Sr Project Manager

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.