Associate Director, Project Management

Company description

Heartbeat is a full-service agency for healthcare Challenger Brands. Challengers are playing a high-stakes game-they must battle behemoth market leaders, upend ingrained treatment habits, or transform a "me-too" product into "yes-please."

The agency is known for serving up distinctive strategies and differentiating approaches, ensuring clients' market positions are uniquely owned. Heartbeat designs their organization around a 100% integration model, housing media, strategy, med comms, creative, technology, and even point of care/population health under the same roof for the tightest, most integrated campaigns possible. They price work based on outcomes, not outputs. Their innovative model delivers not only alignment, but powerful orchestration, greater efficiency, and maximum impact for every dollar spent-all the necessary elements for Challengers to triumph.

That's the philosophy, here's the creds: 250+ employees between NYC & LA; 6 agency leaders with decades of tenure; a pile of awards from the likes of the Mannys, MM&M Awards, OMMAs, and Clios; an industry-leading commitment to diversity and inclusion (with a Med Ad News D&I Champion nod to match); and a President who dared to be quoted as saying, "We celebrate people who stand up and say, 'You know what? This is dumb.' Damn straight.


Overview

The Associate Director, Project Manager is a strategic leader responsible for generating, shaping, driving, and executing project plans that keep creative, client, and production work moving with clarity and accountability. This person oversees multidisciplinary teams, supports smart resourcing and process, mentors project management talent, and fosters a culture of collaboration, creativity, ingenuity, and integrity within the agency and Publicis network.

We're Heartbeat, the marketing agency for Healthcare Challenger Brands and the brave clients behind them. And hopefully you're our next Associate Director, Project Manager, helping us deliver game-changing campaigns for consumers and HCPs.

Read on to learn more about what qualities we're looking for in a new member of the crew and why you're gonna dig working with us.


Responsibilities

How you'll strengthen the team:

Our team is looking for someone who brings lots of laughs and no ego. We're a team that loves to share memes, successes, and processes that help us learn from failure. Beyond that, here's how you'll make your mark:
• Leading tactical planning and SOW development
• Improving processes and applying best practices across the work
• Maintaining clear client and vendor communication
• Overseeing team and client health
• Resolving conflicts and helping teams stay aligned
• Owning client rec sheets in collaboration with the business manager

How you'll grow with us:

Associate Director, Project Manager is where you'll start, but we're always planning for where you'll go. Our Associate Directors are all expected to hone skills that will help build on their careers. Those skills include:
• Building high-performing teams
• Conflict resolution, both internal and client-facing
• RFP ballpark development
• Managing direct reports and mentoring non-direct reports
• Building your team's best practices documents
• Taking on greater responsibility for maintaining team and client health
• Collaborating with leadership on staff planning and forecasts

Hell yes, I want to do all of that. But tell me more about Heartbeat...

Heartbeat is a healthcare marketing and creative agency, headquartered in NYC and powered by smart people all over the US. In the past four years, we've been named a 4-time "Best Place to Work" by AdAge and MM+M and a "Diversity & Inclusion Champion" by MedAdNews.

We care about three big things:

1. Empowering Challenger Brands

We work with marketers who have big mountains to climb and the ambition to make it happen. As their sherpa and sidekicks, we must relentlessly deliver on our core values: insightful, inventive, and courageous.

2. Being the Best Place You'll Ever Work

This isn't all pool tables and Bagel Fridays. It's about giving you the support to do and be your best, including unlimited PTO and self-care stipends. We also love to let loose, whether through selfie scavenger hunts or bouts of companywide bingo that would shock even the rowdiest retirement communities.

3. Fostering a Diverse & Caring Community

We're the most diverse agency in healthcare, by design. No matter your story, you'll find representation and amplification through our affinity groups, cultural celebrations, and unwavering support no matter what society throws at us. We're proud to say that you can be anything you want at Heartbeat, as long as it's not an a**hole.

There's a reason 1/3 of Heartbeaters have been here for 4+ years and we have a 90% retention rate. We hope you'll experience it for yourself.


Qualifications

What you're bringing with you:

Across 5+ years of experience, you know what it takes to slay project management. These are the core skills you've totally nailed:
• Scope development
• Template development
• Process improvements and applications
• Mentoring project managers and team members
• Client and vendor communication
• Team building and leadership skills
• Owning anywhere from 2-5 high-profile projects at a time, along with your standard run of projects


Additional information

Our Publicis Groupe motto "Viva La Différence" means we're better together, and we believe that our differences make us stronger. It means we honor and celebrate all identities, across all facets of intersectionality, and it underpins all that we do as an organization. We are focused on fostering belonging and creating equitable & inclusive experiences for all talent.

Publicis Groupe provides robust and inclusive benefit programs and policies to support the evolving and diverse needs of our talent and enable every person to grow and thrive. Our benefits package includes medical coverage, dental, vision, disability, 401K, as well as parental and family care leave, family forming assistance, tuition reimbursement, and flexible time off.

If you require accommodation or assistance with the application or onboarding process specifically, please contact View email address on click.appcast.io.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines. #LI-JM4


Compensation Range: USD $97,375.00 - USD $155,961.00/Annually. This is the pay range the Company believes it will pay for this position at the time of this posting. Consistent with applicable law, compensation will be determined based on the skills, qualifications, and experience of the applicant along with the requirements of the position, and the Company reserves the right to modify this pay range at any time. Temporary roles may be eligible to participate in our freelancer/temporary employee medical plan through a third-party benefits administration system once certain criteria have been met. Temporary roles may also qualify for participation in our 401(k) plan after eligibility criteria have been met. For regular roles, the Company will offer medical coverage, dental, vision, disability, 401k, and paid time off. The Company anticipates the application deadline for this job posting will be 8/17/2026.