Demo

Associate Director, Project Management

Doner
Southfield, MI Full Time
POSTED ON 6/2/2026
AVAILABLE BEFORE 7/1/2026

The Associate Director of Project Management is one of the most capable individual contributors on the PM team. They lead the agency’s highest-complexity accounts and engagements while also shaping how project management is practiced across the department.


This role is for someone who thinks like a director but thrives in the work itself: a trusted partner to creative, account, and production leadership, an informal anchor for the PM team, and a stabilizing force when engagements get hard. No direct reports, but real authority and influence.


What You’ll Do:

  • Own delivery of the agency’s most complex, high-stakes engagements, including multi-brand, multi-market, and multi-vendor work that demands both strategic thinking and hands-on execution
  • Act as a joint decision-maker with Account, Creative, and Production leadership when scope, resourcing, or workflow calls need to be made
  • Serve as the go-to recovery resource when projects get into trouble, diagnosing the issue, stabilizing the team, and establishing a clear path forward
  • Manage senior client relationships independently, presenting project POVs, navigating scope conversations, and earning trust beyond the account team
  • Provide project-level coaching and guidance to Senior and Mid-level PMs on active work, offering real-time craft mentorship without formal management responsibility
  • Own at least one PM practice area for the department, such as Workfront standards, onboarding frameworks, or production playbooks
  • Communicate risk with authority, empowered to act rather than just escalate, while keeping leadership informed and timelines protected
  • Create and maintain project schedules, budgets, and documentation with a high degree of accuracy in Workfront


What You Need to Succeed:

  • 8–10 years in project management in a creative/marketing agency setting
  • A track record of owning complex, high-visibility work from kickoff to completion, independently and with confidence
  • Deep fluency in creative and production workflows across channels: digital, video, social, print, and experiential
  • Strong executive presence and the credibility to lead senior client and internal conversations without relying on a director as a backstop
  • High comfort with ambiguity and the ability to establish structure where none exists
  • Natural tendency to mentor and elevate the people around you, even without formal authority
  • Workfront expertise required; power-user knowledge and ability to advise others on best practices

Salary.com Estimation for Associate Director, Project Management in Southfield, MI
$156,152 to $187,879
If your compensation planning software is too rigid to deploy winning incentive strategies, it’s time to find an adaptable solution. Compensation Planning
Enhance your organization's compensation strategy with salary data sets that HR and team managers can use to pay your staff right. Surveys & Data Sets

What is the career path for a Associate Director, Project Management?

Sign up to receive alerts about other jobs on the Associate Director, Project Management career path by checking the boxes next to the positions that interest you.
Income Estimation: 
$175,165 - $219,883
Income Estimation: 
$271,516 - $422,299
Income Estimation: 
$261,260 - $370,192
Employees: Get a Salary Increase
View Core, Job Family, and Industry Job Skills and Competency Data for more than 15,000 Job Titles Skills Library

Not the job you're looking for? Here are some other Associate Director, Project Management jobs in the Southfield, MI area that may be a better fit.

  • KPMG US Detroit, MI
  • Known for being a great place to work and build a career, KPMG provides audit, tax and advisory services for organizations in today's most important indust... more
  • 1 Day Ago

  • Actalent Detroit, MI
  • Job Title: Director of Project Management Responsibilities Lead the firm’s project management function and establish best practices. Drive improvements in ... more
  • 16 Days Ago

AI Assistant is available now!

Feel free to start your new journey!