Senior Creative Project Manager

Senior Creative Project Manager

Salary: Up to £50,000 per annum, plus company benefits

Location: London E14

Contract: Permanent, full time

Shifts: 37.5 hours per week, Mon-Fri 9am–5:30pm, with a 1-hour unpaid lunch

Work model: Hybrid; on-site Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday

Williams Lea seeks a Senior Creative Project Manager to join our team!

Williams Lea is the leading global provider of tech-enabled business and marketing services helping clients manage and transform processes through resilient, scalable 24/7 operations. We combine deep expertise, agentic AI-embedded workflows, and a global delivery model into a tech-enabled, seamless human expert-in-the-loop experience that helps clients achieve superior business outcomes.

Built on a strong heritage and great client relationships, we harness deep industry expertise, emerging technology and our global “Optishore™” delivery model to plan, build, execute and measure business processes, driving operational agility and digital transformation at speed and scale.

Williams Lea, an RRD company, serves clients in 20 countries across four continents and has 15,000 employees worldwide.

Purpose of the Role

As a Senior Creative Project Manager, you will be responsible for the hands-on management and delivery of integrated creative projects and campaigns within a client on-site studio environment.

Working closely with clients, Creative Leads and internal stakeholders, you will own projects from brief through to final delivery, developing scopes of work, cost estimates, timelines, budgets and resource plans while ensuring projects are delivered on time, on budget and to the highest quality standards.

This is a highly delivery-focused role, requiring someone who enjoys being actively involved in the day-to-day management of campaigns across print, digital, web, film and editing. Alongside project delivery, you will support the development of junior Project Managers and contribute to driving best practice across the team.

Reporting into the Creative Operations Director, you will act as a key link between clients, creative teams and stakeholders, helping to build strong client relationships, drive operational excellence and deliver outstanding creative work.

Overall Aim of the Role

• Own the end-to-end delivery of integrated creative campaigns across print, digital, web, film and editing
• Translate client briefs into clearly defined scopes of work, project plans, timelines, budgets and resource requirements
• Develop accurate cost estimates and proposals, ensuring projects are commercially viable and delivered efficiently
• Build strong relationships with clients and stakeholders, becoming a trusted partner and key point of contact throughout project delivery
• Lead project status meetings and delivery conversations, providing updates on progress, timelines, budgets, risks and dependencies
• Work collaboratively with Creative, Production and Account teams to ensure client objectives are met and exceeded
• Balance client expectations with project realities, proactively identifying risks and implementing solutions
• Support and mentor junior Project Managers, sharing knowledge and helping to develop project management capabilities within the team
• Contribute to continuous improvement initiatives to enhance project delivery, team effectiveness and client satisfaction
• Become a valued member of the Studio and Management Team, helping drive quality, creativity and business growth

Key Responsibilities

Project Delivery

• Manage multiple projects and campaigns simultaneously from briefing through to final delivery
• Analyse and interpret client briefs, defining scope, deliverables, timelines, budgets and resource requirements
• Create and manage project plans, ensuring all milestones, dependencies and deadlines are met
• Coordinate activity across multidisciplinary teams, including print, digital, web, film and editing projects

• Ensure projects are delivered on time, on budget and to agreed quality standards
• Maintain project documentation, schedules and status reporting throughout the project lifecycle
• Manage project changes effectively, communicating impacts to timelines, budgets and resources where required
• Proactively identify and mitigate project risks and delivery challenges

Client & Stakeholder Management

• Build strong, collaborative relationships with clients and key stakeholders
• Lead client briefings, project kick-offs, status meetings and delivery reviews
• Act as the day-to-day project lead and primary point of contact throughout delivery
• Manage client expectations around timelines, budgets, scope and deliverables
• Provide regular project updates and communicate risks, dependencies and solutions clearly and confidently
• Develop a strong understanding of clients' businesses, objectives and priorities
• Facilitate project wash-ups and retrospective meetings, identifying key learnings and opportunities for improvement

Commercial Ownership

• Produce cost estimates, project budgets and proposals for client work
• Monitor project budgets throughout delivery and ensure projects remain commercially successful
• Track project performance and highlight any risks to profitability or delivery
• Support forecasting, resource planning and revenue management activities alongside the Creative Operations Director

Team Support & Leadership

• Provide guidance, coaching and day-to-day support to junior Project Managers
• Conduct regular check-ins, development conversations and performance reviews where required
• Share best practice and contribute to the ongoing development of project management standards and processes
• Foster a collaborative, supportive and high-performing team culture
• Act as an escalation point for project-related challenges when required

Quality & Process Excellence

• Maintain and monitor project trackers and workflow systems to ensure accurate project visibility
• Work closely with resource management to ensure projects are appropriately staffed and scheduled
• Champion quality control processes to ensure deliverables meet client expectations and studio standards
• Involve subject matter experts where required to ensure the best possible creative and technical solutions are delivered
• Drive continuous improvement through process optimisation and project delivery best practice

Key Competencies

• Strong knowledge of integrated creative project delivery across print, digital, web, film and editing
• Exceptional project planning, organisation and prioritisation skills
• Excellent client relationship and stakeholder management abilities
• Strong commercial awareness with experience managing budgets, estimates and project profitability
• Effective problem-solving skills with the ability to manage competing priorities
• Excellent communication and presentation skills
• Ability to build credibility and influence with clients and stakeholders
• Strong attention to detail and commitment to quality
• Collaborative and proactive approach to teamwork
• Calm and confident under pressure, able to manage multiple deadlines simultaneously
• Keen to learn, develop and embrace new technologies, tools and industry trends
• Professional, positive and enthusiastic team player

Success Measures & KPIs

• Consistent delivery of projects on time and within budget
• High levels of client satisfaction and positive stakeholder feedback
• Accurate project scoping, estimation and budget management
• Strong project profitability and commercial performance
• Effective management of project risks and reduction in escalations
• Successful mentoring and development of junior Project Managers
• Positive contribution to team engagement, collaboration and continuous improvement initiatives

Skills & Experience

Essential

• Proven experience in project management within a creative agency, studio or marketing environment
• Demonstrated experience delivering integrated campaigns and creative projects across multiple channels
• Experience managing project timelines, budgets, scopes and resource plans
• Strong client-facing experience and stakeholder management skills
• Experience producing project estimates, budgets and proposals
• Ability to manage multiple fast-paced projects simultaneously
• Excellent communication, organisation and relationship-building skills

Desirable

• Experience managing, mentoring or supporting junior Project Managers
• Experience working within an on-site client studio environment
• Exposure to film, video production and editing workflows
• Experience supporting resource planning, forecasting or operational processes
• Experience using project management and workflow tools such as Monday.com, Workfront, Asana, Jira or similar

Who This Role Would Suit

This role is ideal for a hands-on Senior Project Manager who enjoys being deeply involved in the day-to-day delivery of creative campaigns and client work. You'll be equally comfortable building client relationships, managing budgets and estimates, coordinating multidisciplinary teams and ensuring projects are delivered successfully from concept through to completion.

This role may also suit an experienced Project Manager looking to take their first step into managing and developing junior Project Managers while remaining actively involved in project delivery.

Important: This is not a Studio Manager or purely operational leadership role. We are looking for someone who wants to be hands-on, managing and delivering integrated creative campaigns every day across print, digital, web, film and editing.

Using AI in your application 

We’re happy for you to use AI tools to research us, polish your cv/cover letter, and practice interviews. Please make sure everything you submit reflects your authentic skills and experience. 

To keep things fair, please don’t use AI to invent or exaggerate achievements, complete assessments (unless we say it’s allowed), or to generate live interview answers. 

Rewards and Benefits 

We believe in supporting our employees in both their professional and personal lives. As part of our commitment to your well-being, we offer a comprehensive benefits package, including but not limited to: 

• 25 days holiday, plus bank holidays(pro-rata for part time or fixed term roles) 

• Salary sacrifice schemes, retail vouchers – including our TechScheme which can be used on a range of gadgets such as Smart TV’s, laptops and computers or household appliances.  

• Life Assurance 

• Private Medical Insurance  

• Dental Insurance 

• Health Assessments 

• Cycle-to-work scheme 

• Discounted gym memberships 

• Referral Scheme 

You will also have the opportunity to work for a global employer who is dedicated to offering each and every employee an enjoyable, challenging and rewarding career with future career development prospects! 

Equality and Diversity 

The Company values the differences that a diverse workforce brings to the organisation and will not discriminate because of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race (which includes colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins), religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation (each of these being a “protected characteristic” in discrimination law). It will not discriminate because of any other irrelevant factor and will build a culture that values openness, fairness and transparency. 

If you have a disability and would prefer to apply in a different format or would like to make a reasonable adjustment to enable you to make an interview please contact us at careersatWL@williamslea.com(we do not accept applications to this email address). 

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