Project Manager, Digital Marketing - Pharma

** HYBRID position in Edison, NJ. Please only apply if you can work in Edison, NJ office 3 days/week**

Salary - $65,000-$85,000/year

Ascender Studios is an award-winning boutique digital strategy, design, and implementation agency based in Edison, NJ. We partner with clients across the full spectrum — from ambitious startups to Fortune 500 pharma giants — to build award-winning web and mobile solutions powered by cutting-edge UX and the latest technology.

The drive to deliver excellent work, centered on great client relationships, is at the core of everything we do. We're not a faceless agency with layers of bureaucracy — we're a nimble, tight-knit team that moves fast, thinks on its feet, and never stops raising the bar.

That's exactly why we need you.

What You'll Do (The Role)

As our Project Manager, you're not a task tracker or a meeting scheduler — you're the operational backbone of every engagement you touch. In a fast-moving boutique environment, that means owning your projects end-to-end, keeping multiple balls in the air simultaneously, and being the calm, clear voice that keeps internal teams and clients aligned when things get complex.

Here's what that looks like day to day:

Own the Projects

• Drive multiple brands and projects end-to-end — spanning HCP, Consumer, and Patient channels across websites, banners, email programs, social media, and print — owning scope, timeline, budget, and team utilization from initiation to completion
• Build and monitor project timelines that give creative and dev teams the space to produce great work while keeping every client commitment intact — and proactively identify risks before they ever impact delivery
• Keep our project management software running tight — tasks organized, dates accurate, resources properly assigned — while partnering with department leads to balance workload, forecast resource needs, and maintain healthy team utilization
• Manage budget and scope with confidence: track actuals against estimates, drive change-order conversations when scope evolves, and partner with account leadership on resourcing and profitability
• Navigate MLR and regulatory review processes for healthcare clients with fluency, ensuring submissions are airtight and nothing falls through the cracks

Run the Day

• Lead daily hot sheets: set the team's deliverables, document key decisions, and surface next steps before anyone has to ask
• Track ongoing changes throughout the project lifecycle and actively reconcile estimates against actuals — you see the drift before it becomes a problem
• Be the connective tissue between internal teams — creative, dev, strategy, and account — so client requests are met with a coordinated, confident response

The Baseline

• 2 years of project management experience in pharma advertising agency or similar regulated environment

• Bachelor's degree preferred in Marketing, Communications, Psychology, Sociology, or a related field — or equivalent real-world experience

• Well beyond basic — you use Excel and PowerPoint as power tools, not crutches

• Hands-on experience with project management platforms such as Smartsheet, ActiveCollab, Workfront, Veeva, or similar

• PMP Certification is a plus

The "You" Factor

• Sharp and personable — you bring intelligence and warmth to every interaction, whether it's a client call or a team standup

• Obsessively organized — timelines, task lists, and structured chaos aren't just your job, they're your comfort zone

• Eagle-eyed — you catch the detail that everyone else scrolled past, and you fix it before it becomes someone else's problem

• A chaos-wrangler — you can hold many moving parts in your head simultaneously and still know exactly what's due tomorrow

• Energized by a fast pace — shifting priorities and stacked deadlines don't rattle you; they focus you

• Proactively curious — you're already thinking three steps ahead and asking the questions no one else thought to ask

• A true team player — you pitch in because it's the right thing to do, not because it's in your job description

• Digitally savvy — you pick up new tools quickly and are always looking for smarter ways to work

A Note on our Culture

At Ascender Studios, "everyone does everything" isn't a euphemism for being stretched thin — it's a badge of our nimbleness. We don't have layers of approval or rigid job lanes. If a client needs a win, we all jump in to make it happen.

For a Project Manager, that means you're not just keeping the trains running — you're helping build the tracks. You'll have real influence over how we work, real relationships with clients who value you, and real room to grow in a shop that's on the rise. If that sounds like the breath of fresh air you've been looking for, we'd love to meet you.

More reasons to consider Ascender:

• 10 paid holidays
• 10 days paid vacation time
• 7 personal/sick days
• Health/dental/vision insurance
• Life insurance and Disability coverage
• Annual stipend for professional development
• 401(k) plan match
• Hybrid schedule (3 days per week in Edison, NJ)