Vice President, Client Operations
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Published
10/09/2024
Vice President, Client Operations
Toronto, ON
The ideal candidate is an established leader who has a proven record operationalizing large Agency Accounts, and driving excellence through the implementation of Client Operational best practices. This role is client facing, owning structure, scope, process and proactive finance management for a group of Accounts.
This person is cool, calm and collected with a proactive, solution-oriented, strategic voice. The ideal candidate has the ability to confidently engage in tough conversations with internal team members, partners and clients, communicating a clear and concise POV that establishes Weber Shandwick as a trusted, strategic partner.
You are responsible for the optimization of Account staff structure, scope review, establishing processes and workflows at the account level, and overseeing the financial health of each account. If the Account Lead is the Account “CEO”, you are the Account “COO”.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Portfolio Operations
- Primary voice with clients, representing agency relative to financial management of the account (SOW development and approvals, scope revisions, client financial reporting). Partners closely with agency account and finance leads
- Proactive, big picture financial management to balance actuals with forecast to flag risks to account leads, including analysis of data to provide recommendations to reduce overservice or correct a chronic issue
- Connects the dots between procurement, brand and marketing clients, in alignment with agency priorities and scope
- Scope complex projects as required, recommending staff and hours required for the deliverables
- Drive high level and long-range forecasting for staff hours, based on minimal information
- Guide the account team on Vendor contracting, reviewing complex contracts as needed
- Supports cross-functional Agency teams on roles and responsibilities, process and templates
- New account set up in partnership with account lead, including recommended team structure, process, templates, staff & financial forecasting
Management/Leadership
- Supports new-business opportunities with input on staff structure and financial scoping
- Provides a breadth of process and business skills as well as hands-on experience
- Able to negotiate conflict, manage differences of opinion, and communicate effectively
- Mentors and manages up to 2 project managers and / or client financial reporting managers
Resource Management
- Responsible for utilization metrics, leveraging real-time data vs forecast to project potential risks
- Partners with Resource Director and discipline leads to identify and manage resource needs for short and long term, monitoring impact on capacity and proactively managing risk
- Partners with agency account lead to manage team on-boarding processes
QUALIFICATIONS
- 8-10+ years of professional Client Operations experience in an agency setting, preferably in corporate communications, management consulting is a plus but not required
- Strong skills in scoping, pricing, financial management and timeline development for large, complex programs
- Ideal candidate should have familiarity with different types of programs and deliverables, such as strategic planning, creative ideation, video, social and editorial content, digital, event-based programs, and vendor management
- Project Management background is an asset
- Ability to assess existing processes and identify opportunities to increase efficiency
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Strong organizational and time management skills
- Proficient in collaboration tools such as Microsoft Products and Smartsheets
The Weber Shandwick Collective recognizes that your health and wellbeing are a priority. This is why we offer a full suite of benefits including:
- Medical
- Dental
- Vision
- RRSP (with employer match)
- Tuition Reimbursement
- Juice Money – $60 monthly reimbursement to be used towards purchases that nourish your health, mind, body, and soul
- Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) – $50 monthly cell phone reimbursement
- MyDays – Flexible time off
- Short-Term Disability
- Paid Parental Leave Policy
Weber Shandwick is proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. Weber Shandwick recruits qualified applicants without regard to race, colour, religion, gender, age, ethnic or national origin, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status or citizenship status.
#LI-SK1
We make our careers website accessible to any and all users. If you need an accommodation to participate in the application process, please contact us at JobAppAccommodation@ipgdxtra.com. This email address is not for general employment inquiries or vendors; rather it is strictly for applicants who require special assistance accessing our employment website. Due to volume, messages sent to this email address that are not related to an accommodation cannot be answered.
Similar positions
View allToronto, Ontario, Canada
Vice President, Social & Influencer Strategy
VICE PRESIDENT – SOCIAL & INFLUENCER STRATEGY
At Weber Shandwick, we build brand stories designed to earn attention, coverage and conversation. We’re a passionate and diverse team that protects and promotes some of Canada’s (and the world’s) most iconic and beloved brands … and has fun while doing it!
If you’re a dynamic digital and social leader with an integrated-marketing mindset, here’s an opportunity to play a leadership role at a forward-thinking, award-winning and globally leading agency. Over the last five years, Weber Shandwick has been recognized as PRovoke Media’s Canadian Agency of the Year, IABC Canadian Large Agency of the Year, a certified Great Place to Work (six years running) and boasts the most exciting client list of any agency in the country.
POSITION PROFILE
We are currently seeking a Vice President – Social & Influencer Strategy to join our Integrated Media team in Toronto. We’re looking for a self-starter who is ready to take the lead in shaping our digital offering and driving the agency’s social and influencer teams forward. As a key leadership position, this person will lead Social & Influencer Strategy for Canada. This role will lead breakthrough work across several major accounts, while driving growth and inspiring digital innovation across the agency.
The ideal candidate is an experienced leader who is passionate about social media and working with influencers and creators. The position requires expert-level understanding of social platforms and influencer marketing and the role they play in the larger interconnected and ever-evolving media ecosystem.
They have deep experience in the social and influencer space with notable brands and are in tune with emerging trends, as well as the broader cultural and technological shifts taking place in the media landscape. This role calls for curiosity about what comes next in technology, marketing and media, paired with a passion for working with influencers.
We’re looking for someone who knows how to motivate a team, tap into their passion and lead with a sense of integrity, honesty and humility – a leader who can set the big-picture strategy but isn’t afraid to roll up their sleeves and dive into the work.
Most importantly, we are looking for someone who wants to put their strategic skills to work driving engagement for great brands, is highly collaborative and willing to grow and lead a team doing bold new things.
Responsibilities
- Develop a deep understanding of our clients’ businesses and target audiences, and – working in close collaboration with our Creative, Insights and Client Experience teams – lead the creation and execution of innovative and integrated social and/or influencer campaigns that drive trackable and meaningful results
- Serve as the primary Canadian social and influencer lead for major global brands –
leading the development of innovative social/digital initiatives from briefing to execution, including campaign strategies, content creation, paid integration and measuring effectiveness/ROI, as well as digital team structure and workflows
- Stay at the forefront of technology trends, new applications and emerging platforms to champion social and digital innovation and continuously further our offerings
- Provide expert counsel to clients and colleagues on social/digital/influencer trends, issues and best practices – act as a thought leader who shares knowledge, expertise and strong counsel internally and externally
- Continuously advance the agency’s influence offering; overseeing key relationships with talent agencies and content creators, and institutionalizing a set of best-in-class tools and processes for identification, contract negotiation, content planning, paid amplification, campaign optimization, measurement and ROI analysis
- Collaborate effectively with inter-agency teams to develop holistic plans and fully integrated strategies for our clients
- Work closely with our Insights team to advance our social listening and analytics offering
- Socialize and promote our social and influencer capabilities to drive organic and new business growth
- Lead a high-performing team of digital specialists; mentor and develop junior team members
REQUIREMENTS
- 12+ years of experience, preferably within an agency environment
- A thorough command of the social media and digital world (from the evolving social web to mobile tools and trends), sophisticated client service and digital communications skills, high energy, and passion for this area of rapid change and innovation
- Expert-level proficiency in social media platforms and inherent curiosity about emerging communities – willing to experiment with cutting-edge platforms and techniques and sell in new ways of thinking to clients
- Deep expertise in building and managing influencer programs, establishing best practices and leading strong influencer marketing teams.
- Understand the paid media environment and how it applies to a holistic social media strategy
- Familiarity with a broad set of social, media and influencer analytics tools; and experience working with an analytics team to measure campaign ROI and generate insights that inform future strategy
- Established relationships with social platforms, partners, influencers and talent agencies
- Outstanding communication skills to successfully present program recommendations and establish trusted relationships with senior clients
- Proven new business expertise and success
- Proven experience building teams, managing and mentoring junior staff and working collaboratively in a cross-functional setting
The Weber Shandwick Collective recognizes that your health and wellbeing are a priority. This is why we offer a full suite of benefits including:
- Medical
- Dental
- Vision
- RRSP (with employer match)
- Tuition Reimbursement
- Juice Money – $60 monthly reimbursement to be used towards purchases that nourish your health, mind, body, and soul
- Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) – $50 monthly cell phone reimbursement
- MyDays – Flexible time off
- Short-Term Disability
- Paid Parental Leave Policy
Weber Shandwick is proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. Weber Shandwick recruits qualified applicants without regard to race, colour, religion, gender, age, ethnic or national origin, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status or citizenship status.
#LI-SK1
We make our careers website accessible to any and all users. If you need an accommodation to participate in the application process, please contact us at JobAppAccommodation@ipgdxtra.com. This email address is not for general employment inquiries or vendors; rather it is strictly for applicants who require special assistance accessing our employment website. Due to volume, messages sent to this email address that are not related to an accommodation cannot be answered.
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
General Application - Canada
We are always looking for great talent! If you don’t see an open role listed that interests you at this time, please send us your resume and we’ll keep in touch about future openings.
Weber Shandwick is a leading global marketing and communications network that delivers next-generation solutions to brands, businesses and organizations in major markets around the world.
We push beyond category convention, pairing data-driven insights with creative prowess to deliver game-changing ideas that earn attention and drive business impact. We have a deep bench of talent across sectors and specialty areas, including brand and B2B marketing, healthcare marketing, change management, employee engagement, corporate reputation, crisis management, data and analytics, technology, public affairs, social impact and financial communications.
Led by world-class strategic and creative thinkers and activators, we have won some of the most prestigious awards in the industry. Weber Shandwick was named to Ad Age’s A-List in 2020 and Best Places to Work in 2019. The firm earned 25 Lions at the 2019 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
Weber Shandwick is proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. Weber Shandwick recruits qualified applicants without regard to race, colour, religion, gender, age, ethnic or national origin, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status or citizenship status.
We make our careers website accessible to any and all users. If you need an accommodation to participate in the application process, please contact us at JobAppAccommodation@ipgdxtra.com. This email address is not for general employment inquiries or vendors; rather it is strictly for applicants who require special assistance accessing our employment website. Due to volume, messages sent to this email address that are not related to an accommodation cannot be answered.
Washington, District of Columbia, United States
Senior Project Manager
Weber Shandwick is currently seeking a Senior Project Manager, Integrated Project Management for the Washington, DC Project Management team who will work closely with team members in account, creative, public relations, and strategy, as well as report to a VP, across a portfolio of brands and/or projects.
Responsibilities:
- Coordinate with creative, strategy, paid, account management and other internal teams to help drive best-in-class solutions for medium to large programs
- Manage project deliverables across multiple medium- large scale campaigns and help coordinate various functions including creative, strategy, insights, paid media, and analytics
- Professionally manage large scale engagements with account team partners focusing on balancing quality, cost and schedule, while exceeding client expectations
- Set expectations at the beginning of a project: as any issues arise, find solutions without compromising quality, team morale, or budget
- Be the conductor of a project/team and a proactive, solution-oriented, and strategic advisor
- Have a solid understanding of the creative development, production and paid media delivery processes and focus on stewarding the work from concept through delivery.
- Manage account budgets, scopes, and time while providing frequent updates to key stakeholders
- Partner with account leadership and finance to facilitate accurate and realistic forecasts; actively manage any forecast mitigation as needed
- Partner with account leadership to manage team on-boarding processes, including educating team members on roles and responsibilities, processes, and templates
- Serve as contact for client finance relative to financial management of the account
- Demonstrate strong, professional work ethic and financial acumen
Requirements:
- 6+ years of Project Management experience, preferably in an agency setting, media relations
- Strong financial management skills, including scoping, burn report tracking, resource allocation across project tasks. Prior experience managing multi-million-dollar budgets and scopes.
- SME with different types of programs and deliverables, such as strategic planning, creative ideation, video, social and editorial content, digital, and partner management
- Ability to effectively communicate with internal team members across multiple disciplines and levels, instilling confidence, and trust in your abilities
- Be comfortable digging into account finances: developing staffing models, writing SOWs, tracking burn rates, etc.
- Experience working closely with the implementation of an integrated media mix of paid, owned and earned programs
- Have excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to effectively communicate with team members across multiple levels, building trust in your abilities to get the job done effectively
- Have excellent organization and time management skills
- Understanding of government clients preferred
The Weber Shandwick Collective recognizes that your health and wellbeing are a priority. This is why we offer a full suite of benefits including:
- Medical
- Dental
- Vision
- 401k (with employer match)
- Tuition Reimbursement
- Juice Money – $60 monthly reimbursement to be used towards purchases that nourish your health, mind, body, and soul
- MyDays – Flexible holiday schedules
- Short-Term Disability
- Paid Employee Family Leave
- Family Building Benefit
Washington D.C. Salary range: $86,000 – $105,000
Where an employee or prospective employee is paid within this range will depend on, among other factors, actual ranges for current/former employees in the subject position; market considerations; budgetary considerations; tenure and standing with the company (applicable to current employees); as well as the employee’s/applicant’s background, pertinent experience, and qualifications.
Weber Shandwick is proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. Weber Shandwick recruits qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, age, ethnic or national origin, protected veteran status, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status or citizenship status.
#LI-JR2
We make our careers website accessible to any and all users. If you need an accommodation to participate in the application process, please contact us at JobAppAccommodation@ipgdxtra.com. This email address is not for general employment inquiries or vendors; rather it is strictly for applicants who require special assistance accessing our employment website. Due to volume, messages sent to this email address that are not related to an accommodation cannot be answered.