Resource Manager

Edelman is a voice synonymous with trust, reimagining a future where the currency of communication is action. Our culture thrives on three promises: boldness is possibility, empathy is progress, and curiosity is momentum. 

At Edelman, we understand diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) transform our colleagues, our company, our clients, and our communities. We are in relentless pursuit of an equitable and inspiring workplace that is respectful of all, reflects and represents the world in which we live, and fosters trust, collaboration and belonging.

About the company

We are a leading global communications firm helping business and organizations evolve, promote, and protect their brands and reputations. We are a family-owned firm that over the years has shifted its focus from traditional public relations to strategic and integrated communications marketing. Our 6,000 people in more than 60 offices deliver communications strategies that give our clients the confidence to lead and act with certainty, earning the trust of their stakeholders. Every day, we strive to live and work by a long-held set of core values: the pursuit of excellence, the freedom to be curious, the courage to do the right thing, and a commitment to improving society.

The role of Resource Manager 

As part of the resource management team, you’ll support the agency’s operational excellence overall, helping develop and implement best practices to fully leverage our talent, ensure client satisfaction, and maximize profitability across accounts. At Edelman, Resource Management (RM) is the epicenter of how to effectively bring together talent, the work and processes for our clients. This is a critical role, supporting the wider resource management team, in helping to match capacity, skillsets and talents to our client and business requirements. 

In this role, you will be responsible for supporting the Resource Directors in managing and optimizing the staffing of our resources in the UK, providing accurate and insightful reporting and analysis to client leaders and project teams, identifying areas of opportunities, and providing strategic guidance and thoughtful staffing suggestions to client teams. You will work closely with client teams, business managers and project managers to assess planning and project management needs on upcoming projects/retainers.

In order to cast the right person on the right work, you need to get to know and understand your team, the work they do and ways of working. In this role it is important to demonstrate an ability to multi-task and strategically prioritise – identifying and planning resource needs across a wide range of projects to ensure they are set up for success. You’ll report into one of the Resource Directors and partner with them to cast the right person for the right role. 

The resourcing strategy in the EMEA region is focused on a centralized approach to talent management and management of the business. This has been achieved by breaking down the walls between and within our offices and organizing around capabilities through building client centric teams from across the network to deliver integrated work. We have a fantastic team of resource managers in EMEA and globally and you will be part of it. 

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Key Responsibilities:

• Responsible for assisting with the management of the UK resourcing pools by casting the right person on the right work on the right time. Training to be provided. 
• Partnering with Resource Directors and client teams to ensure resource data is accurately reflected within the system across projects and uploaded in a timely manner. 
• Look after the work life balance of the resources within the pool you oversee. 
• Assisting with the identification of the right resources based on requests from client leads matching staff skills and availability to the brief. 
• Using OneRMP and PowerBI to identify potential instances of over and/or under-utilisation across teams and actively working with project managers and client leads to address and solve any issues. 
• Compiling reports on staff availability and billability on a regular basis and share with the specialty lead and resource director. 
• Assist in analysing skills gaps in partnership with the specialty lead and resource director. 
• Build strong relationships and work closely with Business Managers, Project Managers and Client teams to manage projects effectively and efficiently. 
• Support in mediating competitions over resources using set project prioritization guidelines 
• Work with finance to ensure timesheets are completed in GFS 
• Support in identifying freelance needs and partner with the specialty lead, client leads, Project managers, finance and HR to secure and track resources. 
• Aligning with wider Resource Management team on holiday/absences to ensure the business is covered. 
• Actively participate in regular RM status meetings to update peers and managers on fulfillment of requests, escalate challenges and support needs and raise broader questions about talent, process or change management to continue to help grow and improve our offering 

Desired Skills and Experience:

• Agency experience in operations/resource management within communications, media advertising, creative or marketing agency with strong project management, planning and workflow management experience.
• Open-minded and committed to learning the resourcing system, then encouraging its adoption across the business.
• Inherent curiosity about key practice areas across an agency and their skill sets; able to match talent to the right opportunity.
• Capacity to manage a busy workload and tight deadlines with high productivity.
• Strong team player and highly empathetic with proven ability to work cross-functionally and across multiple stakeholders to achieve goals and objectives
• Responsive and flexible to ever-changing needs.
• Proficient in MS Office - specifically: Excel, Word, PPT, Outlook and preferable PowerBI
• Excellent verbal, written, organisational and problem-solving skills; exceptional attention to detail.
• Strong communications skills: demonstrated ability to communicate clearly with project stakeholders, addressing concerns and presenting mutually beneficial solutions.
• Strong emotional intelligence and inter-personal skills; able to build consensus.
• Strong character that is comfortable enforcing scheduling controls and setting realistic expectations with project stakeholders.

We are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your experience doesn’t perfectly align with every qualification, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.