Senior Resource Manager

VML•Chicago, IL

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

VML is a leading creative company that combines brand experience, customer experience, and commerce, creating connected brands to drive growth. VML is celebrated for its innovative and award-winning human-first work for clients including AstraZeneca, Colgate-Palmolive, Dell, Ford, Microsoft, Nestlé, The Coca-Cola Company, and Wendy's. In 2026, VML was named Campaign’s Global Network of the Year and ranked #2 Creative Network of the Year at Cannes Lions. VML’s global network spans 55+ markets with principal offices in Buenos Aires, Kansas City, London, New York, São Paulo, Shanghai and Singapore. VML is part of WPP, the trusted growth partner for the world's leading brands. Powered by exceptional talent and our agentic marketing platform WPP Open, WPP unites cutting-edge media intelligence and data solutions, creativity, production, enterprise solutions and expert strategic counsel. For more information, please visit www.vml.com and follow along on LinkedIn #WeAreVML.

Requirements

3+ years of resource management experience in advertising/marketing industry
Firm grasp of the processes within an agency environment and a love of creating order in the chaos
Deep understanding of the functional skills and responsibilities of various departmental roles
Excellent interpersonal communication skills with the ability to motivate and influence across all levels of seniority
Comfortable working in an environment of constant change and doing so with a positive attitude
Proactive and confident in prioritizing competing demands in a fast-paced environment

Responsibilities

Develops relationships with talent at all levels and works as trusted partner to departmental leadership, making staffing recommendations based on skillset and career aspirations, not just availability
Maintains knowledge of current and upcoming projects across the agency, building strong relationships with client engagement, Operations, Delivery and new business teams
Has a pulse on the overall health and happiness of the department, ensuring any talent concerns are escalated to leadership through the appropriate channels
Alerts capability leads of any potential concerns or issues in meeting key client deliverables due to resourcing and makes recommendations to resolve
Leads weekly resourcing meetings, to ensure talent is properly utilized and works to resolve any conflicts or balance workloads.
When internal options have been exhausted, identifies needs for freelance talent, creates the business case to hire and works with TA to secure the proper temporary support.
Partners with operations to review monthly utilization reports and share insights and action plan with leadership
Works with the Talent Acquisition & Human Resources teams to on-board department new hires and freelancers
Works with project management functions to ensure internal resourcing platforms are maintained
Overall focus on optimizing talent in balance with constant changes to organizational priorities
Understands and maintains a knowledge database of team skillsets and career ambitions to be able to properly assign resources and retain top talent
Is actively working to maintain a balance between agency margin goals, employee’s ability to do their best work all while being a profitable organization
Actively work with department leads and HR to ensure mobility of talent within the agency and network
Proactively strategize department staffing needs, identifying peaks/valleys, core competency gaps/redundancies based on client forecasts and trends
Continuously strategizes new ideas for process improvements and better ways to foster a connected and inclusive creative department culture
Providing exceptional service as a reinforcement for the main office receptionist.
Aiding in the process of coordinating meetings and booking conference rooms.
Assisting with vendor and purchase order requests.
Processing timesheets and expense reports for some of VML executive leadership team.
Handling and supporting additional tasks and projects as needed.