Data Engineer, Global Client Solutions

About WPP Media

WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands. With exceptional talent, trusted data and intelligence, and world-class partnerships – all united by our pioneering agentic marketing platform, WPP Open – we help clients navigate change, capture opportunity, and deliver transformational growth. WPP Media is WPP's AI-driven media operating unit, bringing together media, data, and partnerships to deliver creative personalisation at scale.

WPP Media's Global client teams are organised within a centralised squad based in London. A critical part of that is the WPP Media Global 'Strategy and Capabilities' team - a unit of 160 specialists focused on industry leading Strategic Planning, Insights and Innovation, working across WPP's global clients including Nestlé, Coca Cola, Danone, Unilever, AirBnB, Ford, Adidas, IKEA, L'Oreal and more. We operate at the forefront of the industry, collaborating seamlessly across WPP's ecosystem of experts to deliver integrated strategies and drive tangible business outcomes.

WPP Media is looking for a Data Engineer with interest in machine learning (ML) engineering, as well as the productionisation and optimization of ML models to join our Global Data Strategy & Insights team. While operating within our team you will be asked to use our proprietary and/or client data along with ML techniques to help answer client questions around audiences like: ‘which audience should I be advertising to?’, ‘how should my strategy be different when approaching this audience?’, ‘how does my media plan need to change across geographies?’. You will also be assisting our team in developing products to help both our global and local teams with day-to-day media planning. This reaches from hypothesis testing, data experiments, and predictive and prescriptive analysis.

In this role, you will have the opportunity to collaborate with other data scientists and engineers (e.g. in our Analytics team) with experience and expertise in a wide range of methodologies, toolkits and applications to a variety of problems in the media landscape. This reaches from data engineering, setting and defining best practices and scaling ML POCs. You will also be collaborating with strategists, insights specialists and non-technical stakeholders to ensure the data structures align with the client use case and specifications.

The ideal candidate would be curious, flexible and passionate about using data science/ML as a tool to understand human behaviour, campaign effectiveness and business dynamics. We are a data agnostic team that believe the key to success is not just having access to different types of data (market research, surveys, online behavioural panels, site data, targeted web-scraping) but finding new, innovative ways to connect and analyse the data we have access to, to deliver real, actionable insight for our clients.

Key responsibilities for this position include:

• Using data engineering techniques to clean, process and re-format large volumes of data
• Implementing coding changes to our existing tools to improve them or adapt them for different use cases
• Testing functionalities of our various tools and providing feedback on improvements that can be implemented
• Assisting our Fusion Data Scientist in preparing different types of data for data fusion (incl. mapping variables, recoding data etc.)
• Performing checks on survey data and preparing data for trend analysis
• Develop and maintain a number of our Python packages
• Ingesting survey data into different tools to be used for insights, planning, modelling and reporting (both WPP Media and WPP Data Tech Solutions)
• Assisting in the development of new products/tools

Skills and Experience

Curiosity, flexibility, problem solving skills, a scientific mindset and an enthusiasm for learning new things are key attributes. Fundamentally interested in people - Interested in the world around you and what makes people behave the way they do and how data and research can get you closer to understanding it. Able to work well as part of a team – you understand that one person can’t do or know everything and so you are willing to explore alternative routes, even if they are outside your comfort zone. Fast learner, with the ability to work across multiple workstreams at once. Excited by telling stories from information by weaving different sources together into a convincing whole. Able to think critically and with curiosity about information sources. Able to manage multiple stakeholders.

Skills we need:

• Strong analytical skills and statistical knowledge, as well as interest in applying them to complex problems
• Competent with Python
• Comfortable manipulating and reshaping data to suit a particular task or tale
• Knowledge of Git
• Able to communicate ideas well, both verbally and written to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Knowledge of cloud computing (desirable)
• Knowledge of docker (desirable)
• Exposure to SQL, R, SPSS or other programming languages (desirable)

Life at WPP Media & Benefits

Our passion for shaping the next era of media is powered by our commitment to Be Extraordinary, investing in our employees to inspire transformational creativity. We also Lead Optimistically, firmly believing in and Championing Growth and Development for every individual. This commitment allows WPP Media employees to leverage the extensive global WPP Media & WPP networks to pursue their passions, build vital professional connections, and learn at the cutting edge of marketing and advertising. We Create an Open environment built on trust and respect, where everyone feels they belong and has opportunities to progress. This inclusive culture is fostered through a variety of employee resource groups and frequent in-office events showcasing team wins, sharing thought leadership, and celebrating holidays and milestone events.

Our comprehensive benefits package reflects this commitment, including competitive medical, group retirement plans, vision, and dental insurance, significant paid time off, preferential partner discounts, and employee mental health awareness days.

WPP Media is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to characteristics. We believe the best work happens when we're together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection in this open and supportive environment. 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. Please note that while our philosophy is the same across WPP, benefits may vary by office/country. Please note this is a UK based role and requires individuals to have the right to work in this location.