and standard approaches come from the global practice.
Objectives:
Delivery Leadership
- Owns day-to-day project management driving collaboration and progress
- Contributes to overall program management across multiple concurrent workstreams helping to actively manage timelines, cross-team dependencies and overall program risk.
- Understands and translates overall team scope, ensuring the team understands their parts, and creates the plans to deliver expected outcomes
- Keeps team leadership and clients updated on team status, drives mitigation of risks and actively tracks / communicates dependencies
- Internal connector and facilitator to ensure complex solutions are orchestrated across workstreams
- Helps leadership teams to define effective governance model to drive connection, collaboration, and communication within the team and with the client stakeholders
- Develops an in-depth understanding of the Client business
- Manages ad hoc requests and enlists people needed to action them
Delivery Operations
- Partners with finance teams on account financials, invoicing and POs
- May help drive creation and curation of QBR contents
The Ideal Candidate
- 2-4 years experience with proven success in Business Analysis, Project Management or Management Consulting roles preferably in a global consulting firm. Working knowledge of Media Agency and Holding Company capabilities, solutions and operating models is a plus
- Understands essentials of translating strategic vision and priorities into operational reality
- Contributes to the building of efficient and highly effective teams with well-defined ways of working and strong collaboration
- Fosters communication and knowledge sharing within and outside of the team
- Able to work independently with some coaching and oversight to drive results and expected outcomes
- Comfortable in a fast-paced, dynamic environment where priorities will shift
Essential criteria
- Firm knowledge of project management, process documentation & design
- Developing knowledge of change management standards and approaches
- Comfortable working with leadership to translate strategic vision and priorities into tactics, tasks and workstreams
- Quintessential planner who can plot the course from start to finish, identify and mitigate risks, and is developing ability to shift between the strategic and tactical
- Adept collaborator who is comfortable fostering relationships and working across all levels both internal and client
- Strong analytical and problem solving skills – able to identify hidden problems and collaborates as needed to drive solutions
- Comfortable with ambiguity and breaking down complex problems into simple solutions
- Comfortable challenging the status quo and suggesting change
- Firm understanding of effective ways of working - leverages technology and automation where possible to work smarter not harder
- Skilled at written / verbal communication and storytelling skills - has a developing understanding of how to tailor message based on audience
Other core skills:
- Knowledge of project management, collaboration and knowledge sharing tools such as Teams/SharePoint, Planner, Miro, Wrike
- Lifelong learner who is comfortable leaning into unknown subject areas and quickly gaining working knowledge and understanding
- Understands how to operate in a matrixed organization taking day-to-day direction from client-based teams and adhering to practice / craft specific standards
About Mindshare:
We also offer an extensive training program to help guide your career development while you’re with us. There’s a wide range of options to suit everyone at all levels of your career.
At Mindshare, we are committed to actively building a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace where everyone feels welcomed, valued and heard, and is treated with dignity and respect. As leaders and creative partners across industries, it is our responsibility to cultivate an environment reflective of our greatest asset; our people. We believe that this commitment inspires growth and delivers equitable outcomes for everyone as well as the clients and communities we serve.
GroupM provides equal employment opportunities to applicants and employees without regard for factors such as race, religion, national origin, colour, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, protected veteran status, disability, or other protected status.
GroupM is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to, among others, individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans. If you need an accommodation because of a disability to search and apply for a career opportunity with GroupM, please send an e-mail to carmen.serrano@groupm.com or call (212) 297-8507 and let us know the nature of your request and your contact information
The base salary for this position at the time of this posting may range from $45,000 to $100,000. Individual compensation varies based on job-related factors, including business needs, experience, level of responsibility and qualifications. We offer a competitive benefits package, please visit https://www.wpp.com/careers/wellbeing/benefits-at-wpp-in-the-us for more details.