Senior Technical Project Manager, AI product

Company description Saatchi & Saatchi is an advertising agency with the belief that creativity, data, media and technology should all work together, and we use that to influence human behavior and drive success for clients. S&S is one of the world's largest agency networks with 114 offices and more than 6000 employees globally. Here in our Toronto office we work with some of the countries most valued brands including Toyota, Buckley's, and Children's Advil, as well as several under the Mondelez banner (Crispers, Oreo, and Chips Ahoy just to name a few). We’re an award winning agency in both creativity and effectiveness, so it’s really important for us here to convert that innovation and the great ideas into real tangible business results for the organization. Overview Saatchi & Saatchi is seeking a Senior Technical Project Manager for an innovative AI platform initiative starting immediately. We are looking for someone with a producer's mindset — the instincts of a VFX producer, game producer, or hands-on product owner — paired with strong technical fluency, who thrives in a fast-paced environment. Years of experience are flexible; mindset matters more than credentials. You translate between engineering, design, business, and clients, and you build and carry the mental model of what the platform is, what it needs next, and how every piece relates. You operate calmly in a fast-moving multi-stakeholder environment that spans agencies, holding-company partners, and global Publicis teams. Responsibilities Hold and maintain the technical mental model of the platform — what is built, what is being built, what is needed, and how every component relates to the broader program — and act as a trusted translator between engineering, design, leadership, and clients. Provide technical thought leadership and partner with engineering and architecture on what the product actually needs next, not just what is on the backlog. Plan, sequence, and drive delivery across multiple concurrent workstreams (frontend, backend, agentic, data, infra) and across multiple environments and live release events. Run a lightweight, high-signal agile cadence — standups, planning, retros — that respects engineering focus time and produces decisions, not status theatre. Track and communicate scope, dependencies, risk, and progress across Saatchi, Moov AI, Publicis NA, and global Publicis stakeholders. Act as the primary point of coordination for technical readiness around live events (Builder Nights, integration milestones, client demos), driving pre-event run-throughs and post-event retros. Identify scope creep, conflicting priorities, and unowned work early — and either resolve them, escalate them, or absorb the coordination cost so engineering can keep shipping. Maintain just-enough living documentation (system overviews, decision logs, release notes) so the team's mental model can survive a hire, a departure, or a vacation. Partner with the existing interim technical PM (currently Kamaal) on a deliberate knowledge-transfer plan so this role builds redundancy on a critical single point of failure. Represent the technical reality of the program in client and leadership conversations — translating engineering trade-offs into language that lands. Qualifications Demonstrated track record running complex technical programs end-to-end — software platforms, AI/ML products, large web implementations, complex digital productions, or equivalent. Years are flexible; depth and judgement are not. Strong technical fluency: you can sit in an architecture conversation about microservices, APIs, cloud infrastructure, or LLM/agent systems and add real value, not just take notes. Experience coordinating cross-functional delivery across engineering, design, QA, data, infra, and external vendors or partners. Comfortable working in agile, hybrid-agile, or producer-led delivery models, and choosing the right cadence for the moment. Strong stakeholder management across technical and non-technical audiences — clients, executives, engineers, designers, holding-company partners. Hands-on with modern collaboration and PM tooling (Jira, Confluence, Loop / Notion, Miro / FigJam, GitHub, Slack / Teams). Working understanding of modern cloud-native platforms, CI/CD, and AI/LLM-enabled products — enough to ask the right questions and challenge soft answers. Excellent written and verbal communication, including the ability to summarize a chaotic situation into a clear next-action paragraph. Located in or willing to work Toronto hours; hybrid presence expected for client and team moments. Required Soft Skills Producer instincts — you treat shipping as the goal, you protect the team from churn, and you measure success by what got delivered. Pattern-recognition under noise — you can hold a complex live picture in your head and notice when something is drifting before it breaks. Calm under pressure — live events, infrastructure surprises, and stakeholder escalations don't rattle your communication. Translator's ear — you can paraphrase engineering accurately to a client and paraphrase client intent accurately to engineering, without losing fidelity. Bias to action — you would rather make a reversible call now than hold a meeting to ratify the obvious one. Comfortable with chaos and ambiguity, but committed to leaving the program more legible than you found it. Generous with credit, direct with concerns, professional in conflict. Nice to Have Prior experience in a Publicis Groupe or other major holding-company agency environment (cultural shorthand transfers fast). Background as a VFX producer, game producer, technical product owner, or hands-on technical solutions consultant. Experience producing or coordinating live demo / launch events with real users on a non-rehearsable schedule. Exposure to AI/LLM-enabled product delivery (agents, RAG, evaluation loops, prompt iteration cycles). PMI-ACP, CSM, or comparable agile certification (signal, not a gate). Familiarity with GCP / GKE, contract-first integration models, or multi-tenant SaaS delivery patterns. Additional information Location & Eligibility: Candidates must be based in Canada, with valid Canadian work authorization of at least 12 months. Hybrid Work: This role is remote. If you are GTA-based, the team meets once a month at our Toronto office (111 Queen St. E, Suite 200, Toronto, ON M5C 1S2), with possible occasional travel to meet stakeholders (Montreal, NY, London). Time Off: - Up to 3 weeks vacation, with additional paid closure between Christmas and New Year's - Extended long weekends for provincial holidays — we give you both the Monday and Friday so you get a full 4-day break - 10 personal days per year Flexibility & Global Mobility: After completing one year, work remotely for up to 6 weeks per year from any of our 50+ global offices through our Work Your World program. Benefits: Comprehensive group coverage including: - Medical, dental, and vision care - Psychological and paramedical services - Disability insurance - Fertility support and gender-affirming care - Dedicated internal guidance programs for employees navigating cancer, fertility treatments, or gender transition Parental Leave Top up: A 100% salary top up program once approved for Employment Insurance for the first 6 weeks of your parental Leave. Defined Contribution Pension Plan: Employees have the option to sign up to voluntarily contribute to a DCPP where Saatchi will match the employee contributions up to 5% after completing one year. Gym Membership: Corporate Membership rates at Good Life Fitness Free access to a financial planner & more… Compensation: The salary range for this position is $90,000–$120,000 per year, based on experience, skills, and relevant certifications. We believe in pay transparency and are committed to offering competitive, market-aligned compensation. 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. Saatchi & Saatchi is committed to building a diverse workforce representative of our community. We encourage and are pleased to consider all qualified candidates, without regard to race, colour, citizenship, religion, sex, marital / family status, sexual orientation, gender identity, aboriginal status, age, disability or persons who may require an accommodation, to apply. If you require a specific accommodation please contact Human Resources at 416-925-7733 or by email at [email protected].

Demonstrated track record running complex technical programs end-to-end — software platforms, AI/ML products, large web implementations, complex digital productions, or equivalent. Years are flexible; depth and judgement are not. Strong technical fluency: you can sit in an architecture conversation about microservices, APIs, cloud infrastructure, or LLM/agent systems and add real value, not just take notes. Experience coordinating cross-functional delivery across engineering, design, QA, data, infra, and external vendors or partners. Comfortable working in agile, hybrid-agile, or producer-led delivery models, and choosing the right cadence for the moment. Strong stakeholder management across technical and non-technical audiences — clients, executives, engineers, designers, holding-company partners. Hands-on with modern collaboration and PM tooling (Jira, Confluence, Loop / Notion, Miro / FigJam, GitHub, Slack / Teams). Working understanding of modern cloud-native platforms, CI/CD, and AI/LLM-enabled products — enough to ask the right questions and challenge soft answers. Excellent written and verbal communication, including the ability to summarize a chaotic situation into a clear next-action paragraph. Located in or willing to work Toronto hours; hybrid presence expected for client and team moments. Required Soft Skills Producer instincts — you treat shipping as the goal, you protect the team from churn, and you measure success by what got delivered. Pattern-recognition under noise — you can hold a complex live picture in your head and notice when something is drifting before it breaks. Calm under pressure — live events, infrastructure surprises, and stakeholder escalations don't rattle your communication. Translator's ear — you can paraphrase engineering accurately to a client and paraphrase client intent accurately to engineering, without losing fidelity. Bias to action — you would rather make a reversible call now than hold a meeting to ratify the obvious one. Comfortable with chaos and ambiguity, but committed to leaving the program more legible than you found it. Generous with credit, direct with concerns, professional in conflict. Nice to Have Prior experience in a Publicis Groupe or other major holding-company agency environment (cultural shorthand transfers fast). Background as a VFX producer, game producer, technical product owner, or hands-on technical solutions consultant. Experience producing or coordinating live demo / launch events with real users on a non-rehearsable schedule. Exposure to AI/LLM-enabled product delivery (agents, RAG, evaluation loops, prompt iteration cycles). PMI-ACP, CSM, or comparable agile certification (signal, not a gate). Familiarity with GCP / GKE, contract-first integration models, or multi-tenant SaaS delivery patterns.

Hold and maintain the technical mental model of the platform — what is built, what is being built, what is needed, and how every component relates to the broader program — and act as a trusted translator between engineering, design, leadership, and clients. Provide technical thought leadership and partner with engineering and architecture on what the product actually needs next, not just what is on the backlog. Plan, sequence, and drive delivery across multiple concurrent workstreams (frontend, backend, agentic, data, infra) and across multiple environments and live release events. Run a lightweight, high-signal agile cadence — standups, planning, retros — that respects engineering focus time and produces decisions, not status theatre. Track and communicate scope, dependencies, risk, and progress across Saatchi, Moov AI, Publicis NA, and global Publicis stakeholders. Act as the primary point of coordination for technical readiness around live events (Builder Nights, integration milestones, client demos), driving pre-event run-throughs and post-event retros. Identify scope creep, conflicting priorities, and unowned work early — and either resolve them, escalate them, or absorb the coordination cost so engineering can keep shipping. Maintain just-enough living documentation (system overviews, decision logs, release notes) so the team's mental model can survive a hire, a departure, or a vacation. Partner with the existing interim technical PM (currently Kamaal) on a deliberate knowledge-transfer plan so this role builds redundancy on a critical single point of failure. Represent the technical reality of the program in client and leadership conversations — translating engineering trade-offs into language that lands.