Freelance Project Manager

As Leo Burnett himself once said: “At the end of the day, we’re just people talking to people.”

And that sums up how we think. We never forget that on the other side of every screen, watching every ad or reading every tweet are people. Not just pairs of eyes with credit cards. But human beings, who want to be entertained, engaged and listened to.

Which is why we want to make work that connects on a human level. That everyone will love. Proudly populist creative work that makes people smile, laugh, cry and everything in between. Whether that’s through advertising or managing brand partnerships with our Sports + Entertainment team.

But it’s also why we believe in being decent human beings. Either to work with or to work for. Because putting people first is at the heart of everything we do.

We believe in the power of a strong, supportive and inclusive culture that puts people and creativity at the heart of everything we do. We pride ourselves on a genuinely friendly and informal style where everyone’s invited, and the collective is more important than the individual.

We know we’re still falling short when it comes to diversity – but we’re working on it.  Really working on it.

We’ve created the Anti-Racism Collective, to actively advance racial equality within our agency and the industry, and track progress against our commitments, in order to redress the balance and better represent the society and culture we serve. We’re working with “Free the Work” to support makers and creators from a wider range of backgrounds and we’re working with all our clients to ensure we’re building brands that actively and positively portray all types of people.

It’s our distinctive approach, combined with our passion for populist creativity and relentless pursuit of excellence that makes Leo Burnett such a uniquely special and enjoyable place to work.

We are looking for a Freelance Project Manager to join us for five weeks (possibility for this to be extended) with experience working in a creative agency environment. The ideal candidate will have recent experience working on highly creative, high profile accounts, be proactive, with a strong focus on attention to detail and who thrives in a fast-paced environment.

Experience on retail and car accounts would really help and you will need to be well versed in the nature of the freelance role as it will be covering for several different PM’s over a 5 week period working on different projects on a range of Clients including McDonald’s, Skoda, Butlins & Comic Relief.

Responsibilities include:

• Management and overview of the workflow of various Client projects ensuring that everything is running according to plan
• Communicating project plans to clients and partner agencies; managing expectations and assuring alignment with the client and agency processes
• Working closely with the Client Services team and other departments to ensure efficient flow of work through the agency
• Ensuring briefs are received on time and that creative teams are briefed according to plan
• Scheduling reviews and ensuring all relevant parties are in attendance
• Facilitating work out of reviews through the agency to relevant departments and potential third parties and ensuring that it is followed up and delivered on time
• Trouble shooting and proposing alternative solutions in situations where there are timing or delivery challenges 
• Maintain a commercial perspective on work at all times
• Working closely with all departments within the agency and partner agencies to ensure delivery of output is the best possible quality
• Encourage teamwork and good communication
• Producing estimates & PO’s (except TV/Radio) 
• Ensuring Cost controller approval on estimates prior to sharing with Clients where necessary.
• Reconciling projects once they are complete

• Strong communicator with first-hand experience of taking personal charge for the delivery of multi channel creative projects
• Ability to work under pressure, to prioritise, multi task and to manage the creative process from start to finish
• Excellent planning and organisational skills; ability to plan for all eventualities and provide solutions to issues
• Proactive with the ability to inform management of account statuses, problems, plans and meetings as required
• Ability to delegate work where necessary to achieve the best results
• Understand the internal workings of an agency and the production processes involved
• Strong team player
• Professional at all times (business and social with clients)
• Willing to become the champion of the client's business
• Display confidentiality at all times
• A contributor to agency culture, striving to help make Leo Burnett an even better agency than it is today

Diversity and inclusion is a core part of who we are at Leo Burnett. We’re committed to building an inclusive culture that encourages, celebrates and supports our wonderfully diverse employee group – whatever their age, gender identity, race, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability or ethnicity. Diversity and inclusion doesn’t just fuel our creativity and innovation, it brings us closer to our people and audiences. We will continue to strive to create a culture and environment where everyone feels empowered and more importantly comfortable enough to bring their full, authentic selves to work.