Project Director, Healthcare

FWD People is a full-service strategic marketing agency delivering meaningful and measurable results in the health and non-profit sectors. We take pride in being our clients' trusted strategic partner — staying ahead of the curve, and leveraging our expertise and foresight to help them navigate change and seize opportunities. We approach every challenge with a commitment to innovation, excellence, and empathy and we seek the same qualities in our leaders.

As a fast-growing, senior team, we're excited to welcome more forward-thinking individuals who will help us drive growth, foster positive change within our client's industries, and have fun along the way.

As Project Director, you will serve as the operational backbone of our most complex and strategic client engagements. In this client-facing role, you'll lead end-to-end program management for large-scale, high-value initiatives—including brand launches, omnichannel campaigns, and integrated marketing programs—ensuring seamless execution, regulatory compliance, and exceptional client partnership every step of the way.

• Own end-to-end project leadership across large-scale, high-value client engagements, including launch planning and omnichannel campaign execution.

• Translate brand objectives and strategic imperatives into actionable project plans, integrated timelines, and cross-functional delivery models.

• Serve as a senior operations lead and trusted partner to clients, providing visibility into project health, timelines, risks, and deliverables with confidence and clarity.

• Orchestrate work streams across account, creative, strategy, medical, editorial, and production teams to ensure cohesive, aligned delivery.

• Lead integrated planning sessions to align internal teams and client stakeholders around goals, deliverables, and timing.

• Own development and ongoing management of master project plans, milestone maps, and interdependencies across initiatives.

• Ensure seamless integration between brand and corporate-level initiatives, including launch milestones, field readiness, and MLR dependencies.

• Lead internal status meetings and escalation protocols, ensuring visibility across leadership and rapid resolution of issues.

• Ensure all deliverables meet regulatory requirements and are routed appropriately through MLR, legal, and client review systems.

• Proactively identify risks to delivery or compliance and implement mitigation plans with relevant stakeholders.

• Partner with Account and Finance teams to scope projects accurately, develop budgets, track burn across phases, and identify out-of-scope work.

• Mentor and guide junior project managers and coordinators, helping to grow internal talent and strengthen team capabilities.

• Implement best-in-class tools, workflows, and documentation standards that enable team efficiency and scale.

• 7+ years of program or project management experience, ideally in a healthcare marketing agency or pharmaceutical setting.

• Proven track record managing large-scale, complex client programs from concept through execution.

• Deep familiarity with pharmaceutical regulatory processes, including MLR review, OPDP guidelines, and compliance workflows.

• Experience supporting brand launches and/or managing omnichannel campaign execution.

• Exceptional organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple work streams, competing priorities, and tight timelines simultaneously.

• Strong client-facing presence—able to anticipate needs, communicate proactively, and build trust with senior stakeholders.

• Collaborative leadership style with experience orchestrating cross-functional teams (creative, strategy, medical, account, production).

• Financial acumen, including experience with budget development, scope management, and resource allocation.

• Proficiency with project management tools and platforms (e.g., Asana, , Smartsheet, or similar).

• Adaptable, solutions-oriented mindset with a calm, confident approach to problem-solving under pressure.

• PMP, Agile, or similar project management certification.

• Experience in rare disease, oncology, immunology, or specialty pharmaceutical categories.

• Background working with biotech or emerging…