Sr Project Manager [AQ-13470]

Aquent is seeking an exceptional project management leader to partner with a prominent client in the defense and aerospace sector. This is a unique opportunity to embed within their Managed Services team and drive high-impact communications initiatives that shape critical outcomes. If you thrive on strategic challenges, excel in dynamic environments, and are passionate about making a tangible difference, this role offers the platform to elevate your career and influence enterprise-level success.

We are seeking an experienced and polished professional to join Aquent Studios, embedded directly within our Managed Services team supporting a leading defense and aerospace client. In this role, you will lead end-to-end project management for high-priority communications initiatives spanning multiple business units, functions, and Centers of Excellence (COEs). Operating in a central project management capacity, you will manage governance for enterprise-level intake, lead the strategic priorities review process, oversee cross-functional resource allocation, and optimize overall operational workflows using tools like Workfront.

The ideal candidate is a proactive problem-solver with strong executive presence who thrives in a fast-paced environment, navigates changing priorities with agility, and is confident engaging directly with senior leadership and external partner agencies.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Project & Program Management

• Lead high-priority client communications initiatives from initial intake through final execution, translating strategic objectives into detailed project plans, milestones, dependencies, and decision points.
• Facilitate high-level cross-functional collaboration, serving as a confident daily point of contact for senior leadership, key enterprise stakeholders, and external agency partners.
• Establish project governance, meeting cadences, decision rights, and clear escalation paths for complex, multi-discipline efforts.
• Maintain portfolio visibility into project health, status, scope, and critical decisions while developing polished, executive-ready dashboards, status reports, and briefings.
• Proactively address bottlenecks, scope creep, resource constraints, and competing priorities before they create downstream delays.

Strategic Priorities Review Process Leadership

• Serve as the project management lead for the client's strategic priorities review process, managing intake, pre-read development, meeting logistics, and decision documentation.
• Track initiatives from planning through execution and evaluation, maintaining accountability across action items, timelines, and dependencies.
• Identify recurring bottlenecks in the process to continuously refine governance, workflows, and resource alignment.

Enterprise Intake & Prioritization

• Act as the primary project management point of contact for enterprise strategic requests that fall outside standard business or account team alignment.
• Assess incoming requests for scope, urgency, complexity, dependencies, and resource requirements to help leadership determine ownership and governance paths.
• Maintain visibility across the enterprise portfolio to identify competing demands, resolve resource conflicts, and consolidate overlapping efforts.

Resource & Workflow Management

• Coordinate cross-functional resources across internal teams, account leads, creative leads, and external agency vendors.
• Partner with discipline leads to assess capacity constraints, establish production timelines, and balance workloads.
• Utilize Workfront and other enterprise project management tools to drive team accountability, workflow efficiency, and transparent reporting.

Execution & Continuous Improvement

• Manage project administrative needs, including cost estimates, vendor requirements, procurement processes, and archive documentation.
• Conduct post-initiative evaluations to capture performance outcomes, metrics, and lessons learned.
• Remain agile and receptive to shifting plans, identifying operational patterns across intake, resourcing, and execution to propose systemic solutions rather than quick fixes.

Required Qualifications

• 8+ years of senior project management experience within an agency, managed services environment, or embedded corporate model, including experience collaborating with external agencies and vendor partners.
• Highly polished, articulate, and well-spoken, with no hesitation in communicating with, influencing, and presenting to executive-level stakeholders.
• Exceptional organizational and problem-solving skills with a track record of identifying operational bottlenecks, resolving complex conflicts, and staying flexible through changing project scopes.
• Advanced proficiency in Workfront (or similar enterprise project management tools) and comfort working within a PC/VPN virtual environment.
• Willingness and ability to undertake up to 25% domestic travel as required by project demands and executive syncs.

About Aquent Talent

Aquent Talent connects the best talent in marketing, creative, and design with the world's biggest brands.

Our eligible talent get access to amazing benefits like subsidized health, vision, and dental plans, paid sick leave, and retirement plans with a match. We also offer free online training through Aquent Gymnasium. More information on our awesome benefits!

Aquent is an equal-opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, and other legally protected characteristics. We’re about creating an inclusive environment-one where different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives are valued, and everyone can contribute, grow their careers, and thrive.

Client Description

Aquent Studios is a global creative studio that delivers scale, speed and efficiency to the world’s most recognized brands. We create the work that matters the most to them—work that has a real impact on their business. As an Aquent Studio team member, you’ll have the opportunity to engage with the largest and most influential companies in the world, solving design challenges and extending their brands across tactic types and platforms, including digital design, UI/UX, video, motion, content, print design, web development, and more. If you want to do work that matters in a collaborative setting that values ingenuity and personal growth, you have found the right place!