Associate Director, Business Management

Company Description

Heartbeat is a full-service agency for healthcare Challenger Brands. Challengers are playing a high-stakes game—they must battle behemoth market leaders, upend ingrained treatment habits, or transform a “me-too” product into “yes-please.”

 

The agency is known for serving up distinctive strategies and differentiating approaches, ensuring clients’ market positions are uniquely owned. Heartbeat designs their organization around a 100% integration model, housing media, strategy, med comms, creative, technology, and even point of care/population health under the same roof for the tightest, most integrated campaigns possible. They price work based on outcomes, not outputs. Their innovative model delivers not only alignment, but powerful orchestration, greater efficiency, and maximum impact for every dollar spent—all the necessary elements for Challengers to triumph.

 

That’s the philosophy, here’s the creds: 250+ employees between NYC & LA; 6 agency leaders with decades of tenure; a pile of awards from the likes of the Mannys, MM&M Awards, OMMAs, and Clios; an industry-leading commitment to diversity and inclusion (with a Med Ad News D&I Champion nod to match); and a President who dared to be quoted as saying, “We celebrate people who stand up and say, ‘You know what? This is dumb.' Damn straight.

Job Description

The ideal candidate for the Associate Director of Business Manager Position would have a strong financial acumen that can translate complex client finances into deliverables and action items for the agency team (Client Services, Production, Finance, Creative).

The candidate would also understand the scope of our client work and how they work impacts the client finances. With that knowledge, the candidate will be able to oversee the management and reporting of the client’s finances.

The AD, Business Management partners with the department leads acting as the team’s financial strategist and reporter and is responsible for the oversight of each account’s forecasting, ensuring that all internal targets are tracked and updated based on current client trends.

Responsibilities

Financial Responsibilities:

• Client-facing lead on all financial client request; pertaining to: Budget Management and Reporting, Accruals, Invoicing, and other adhoc needs
• Provides clear and reliable analysis of each client’s financial status, goals, and strategic needs.
• Provides clear and reliable long term planning of client finances
• Provides accurate and realistic forecasts; actively manages forecast to ensure targets are met and finance is in the loop with the latest information (PE, billing, etc.)
• Ensures financial control of all client work (estimates, jobs, fees, billing, expense monitoring) throughout the agency team
• Responsible for regular budget status reporting for client and internal audiences; assesses trends and keeps all applicable parties in the loop
• Reviews statement of work documentation; accountable for ensuring scope documentation is in place for all work
• Responsible for account investment tracking, reporting, and working the teams to mitigate future investments
• Needs to provide clear communication around staffing forecasts and allocations as they relate to the revenue phasing

 

Team Leadership Responsibilities:

• Partners with department leads to identify and manage true resource needs (internal and external) across the agency team
• Works closely with department leads to navigate conversation around monthly staffing forecasts needs
• Identifies and helps resolve people/account conflicts with practical solutions
• Partners with Lead Producer in contract management (client, vendor, and intercompany issues)
• Promotes and contributes to Heartbeats culture and environment
• Demonstrates strong, professional work ethic

Qualifications

• 7+ years of agency experience in business management, finance, or account operations (healthcare/pharma preferred)
• Strong expertise in budgeting, forecasting, revenue tracking, and financial reporting
• Experience owning account financial oversight (estimates, SOWs, billing, expense management)
• Highly analytical and naturally curious, with the ability to interpret data, draw conclusions, and provide thoughtful recommendations
• Comfortable leading client-facing financial conversations, including presenting insights and guiding senior stakeholders
• Confident presence with ability to run meetings and communicate what the data is telling the business
• Experience with resource planning and staffing forecasts tied to revenue
• Strong collaborator who can partner across teams to solve problems and drive alignment

Additional Information

Our Publicis Groupe motto “Viva La Différence” means we’re better together, and we believe that our differences make us stronger. It means we honor and celebrate all identities, across all facets of intersectionality, and it underpins all that we do as an organization. We are focused on fostering belonging and creating equitable & inclusive experiences for all talent. 

 

Publicis Groupe provides robust and inclusive benefit programs and policies to support the evolving and diverse needs of our talent and enable every person to grow and thrive. Our benefits package includes medical coverage, dental, vision, disability, 401K, as well as parental and family care leave, family forming assistance, tuition reimbursement, and flexible time off.

 

If you require accommodation or assistance with the application or onboarding process specifically, please contact [email protected]. All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines. 

 

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Compensation Range: USD $97,375.00 - USD $155,961.00/Annually. This is the pay range the Company believes it will pay for this position at the time of this posting. Consistent with applicable law, compensation will be determined based on the skills, qualifications, and experience of the applicant along with the requirements of the position, and the Company reserves the right to modify this pay range at any time. Temporary roles may be eligible to participate in our freelancer/temporary employee medical plan through a third-party benefits administration system once certain criteria have been met. Temporary roles may also qualify for participation in our 401(k) plan after eligibility criteria have been met. For regular roles, the Company will offer medical coverage, dental, vision, disability, 401k, and paid time off. The Company anticipates the application deadline for this job posting will be 6/15/2026.