Havas Life London is not just evolving; we’re reimagining what a health and wellness agency can be. We’re building a destination for the brightest minds, the boldest ideas, and the kind of creativity that reshapes industries.
We’re a collective of curious thinkers, courageous makers, and kind collaborators. The culture we’re building is fast, fearless, and future-facing, driven by a belief that creativity is the most powerful force for growth.
We are vibrant collaborators, smart decision-makers, and believers in a win-or-learn mindset. Our emerging creative culture is built on curiosity, courage, and kindness. We expect more from ourselves and those who join our high-performance team.
As part of the Havas Health network, we’re pushing boundaries, embracing AI and emerging tech, and reimagining how strategic creativity can unlock new value for clients across the globe. We’re here to make London the beating heart of global health communications. Be the go-to creative strategic partner for our network colleagues and client partners alike.
The role
The Project Management function plays a pivotal role in driving team agility and collaboration, fostering innovation and creativity, promoting operational excellence, and ensuring the elevation of creative and commercially sound offerings. Partnering with Client Relations and cross-functional talent, the Project Director has dynamic problem-solving skills, strong commercial insight, and the ability to understand and align client expectations with internal capabilities. Through deep client relationships and harnessing processes, talent, and technology, Project Management at Havas Life London will enable ideas to be transformed into impactful outcomes, consistently upholding the highest standards of quality and client satisfaction.
The Project Director is responsible for ensuring the delivery of successful complex projects, aligning talent through a shared vision and clear expectations based on client need, and managing project scope, budgets, and milestones. Managing client discussion on all project aspects and driving excellence across all project phases, from inception to execution and continuous improvement, the Project Director will partner across functions to ensure project performance, alignment to client requirements, and meeting the agency’s highest standards. Acting as a trusted advisor, the Project Director is instrumental in navigating challenges, ambiguity and complexity with confidence, providing clarity and structure, and fostering internal and leading client relationships built on service excellence, high-performance creativity and trust. They play a pivotal role in strengthening and leading the development of client relationships, championing process excellence.
Key Responsibilities
* Partner with cross-functional leads to strategically align talent-to-task across complex projects, incorporating governance and talent planning to support delivery excellence, cost-effective delivery and operational efficiency and operational efficiency
* Ensure alignment of project vision and define accountability for an insights-led brief as a foundation for success and potential to deliver award-winning work
* Actively participate in and influence conversations around project outputs, ensuring creativity and innovation are protected during the project and aligned to the client’s brief
* Nurture trusted cross-functional internal relationships, managing diverse stakeholders and fostering seamless collaboration
* Identify opportunities to leverage network capabilities to enhance cost efficiencies and accelerate project delivery
* Lead the planning, initiation, and execution of projects, ensuring alignment with client expectations and agency standards
* Lead effective project kick-offs and briefings internally and with the client to ensure alignment on the shared project vision, expectations and success metrics
* Develop project foundations and maintain project management tools (job codes, timelines, defined deliverables, budget, trackers)
* Manage project workflow to drive momentum for delivery, monitoring project quality and project health at all phases
* Anticipate and overcome risks and issues during the project lifecycle, ensuring remedial action is applied and stakeholders are notified
* Lead project wrap-ups internally and with the client to review overall project health, wins and learns, and client satisfaction
* Proactively drive continuous improvement, identifying opportunities to refine processes and enhance team performance
* Oversee talent allocation and talent planning across projects, resolving conflicts and ensuring optimal delivery capacity through weekly talent reviews
* Champion talent development, identifying skill gaps and opportunities for growth to support evolving project needs and agency ambitions
* Serve as a senior point of contact for clients, providing strategic guidance and assurance across all aspects of project delivery
* Lead the client discussion on all project aspects, providing clarity and assurance, ensuring appropriate engagement of cross-functional specialists
* Partner with the Client Relations Lead, building and maintaining strong, trust-based relationships through clear communication and structured Project Management, and identifying and nurturing organic growth opportunities
* Develop and manage project budgets, monitor financial performance, project recoverability and on-budget delivery through monthly reconciliations
* Effectively manage scope and scope changes, keeping the client informed of impact, together with Client Relationship Leads, and reflect changes in project management tools
* Drive adoption of agency processes and collaborate with cross-functional leads to ensure process alignment and effective communication to the broader project talent pool
* Drive adoption and utilisation of agency and project management tools (Pronto) aligned to agency and network KPIs
* Champion use of approved network AI tools to drive operational efficiencies, consistency and task automation
* Provide regular updates to Client Relations Lead and cross-functional team, Project Management peers and agency leadership on project risks, issues, and performance metrics
* Establish and track KPIs to measure project success, team performance, and client satisfaction, using insights to inform future planning and decision-making
* Effective management of direct line reports, including timely completion of annual reviews
* Mentor Project Management juniors and peers to support personal growth and identify training needs and opportunities
About you
* Proven experience in project management within a creative, digital, or agency environment with a bias towards medical communications
* Strong leadership and stakeholder management skills, including client-facing and relationship skills
* Demonstrated ability to manage complex projects, budgets, and resources effectively
* Excellent communication abilities, including active listening and clear articulation of plans, updates, and issues
* Strategic and analytical thinking to support problem solving and decision making
* Proficiency in project management tools and methodologies
* Experience in process improvement and operational strategy is highly desirable