Program Manager - Freelance

About the Position

Program Manager - Freelance

Los Angeles, California, United States

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About the Company

VML is a global creative company that combines brand experience, customer experience, and commerce to create connected brands that drive growth. Guided by a Human First philosophy, VML is known for its innovative work for brands and consistently ranks among the world’s leading creative companies, including the WARC Creative 100. VML’s global network spans 55+ markets with principal offices in Buenos Aires, Kansas City, London, New York, São Paulo, Shanghai, and Singapore.

VML is part of WPP, the trusted growth partner for the world's leading brands. Powered by exceptional talent and our agentic marketing platform WPP Open, WPP unites cutting-edge media intelligence and data solutions, creativity, production, enterprise solutions, and expert strategic counsel.

For more information, please visit www.vml.com and follow along on LinkedIn #WeAreVML.

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Responsibilities

• People: Partner with Account leads to provide ongoing client satisfaction. Oversee the development of integrated project and program deliverables across teams and agency partners, handling concurrent workstreams for a major Healthcare client in California.
• Process: Establish and maintain project and program communications. Oversee project estimations and execute established SOW, while implementing new processes across large workstreams. Ensure calendars and deployment schedules are maintained for multiple operating units globally. Leverage AI where possible to optimize delivery and efficiency.
• Financials: Responsible for project profitability. Plan, track, and approve project expenses, billing, and invoices. Partner with the finance team to develop a consistent profitability and utilization view across all workstreams. Manage resource allocation on an ongoing, weekly basis, and monitor project burn rates, budgets, and reconciliations.
• Work: Drive projects forward from point A to point B, ensuring excellent and timely delivery. Provide purpose, direction, and motivation to the team. You’ll be a champion for the work and internal project team by taking notes, following up, building timelines and plans, etc. You'll also build slides, create compelling stories, and manage comprehensive documentation.

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Requirements

• Experience: 5-7+ years of experience in a large Ad agency with experience with Healthcare, Pharma, and/or Insurance clients while helping to lead delivery management.
• Skills:
  • Omnichannel program and production delivery experience required.
  • Experience working with integrated agency teams and external partner agencies.
  • Familiarity with Smartsheet, Excel, Monday.com, Workday, and Jira. Experience with Workfront or Proof HQ is a plus.
  • Interest in AI and how to leverage it as a delivery tool.
  • Strong project management operations skillset, including effective meeting management and capturing actionable next steps.
  • Ability to prioritize tasks, navigate challenges, and build operational rigor.

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Nice to Have

• Experience with Agile Ways of Working + PI Planning.
• Experience managing, concepting, and executing production timelines and communications.

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We Offer

• Compensation: This is an hourly freelance role with an ideal hourly target rate of between $65 - $85 per hour.
• Benefits: We offer a competitive benefits package. Click WPP Benefits for more details.
• Work Environment: We believe the best work happens when we're together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection. That's why we’ve adopted a hybrid approach, with teams in the office an average of four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process.

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About the Company

WPP (VML) is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers.

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