Job Description

We are searching for a Program Manager with strong pharma agency and healthcare experience to join the growing Publicis Health Toronto team. This role is designed for a leader who can manage people, portfolios, delivery outcomes, operational rhythm, financial signal, and cross-functional partnership across a high volume, fast paced BioPharma environment.

The Program Manager is accountable for end to end delivery health across a business unit, brand portfolio, or function. This includes ensuring work is prioritized correctly, risks are surfaced early, Project Managers (PMs) are supported and coached, execution stays aligned to financial and operational expectations, and stakeholders have the right level of information to make decisions. This role does not simply coordinate work. It owns portfolio outcomes and enables teams to deliver high quality work predictably, sustainably, and at scale.

Role Scope and Leadership Expectations

• Own portfolio delivery outcomes.

• Act as the first leadership escalation point for project delivery, scope, resource, financial, and operational issues.

• Lead and develop the PMs through regular 1:1s, coaching, onboarding, feedback, and performance management.

• Create a calm, respectful, collaborative environment where teams feel safe to raise risks, ask questions, and solve problems early.

• Operate as the bridge between PM execution and Director level portfolio sustainability, bringing forward patterns, risks, and recommendations with context, options, and impact.

• Model ownership, sound judgment, transparency, and solution oriented leadership, especially under pressure or ambiguity.

Responsibilities

Team Leadership and Management

• Lead regular 1:1s with PMs and Senior PMs, focused on current state, development needs, future growth, and how you can support them.

• Coach PMs on ownership, escalation judgment, communication quality, delivery discipline, and financial stewardship.

• Conduct performance reviews, support 360 feedback processes, participate in hiring, and lead onboarding for new PM team members.

• Set a healthy leadership tone by communicating calmly, respectfully, and constructively, especially during stressful or high pressure situations.

Portfolio Intake, Allocation, and Prioritization

• Own work distribution and flow across the assigned BU, portfolio, or function.

• Allocate work based on capacity, complexity, skill set, brand knowledge, and priority.

• Lead resource and project planning decisions across the portfolio, escalating resourcing pressure early when support is needed.

• Ensure work follows agreed intake models, pathway designations, and delivery models, including AOR versus Production and origination versus reuse where applicable.

Delivery Ownership and Escalation

• Monitor end to end delivery health across brands, programs, and priority initiatives.

• Keep risks, blockers, dependencies, changes, and decision needs visible, not buried in trackers.

• Act as the first leadership escalation point for delivery, scope, resourcing, and prioritization issues.

• Escalate to Directors when trade offs impact multiple portfolios or margin, senior client confidence is at risk, issues indicate systemic breakdown, or resourcing needs exceed portfolio authority.

Financial Stewardship and Reporting

• Review complex estimates, support budget sanity checks, and help PMs interpret scope and change needs.

• Monitor budget health, burn trends, long running jobs, high risk work, and portfolio level financial signal.

• Own portfolio level BCR completeness, accuracy, and handoffs for revenue reporting and client invoicing.

• Partner with Directors, Finance, and Client Service on high risk, high dollar, rate card, ICA, revenue, staff recharge, and pacing conversations.

• Explain why numbers look the way they do, not just report the numbers.

Systems, Data, and KPI Ownership

• Oversee system hygiene, data accuracy, KPI adherence, and signal quality across tools such as PBO, Smartsheet, AWF, BCR, and Teams where applicable.

• Act as the first point of correction when data quality is poor or reporting inputs are inconsistent.

• Monitor allocation, utilization, project health, finance, and delivery trends across the portfolio.

• Challenge reporting requirements when needed to increase clarity and reduce noise for the team.

Business Unit and Stakeholder Partnership

• Serve as the main PMO point of contact for Partner Leads, BU stakeholders, and day to day client escalations or improvements within remit.

• Build trusted relationships with Account, Production, AOR, Craft, Media, Social, Governance, Finance, and other partner teams.

• Participate in priority, complex, high volume, problem brand, or escalated client and stakeholder forums when leadership support is needed.

• Act as portfolio SME, supporting pathway designation, launch planning, pilot oversight, and cross functional ways of working.

Training and Capability Enablement

• Ensure PMs are up to date on required training and understand expected ways of working.

• Identify skill, knowledge, and capability gaps within the team.

• Reinforce best practices through coaching, not compliance policing.

• Escalate systemic capability gaps to Directors and support solution definition and rollout across the team.

• Maintain portfolio training documentation and ensure requirements are kept current with Directors and SMEs.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of project management experience in digital, integrated, production, or agency environments, with at least 5 years in pharma advertising/healthcare marketing.

• 1+ years of people leadership experience, including performance management, coaching, onboarding, or direct management of PMs or cross functional delivery teams.

• Strong understanding of creative, digital, web, production, and campaign delivery from brief through planning, delivery, launch, measurement, and maintenance.

• Demonstrated experience managing high volume or complex portfolios, including prioritization, resourcing, risk management, stakeholder management, and escalation leadership.

• Experience with financial stewardship, including estimates, scope interpretation, budget health, burn tracking, change management, revenue reporting, invoicing support, and financial risk escalation.

• Strong command of project management systems and reporting tools such as; MS Project, Smartsheet, Jira, Asana, Encodify, Adobe Workfront, MSTeams, or similar platforms.

• Excellent communication, facilitation, negotiation, and presentation skills, with the ability to create signal, reduce noise, and drive alignment across senior stakeholders and delivery teams.

• Ability to lead with professionalism, calm, respect, accountability, and sound judgment in moments of ambiguity or pressure.

• Curiosity and continuous improvement mindset, with a demonstrated ability to identify patterns, reduce repeat issues, and improve ways of working over time.

Core Competencies

• Pharma advertising and healthcare delivery expertise.

• Portfolio leadership and delivery ownership.

• People management, coaching, feedback, and team readiness.

• Financial stewardship and commercial judgment.

• Operational excellence, process discipline, and system hygiene.

• Signal based communication, facilitation, and stakeholder alignment.

• Risk management, problem solving, and escalation judgment.

• Cross functional collaboration and team enablement.

• Professional judgment, integrity, accountability, and calm leadership.

• Continuous improvement and learning mindset.

Additional Information

Transparency matters to us. The salary range for this position is $110,000 - $120,000 per year. Actual compensation within this range will be based on a variety of factors, including relevant experience, knowledge, skills, and applicable certifications. This range reflects what we reasonably expect to offer based on current market data.

AI Use

We use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of our hiring process, such as reviewing applications or analyzing resumes. These tools assist our recruitment team but never replace human decision-making. We believe in a human-first approach, where your experience and potential are recognized by people.