Director of Architecture, AI & Product (Contract Opportunity)

WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands.

We unite cutting-edge media intelligence and data solutions, world-class creativity, next-generation production, transformative enterprise solutions and expert strategic counsel in a single company – powered by exceptional talent and our agentic marketing platform, WPP Open, to help our clients navigate change, capture opportunity and deliver transformational growth.

We have been building the world's most valuable brands for 50 years and have global reach across 100+ markets, with deep local expertise.

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.

For more information, visit WPP.com.

Why we're hiring:

WPP is embarking on a major 3-year Transformation to simplify, modernise, and unify its technology platforms across the group. This change is critical to:

• Enable cost-effective transformation and operational efficiency

• Accelerate adoption of AI, data, and digital platforms

• Ensure consistent delivery of value and benefits across all agencies and markets

• Minimise disruption and maximise engagement during large-scale change

A dedicated Director of Architecture, AI and Product is needed to orchestrate the people side of this transformation, ensuring that new ways of working are adopted, benefits are realised, and change fatigue is minimised.

What you'll be doing:

• Strategic Functional Leadership: Establish and implement the short- to mid-term (1-3 year) strategy for the newly formed Product, Architecture and AI function. Control all activities and outcomes for the Enterprise Architecture, Solution Architecture, Global Product Ownership, AI CoE and, Business Analysis teams, integrating them into a single, cohesive delivery function. 

• Transformation & Integration: Drive the organisational transformation for your function by breaking down legacy silos and unifying disparate teams. Establish the common processes and governance required to create a scalable and efficient architectural capability for the enterprise. 

• Architectural Governance: Define and enforce the enterprise-wide architectural frameworks, standards, and patterns that will govern technology delivery. Ensure that all solutions are coherent, future-proof, and balance business requirements with practicality and cost. 

• Stakeholder Partnership & Influence: Act as a primary partner to the leaders of Domain Support, Strategy & Transformation, Engineering, and Service Delivery, ensuring architectural strategy is fully integrated with their delivery needs. Provide strategic counsel to the CIO and executive leadership, translating complex architectural concepts into clear business implications to guide strategic technology decisions. 

• Innovation & Capability Development: Lead the function in identifying and solving key business challenges through architectural innovation. Build and develop underdeveloped capabilities, particularly in modern enterprise architecture and AI, to support the organisation's strategic priorities. 

• People Management: Ensure the teams have the right skills and capabilities to deliver. Provide line-management support, including oversight of talent management and development activities.

What you'll need:

Critical Knowledge and Experience:

• Extensive senior experience in a global, complex organisation and/or matrix environment

•  A proven track record of technology leadership and deep business acumen

• Experience leading a large-scale organisational change programmes

• Translating corporate objectives into actionable architectural and product roadmaps

Skills:

• Strategic Technical & Architectural Leadership Ability to define and enforce enterprise architecture principles.

• Expertise in modern architecture frameworks (e.g., microservices, cloud-native).

• Functional Transformation Leading large-scale change programmes. Driving integration of legacy systems into modern platforms.

• Stakeholder Influencing Skills Negotiation and conflict resolution. Executive-level communication and presentation skills. Builds consensus and can articulate complex technical concepts to non-technical audiences.

• Innovation & Emerging Tech Awareness: Knowledge of AI, automation, and digital platforms.

• Risk Management & Governance: Ability to balance innovation with compliance and security.

• People Leadership: Coaching, mentoring, and building high-performing teams.

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?

#LI-Hybrid

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.

Please read our Privacy Notice (https://www.wpp.com/en/careers/wpp-privacy-policy-for-recruitment) for more information on how we process the information you provide.