Media Project Manager

Zenith: Project Manager, Media

Address: 111 Queen St E, Toronto, ON M5C 1S2, Canada

Full-time (Hybrid)

Company Description

Overview

We’re looking for a Project Manager with hands-on media agency experience to manage day-to-day project delivery for a dedicated client account at Zenith. This role requires a strong understanding of how media work moves from brief and planning through activation, optimization, and reporting - not simply experience managing general business projects.

You’ll turn media briefs and account deliverables into coordinated project plans, connecting planning, investment and activation, analytics, and client services teams. You’ll understand the inputs each team needs, the dependencies between workstreams, and the reviews and approvals required to keep delivery moving.

This is a hands-on media account delivery role, not an agency-wide transformation or technology implementation mandate. You’ll combine media knowledge with practical project management to challenge incomplete briefs, anticipate delivery risks, and help specialist teams stay aligned. Tools, automation, and AI are supporting capabilities; they are not a substitute for media fluency.

Responsibilities

Manage Project Delivery

• Translate media briefs and agreed account deliverables into integrated project plans covering planning, activation, optimization, and reporting, with clear milestones, owners, deadlines, and dependencies.
• Coordinate the flow of work from brief and scoping through media plan development, stakeholder review, approvals, activation readiness, and reporting handoffs.
• Maintain connected timelines across concurrent media workstreams, tracking required inputs and approvals so changes in one area are reflected in downstream deadlines.

Coordinate Teams and Stakeholders

• Connect media planning, investment and activation, analytics, and client services teams; clarify handoffs, required inputs, and ownership without taking over specialist media decisions.
• Lead delivery-focused status discussions using an understanding of media workflows to ask informed questions, identify missing inputs, and turn decisions into clear actions and deadlines.
• Coordinate internal and client review and approval schedules with account leadership, allowing time for feedback, revisions, and downstream media delivery requirements.

Manage Scope, Risks, and Resources

• Anticipate media delivery risks such as incomplete briefs, late assets or approvals, and conflicting workstream deadlines; escalate early with practical options and clear delivery implications.
• Track changes to scope, media requirements, and timing; assess the effect on connected workstreams with specialist leads and confirm revised expectations with account leadership.
• Work with media and analytics leads to understand capacity, sequence interdependent tasks, and surface resource conflicts during overlapping deadlines.

Maintain Visibility and Accountability

• Keep media project plans, status reports, action logs, approval records, and deliverable trackers current, giving teams a shared view of what is ready, outstanding, or blocked.
• Give account leadership a clear view of progress, upcoming milestones, outstanding approvals, and decisions needed.
• Track delivery measures such as milestone completion, turnaround times, and overdue actions to identify improvements.

Improve Account Workflows

• Apply account-specific briefing, intake, handoff, and review processes that reflect how media teams work, rather than imposing generic project management processes.
• Use existing project management and Microsoft 365 tools to reduce manual administration and improve visibility.
• Identify opportunities for automation and AI-assisted workflows where they support account delivery; specialist development expertise is not the core requirement.

Qualifications

Must-Have Skills & Experience

• Hands-on experience managing media projects within a media agency or client-side media team. General organizational project management experience alone is not sufficient for this role.
• Strong working knowledge of the media delivery lifecycle: briefing, planning, investment and activation, optimization, and reporting, including the inputs, reviews, and approvals that connect these stages.
• Demonstrated ability to manage concurrent media workstreams, connect dependencies across teams, and maintain realistic timelines as priorities and requirements change.
• Confidence working with media specialists, analytics teams, client stakeholders, and account leadership, using media terminology accurately and communicating delivery implications clearly.
• Ability to interrogate a media brief for missing information, recognize delivery risks, and ask informed questions without needing every workflow or dependency explained from scratch.
• Working knowledge of project management tools and Microsoft 365, with the ability to adapt tools and processes to team needs.
• A practical understanding of media planning and activation requirements, including asset readiness, approval checkpoints, launch deadlines, and reporting handoffs. Able to coordinate specialist work without needing to be the channel expert.

Nice-to-Have Skills & Experience

• Direct experience in a media planning, buying, activation, or analytics role, in addition to the core media project delivery experience required above.
• Experience with Microsoft Planner, Loop, Project, or other project management platforms.
• Familiarity with Power Automate, Power BI, Microsoft Copilot, or other tools used to simplify workflows and reporting.
• Experience introducing process improvements and supporting teams through changes in ways of working.
• Understanding of scope management, resource planning, and agency financial considerations.

Additional Information

Success in This Role Looks Like

First 90 Days

• Build a working understanding of the account’s media priorities, workstreams, stakeholders, approval requirements, and planning-to-activation and reporting dependencies.
• Maintain an integrated media project tracker with clear ownership, milestones, dependencies, required inputs, and approval checkpoints.
• Establish a reliable status and follow-up cadence and address immediate delivery bottlenecks.

First 6 Months

• Run consistent briefing, planning, review, approval, and handoff processes that reflect the account’s media delivery needs.
• Give account leadership dependable visibility into delivery progress, risks, and resource needs.
• Introduce practical workflow improvements that reduce administration and clarify team handoffs.

First Year

• Embed a reliable approach to media account project delivery, with clear cross-team ownership, coordinated timelines, and proactive management of dependencies and risks.
• Demonstrate improvements in delivery consistency, turnaround times, and workload visibility using agreed tracking measures.
• Maintain processes that support changing account priorities without adding unnecessary complexity.

Who This Role Is For

This role is for a media-fluent project manager who understands how agency teams turn a brief into live media activity and reporting. You can connect the detail across workstreams, spot what is missing, and keep specialists and stakeholders moving toward shared deadlines. You bring curiosity, sound judgment, confident follow-up, and a collaborative approach to solving delivery problems. Your strength is managing media work in practice - not simply maintaining task lists or introducing new systems.

We’re committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace. Accommodations are available throughout the hiring process upon request.

Salary

Transparency matters to us. The salary range for this position is $70k - 85k 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.

Zenith is an equal opportunity employer and we welcome and encourage applications from all interested parties. Accommodations are available, upon request, for all stages of the interview and employment process for those with a disability or medical need during any stage of the recruitment process. We thank all candidates for their interest in Zenith , however, only those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.