Technical Project Director

Job Description

WHAT DOES A DIRECTOR, PMO DO?

The Technical Project Director will play a critical role in bridging business, product, agency, delivery, reporting, and technical teams to ensure client work is properly understood, planned, documented, resourced, and executed through a standardized operating model.

This person must have a strong understanding of the platform’s features, capabilities, workflows, and implementation dependencies. They will be responsible for translating business requirements into structured delivery artifacts, including process flows, checklists, task plans, implementation steps, reporting requirements, and handoff documentation for business, delivery, and reporting teams.

The role will work closely with agency and client delivery teams to define the core steps required for each client engagement, identify technical and operational dependencies, manage planned work, and ensure resource assignments are realistic and aligned to team capacity. This person will help prevent overcommitment, reduce rework, and reinforce a stabilized workflow for task completion.

The Technical Project Director will also serve as a gatekeeper for new requests and capabilities. When a request introduces a new platform capability, unclear requirement, technical dependency, or product impact, they will pull in the appropriate business leaders and product leaders for review, prioritization, and vetting before work is committed to delivery.

• Understand platform features, capabilities, workflows, and technical dependencies.
• Translate business requirements into clear execution plans, process documentation, implementation checklists, and delivery artifacts.
• Partner with agency, business, delivery, reporting, product, and technical teams to define client-specific implementation steps.
• Standardize the operating model for client intake, requirement gathering, product implementation, and delivery handoffs.
• Manage resource assignments, planned work, sequencing, dependencies, and realistic delivery commitments.
• Ensure teams do not overcommit or bypass the need for a stable, repeatable workflow.
• Identify when a request requires product, business, or technical leadership review before moving forward.
• Act as the bridge between cross-functional technical teams, product execution teams, agency teams, and client delivery teams.
• Partner with/act as project manager high value AIA clients to support client status updates, specifically for the technical, platform, reporting, and implementation sections of the project.
• Improve operational discipline by reducing ambiguity, duplicate requests, rework, and incomplete handoffs.
• Ensure every client implementation follows a consistent intake, planning, execution, QA, reporting, and delivery readiness process.
• Demonstrate a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion through continuous development, modeling inclusive behaviors, and proactively managing bias.
• All other duties as assigned

PEOPLE LEADER

People leaders must possess both the skills to effectively accomplish these tasks and the emotional intelligence to do so in alignment with our cultural values. In addition to the critical management and leadership tasks listed above, this role also includes the following unique responsibilities:

• Clearly communicate the PMO’s vision and align team goals with organizational objectives.

• Establish clear performance expectations, provide constructive feedback, and conduct regular evaluations to drive team success.

• Create an inclusive environment where team members feel valued and empowered to contribute to decision-making.

• Facilitate seamless collaboration between the PMO and other departments, ensuring alignment on priorities and deliverables.

• Oversee the allocation of resources and ensure equitable workload distribution among project managers.

• Encourage team members to identify opportunities for process optimization and innovation.

• Guide the team through organizational or market changes, helping them navigate uncertainty with confidence.

• Communicate changes in organizational strategy and help the team realign their focus to support new directions.

• Define clear, measurable goals for the PMO team, aligned with business objectives.

• Monitor individual and team performance using key performance indicators (KPIs) and address underperformance constructively.

• Foster a culture of accountability, ensuring team members take ownership of their projects and deliverables.

EXPECTATIONS OF THE JOB:

• Travel (10-20%)

• Hours (40 hours per week, 5 days of the week and the ability to take calls/meetings outside of business hours as needed)

The above list reflects the general details necessary to describe the expectations of the position and shall not be construed as the only expectations that may be assigned for the position.

An individual in this position must be able to successfully perform the expectations listed above.

Qualifications

WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR?

Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Life Sciences, Business Administration, Project Management, or a related field.

Advanced degree (MBA, MSc) preferred.

Experience and/or Training:

• 8+ years of experience in project management, including at least 5 years in a leadership role within the life sciences or pharmaceutical industry

• Proven track record of managing complex, cross-functional projects and delivering results

• Expertise in project management methodologies (Agile, Waterfall, or hybrid approaches) and tools (e.g., MS Project, Smartsheet, or equivalent)

• Strong leadership and team-building skills with the ability to inspire and align teams

• Excellent problem-solving, analytical, and decision-making capabilities

• Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence stakeholders at all levels

• Deep understanding of the regulatory and compliance landscape in the life sciences industry

• Licenses/Certificates: PMP, PgMP, or similar project management certification is highly preferred