At SimpsonScarborough, we spend our days building brands that endure, inspire, and elevate the all-important work of colleges and universities in shaping our future. Recognized as a leader in the higher education marketing industry, we are a fully remote team of approximately 70 employees working coast to coast.
We're looking for an Associate Vice President, Project Management Office (PMO) to lead project delivery excellence across the agency — directing our PMO team, governing portfolio health, and personally managing key accounts. This is a player-coach role: you're both in the work and above it, ensuring our projects run with the rigor, transparency, and accountability our clients and internal teams depend on.
The AVP, PMO works in deep partnership with practice area leads, Account leadership, and senior stakeholders to keep agency objectives, client expectations, and project execution in sync. If you've built PM infrastructure rather than just inherited it — and you thrive in a fast-moving, matrixed agency environment — this role was designed for you.
What You'll Do
- Lead, coach, and develop a team of project managers, building a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and high performance.
- Govern project performance across the agency portfolio — tracking financials, resourcing, timelines, and risk to ensure delivery excellence at scale.
- Translate portfolio and financial data into KPIs, dashboards, and executive-level reporting that drive informed decision-making.
- Build, standardize, and continuously improve PM systems, workflows, and documentation frameworks across the agency.
- Partner with practice area leads and Account leadership to ensure strategic alignment and operational clarity across the client portfolio.
- Serve as hands-on project lead for select high-priority client engagements.
- Support new-business pitches and set clear expectations with clients new to the engagement.
- Navigate a matrixed, cross-functional environment — exercising sound judgment when priorities compete and collaborating effectively across disciplines.
What We're Looking For
- 10+ years of project management experience on marketing-related work, with agency experience strongly preferred.
- A proven track record of building, standardizing, and governing PM processes and reporting — not just maintaining inherited systems.
- Hands-on fluency in project planning, task management, budgeting, resourcing, and forecasting.
- Experience leading, coaching, and developing a team of project managers.
- Strong data fluency — able to turn portfolio and financial metrics into actionable insights and executive-ready reporting.
- Experience navigating a matrixed, cross-functional agency environment with competing priorities across departments.
- Client-facing experience, including supporting new-business pitches and setting expectations with clients new to the engagement.
- Proficiency with Wrike or a comparable platform (Asana, Smartsheet, Monday.com); transferable experience welcome.
- Excellent communication skills — clear and confident with internal partners and senior stakeholders alike.
- Bachelor's degree and/or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
Salary, Benefits & Perks
- Salary is commensurate with experience, within the range of $130,000.00 - $155,000.00
- Comprehensive benefits package including nationwide health, dental, and vision coverage, 401(k) with employer contribution, employer-paid life insurance and short-term disability
- Flexible time off (FTO) with additional time-off options, including sick, volunteer & bereavement leave, paid parental leave, a day off on your birthday PLUS two agency-wide closures in the summer and winter
- Monthly lifestyle stipend to supplement your routine wellness costs like streaming subscriptions, gym, or phone/internet costs
Our Commitment to Inclusion
At SimpsonScarborough, we believe diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging are central to our core values and critical to our long-term success. This work requires consistency, intentionality, vulnerability, and accountability. Through our efforts, we strive to make meaningful impact in our work, our workplace, and our industry.
SimpsonScarborough is an equal opportunity employer. We have a strict anti-harassment policy and a zero-tolerance non-discrimination policy. We welcome applicants of all backgrounds regardless of nationality, race, religion, gender identity, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
Questions?
For all recruitment-related inquiries, please email PeopleAndCulture@simpsonscarborough.com.
Compensation$130,000.00 - $155,000.00
