Associate Director, Project Management

Lucid Group • Philadelphia, PA

4d

About The Position

Lucid Group is seeking an Associate Director, Project Management to join its US team and deliver complex healthcare communications work for life sciences clients. The position is aligned with the Commercial Communications capability. This hands-on role leads day-to-day planning and delivery across multiple workstreams, partnering with account, strategy, creative, medical, regulatory, production and finance teams. The Associate Director takes ownership of projects, anticipates risks, and helps teams deliver high-quality work with clear plans and priorities.

The role requires healthcare agency experience, commercial judgment, and a practical understanding of pharmaceutical and biotech communications in regulated review environments. The Associate Director works independently while knowing when to involve others, and supports teams in staying focused and moving work forward.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Communications, Business Administration, Project Management or a related field.
• 7–10 years of project management experience in a healthcare, pharmaceutical, biotech, medical communications, advertising or creative agency environment.
• Experience supporting commercial communications for pharmaceutical or biotech brands.
• Strong working knowledge of Medical/Legal/Regulatory review processes and regulatory considerations for US promotional communications.
• Demonstrated experience managing complex integrated projects across multiple functions, channels and stakeholders.
• Proven experience managing project financials, including estimates, scopes of work, budgets, forecasting, burn tracking and reconciliation.
• Experience leading, mentoring or developing project management talent.
• Strong understanding of agency workflow, resource planning and cross-functional team operations.
• Excellent communication, facilitation, negotiation and problem-solving skills, including the ability to manage competing priorities, influence without direct authority and confidently escalate risks.
• Proficiency with project management tools such as Smartsheet, Workfront, Asana or comparable platforms, as well as Microsoft Office.

Nice To Haves

• Experience supporting new business pitches, launch planning or large-scale integrated campaigns in a regulated healthcare environment.
• Willingness to travel occasionally for client meetings, team sessions or agency events.

Responsibilities

• Lead planning and delivery of multiple complex projects and integrated workstreams across life sciences accounts, translating client objectives and strategic direction into achievable project plans.
• Own integrated timelines, milestones, dependencies, approval pathways, risk plans and delivery standards throughout the project lifecycle.
• Establish project operating rhythms, including kickoffs, internal reviews, status meetings, client updates and post-project assessments.
• Clarify priorities, accountabilities, decision points and next steps; serve as a senior escalation point for project risks, workflow challenges and competing priorities.
• Plan projects involving Medical/Legal/Regulatory review, ensuring review requirements, submission dates and approval milestones are accurately reflected in project plans.
• Coordinate with medical, legal, regulatory and client stakeholders; identify potential compliance, claims, fair balance, labeling or approval risks and involve appropriate subject-matter experts.
• Maintain working knowledge of FDA promotional requirements and expectations for pharmaceutical and biotech brand communications.
• Partner with account leadership to develop scopes of work, estimates, timelines and resource plans.
• Monitor budgets, burn, hours, forecasts and profitability; track scope changes and support change orders, revised estimates, forecasting, reconciliation, invoicing and financial reporting.
• Partner with department leads and Resource Management to anticipate staffing needs, resolve resource constraints and support appropriate utilization of internal and external resources.
• Guide, coach and mentor Project Managers and Senior Project Managers, and support development of project management practices, tools, templates and training.
• Build trusted client relationships and advise clients on project planning, delivery, budgets, timelines and risk management.
• Represent project management in client meetings and planning discussions, support new business through operational planning and resource modeling, and contribute to agency initiatives that improve project planning and delivery.

Benefits

• Meaningful learning and development opportunities.
• An inclusive and accommodating recruitment process, including accommodations during interviews when required.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior