Account Operations Manager

Our Opportunity

GPJ is hiring an Account Operations Manager to join our growing team.

This role is hybrid, requiring you to report on-site to one of the following office locations a minimum of 2 days/week: Austin, Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles, Nashville, New York City, or San Francisco.

Your Role

You oversee the operational components of delivering client programs, focusing on the financial and operational success of all projects. Here's how you contribute:

Operational Management

• You take charge of managing the day-to-day operational aspects of client program delivery, with a strong focus on their financial and operational performance.

Solution Development and Execution

• You manage solution development, estimating, budgeting, event production, and event delivery. This ensures that these essential elements run smoothly and efficiently for clients.

Collaboration with Account Leadership

• Collaboration with account leadership is a key part of your role. Together, you work to ensure account margins, client satisfaction, and account growth align with company standards.

Process Adherence and Risk Communication

• You make certain that all GPJ financial and operational processes and standards are consistently adhered to.
• You play a crucial role in communicating any program risks to operational, financial, and account leadership teams, ensuring a proactive and informed approach.

Issue and Risk Resolution

• Whenever known issues or significant risks arise, you escalate them promptly. This ensures they receive the necessary attention and action to address them effectively.

Compliance and Governance

• Your responsibilities extend to guaranteeing compliance with both GPJ and client contract requirements, as well as policy governance. This helps to maintain alignment with contractual agreements and upholds the highest standards of quality and integrity.

Leadership

• Lead a team of Account Operations Coordinators and Associates.
• Train, mentor, and provide ongoing feedback to junior team members.
• Conduct annual performance reviews to evaluate and guide team development.

Your Skills

• Math Skills. Has an accounting or finance background.  
• Computer savvy. GSuite and previous experience with JDE or Deltek or similar tools preferred
• Organized. You can be working on 30+ shows at one time. Tasks can be estimating the show, issuing POs, paying invoices or reconciling it. This is not a 1 project at a time position.
• High functioning. At your best when working under time restrictions and with numerous personality types. You communicate well with personnel at all levels within the organization.
• Team Player. This position will have contact with numerous vendors. Must understand their role and understand how to service the client. 
• Flexible. Able to shift work and priorities as needed. You are free to travel and will work irregular hours for your clients as required.
• Mentorship. Skilled in mentoring and training others
• Team Management. Effectively manage and oversee a team, ensuring optimal performance, collaboration, and achievement of organizational goals

Your Competencies

Accuracy - Deliver work with precision, completeness and free from error or defect. Engage others & research as needed to provide a clear, complete & accurate product.

Collaboration - Seek opportunities and takes action to ensure effective collaboration with the GPJ internal teams, other Project agencies, clients and partners. If responsible for leading people or a team, model this behavior for the team and expect the same behavior from employees.

Communication - Respond timely and accurately to requests for information, ensuring all appropriate parties are included. Provide regular updates on workload status based on established metrics.

Proactive - Take control and facilitate change instead of waiting and reacting. Take the initiative to improve the business on any level, no matter how small.

Relationship Builder - Develop, maintain and strengthen partnerships with others inside and outside the client organization. Identify new stakeholders, manage client expectations, define new business opportunities and deliver against clients' needs while skillfully balancing the needs of the client and those of the agency. Relates well to all kinds of people, up, down, and sideways, inside and outside the organization; builds appropriate rapport,: builds constructive and effective relationships; uses diplomacy and tact; can diffuse even high-tension situations comfortably.

Situational Awareness & Proactive - Take the initiative to fully understand the entire process (including steps outside of the AO dept) in order to be able to identify potential delays or mistakes before they happen. Need to be able to remedy quickly once identified. Able to recommend process updates as business needs change. Willing to learn and adapt to new processes and tools as dictated by business needs.

Your Experience

Experience & Education

• You should have 5+ years of industry related experience.
• Ability to understand on-site methodology and practices, as well as show and venue rules and regulations.

Travel & Mobility

• Travel estimated about 5%
• Ability to work irregular hours as needed for our programs

Your Impact

In your role, you will have influence and responsibility over:

Review project/program budgets in collaboration with account teams:

• Budgets
• Scope Documents
• Proposals
• As Sold Documents
• Work Orders
• Sub-Budget Categories: i.e. Service / Fabrication Specific 
• Change Orders

Monitor & communicate performance of projects 

• Monitor actual v. estimate performance on a regular cadence
• Communicate project/program status to interested parties and escalates as needed
• Proactively identify, mitigate and escalate issues and risks 
• Variances are immediately addressed 
• Conducts root cause analysis for variances and educates/adjust process accordingly
• Ensure Change Orders are presented & approved when scope changes
• Ensure Job Cost transfers are approved and processed

Ensure account and project team compliance with GPJ Processes:

• Ensure Procedures are followed for receiving signed SOW and PO's prior to commencing work on behalf of the client
• Ensure team utilizes functionality in Project Management Software i.e. staffing grids entered and 3rd party budgets entered
• Ensure project documentation is properly stored and managed between all systems

Salary Range: $70k - $80k

Salary is dependent on a variety of factors including (but not limited to) experience, skills, and location.

Who We Are

GPJ is the world leader in experiential marketing. Our 29 global offices are filled with fearless people dreaming up ideas that are transforming industries and bringing the most respected brands to life in powerfully, exciting ways. We are a part of the Project Worldwide family. An independent, employee-owned global network of complementary, wholly owned agencies. 

You read that "employee-owned" part, right? You heard us correctly. You work hard, she works hard, we all work hard… we all succeed and reap the rewards. We have an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) – providing our employees with an ownership interest. We thought you would want to know that. In fact, there is a lot more you would want to know about us, like our FTO policy (no more "accruing" time off), our employer matching 401(k) plan (no vesting period), our low employee contribution healthcare option. But we are getting ahead of ourselves here, let's talk about this exciting opportunity first and we can fill you in on our perks & benefits later.

GPJ is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation and gender identity), national origin, citizenship, disability, protected veteran status, or any other protected class. In addition to federal law requirements, GPJ complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.  GPJ expressly prohibits any form of workplace harassment based on any protected class.