Automation Engineering Lead

WPP is the creative transformation company. We use the power of creativity to build better futures for our people, planet, clients, and communities.

Working at WPP means being part of a global network of more than 100,000 talented people dedicated to doing extraordinary work for our clients. We operate in over 100 countries, with corporate headquarters in New York, London and Singapore.

WPP is a world leader in marketing services, with deep AI, data and technology capabilities, global presence and unrivalled creative talent. Our clients include many of the biggest companies and advertisers in the world, including approximately 300 of the Fortune Global 500.

Our people are the key to our success. We're committed to fostering a culture of creativity, belonging and continuous learning, attracting and developing the brightest talent, and providing exciting career opportunities that help our people grow.

Why we're hiring:

WPP is a creative transformation company, helping clients create growth by combining technology and creativity. As one of the world's largest marketing and advertising services organizations, we are committed to driving innovation and operational excellence across our vast global network.

You will be joining the Automation Operations Centre within WPP's Enterprise Technology, Automation & AI department. This is a pivotal time for us as we're building a dedicated, in-house team to deliver, manage, monitor, and optimize our growing portfolio of automation solutions. This team is at the forefront of our digital transformation, ensuring the seamless operation and continuous improvement of critical automation capabilities across WPP globally

You will play a crucial role in solution delivery and day-to-day technology management of the Global Automation Operations Centre (AOC) program. Reporting to the AAI Operations Director and AAI Product Lead, you will lead the architecture, standards, and advanced development requirements for our global automation portfolio. Alongside AAI Leadership, you will guide a crew of 6-10 developers to ensure the release of high-quality automation products on time and within budget.

The AOC is chartered to develop and delivery automation products, support global automation products or projects delivered by Automation delivery teams from around WPP. Our support apparatus gives those teams confidence and freedom to hand over their existing successes and continue innovating.

Are you a visionary technical leader with a deep mastery of the Microsoft Power Platform and a passion for engineering excellence? We are looking for an Automation Engineering Lead to drive our technical strategy and architectural standards. In this senior role, you will be responsible for conducting research spikes, providing technical guidance to development teams, and ensuring that our global automation suite is built on a foundation of robust, scalable, and maintainable components. You will combine your extensive experience from the D365/Dataverse era with modern ALM practices to keep our global operations at the cutting edge of AI and automation.

What you'll be doing:

• Architectural Governance: Define and maintain global architecture standards, design patterns, and best practices for Power Platform solutions across the enterprise.

• Technical Leadership: Lead and mentor a crew of 6-10 developers, providing hands-on guidance, code/solution reviews, and technical oversight to ensure high-quality product delivery.

• Advanced Development: Handle complex development requirements and "research spikes" to evaluate new features, tools, or frameworks (e.g., PCF, AI Hub, Custom Connectors).

• ALM Strategy: Own and optimize the Power Platform Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) process using Power Pipelines, PAC CLI, and code-first DevOps practices.

• Solution Design: Design efficient, high-performance Cloud Flows and applications utilizing deep expertise in REST API integration, JSON manipulation, and XPath.

• Agile Delivery: Act as a lead practitioner in a Kanban environment, ensuring development flow is optimized and technical debt is managed effectively.

• Dataverse Excellence: Oversee the integrity of Dataverse environments, leveraging experience with the Dataverse Web API and Plugins to build sophisticated business logic.

• Stakeholder Collaboration: Partner with AAI Leadership to align technical roadmaps with business objectives, ensuring products are delivered on budget and meet global requirements.

• Security & Compliance: Ensure all automation solutions adhere to strict security policies, data governance standards, and environment-level DLP policies.

• Support Integration: Work closely with the AOC support teams to ensure that new products are architected for "hand-over" success, including comprehensive documentation and observability

What you'll need:

• Overall experience: 12+ years in IT engineering, software development, or technical architecture roles with a focus on Power Platform/D365.

• Power Platform Mastery: Expert proficiency in the full Power Platform suite, including Model-driven Apps, Dataverse, Power Automate, and Code Apps.

• Legacy & Core Knowledge: Strong experience from the D365 era, specifically with Dataverse Plugins (C#), Custom Workflow Activities, and the Dataverse Web API.

• Development Tools: Proven experience with the Power Platform Component Framework (PCF) and the Power Platform CLI (PAC).

• DevOps & ALM: Expert-level understanding of automated deployment pipelines, environment variables, and solution segmentation.

• Integration Expertise: Deep understanding of RESTful services, JSON schema, and complex data manipulation (XPath/Expressions) for efficient flow design.

• Methodology: Proven experience as an Agile (Kanban) practitioner, managing work-in-progress and flow efficiency.

• Mentorship: Demonstrated ability to lead and grow technical teams, fostering a culture of continuous learning and engineering rigor.

• Problem-solving: Exceptional ability to troubleshoot "unsolvable" technical blockers and provide creative architectural workarounds.

• Communication: Ability to articulate complex technical architectures to both executive leadership and junior development staff.

Mandatory Certifications

• PL-600: Microsoft Power Platform Solution Architect

• PL-400: Microsoft Power Platform Developer Associate

Preferred Certifications:

• GH-300: GitHub Copilot (Required within 2 months of joining)

• AZ-204: Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure

Who you are:

You're open: We are inclusive and collaborative; we encourage the free exchange of ideas; we respect and celebrate diverse views. We are open-minded: to new ideas, new partnerships, new ways of working.

You're optimistic: We believe in the power of creativity, technology and talent to create brighter futures or our people, our clients and our communities. We approach all that we do with conviction: to try the new and to seek the unexpected.

You're extraordinary: we are stronger together: through collaboration we achieve the amazing. We are creative leaders and pioneers of our industry; we provide extraordinary every day.

What we'll give you:

Passionate, inspired people – We aim to create a culture in which people can do extraordinary work.

Scale and opportunity – We offer the opportunity to create, influence and complete projects at a scale that is unparalleled in the industry.

Challenging and stimulating work – Unique work and the opportunity to join a group of creative problem solvers. Are you up for the challenge?

#onsite

We believe the best work happens when we're together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection. That's why we’ve adopted a hybrid approach, with teams in the office around four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process.

WPP is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to particular characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers.

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