Senior Manager, Data Engineering in London

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.

Role Summary and Impact Join an award-winning team at the heart of UK government, where your work will genuinely shape lives. As part of WPP 650 you’ll be part of a supportive, collaborative environment that values curiosity, kindness, and growth. Together, we use behaviour change principles to design smarter services, influence better decisions, and help millions of people across the country. Named WPP 650, after the 650 UK parliamentary constituencies, the name is a reminder that our work must reflect the full breadth of the country, every community, every audience. No two days are the same. The challenges are complex, the problems worth solving, and the learning constant. You’ll tackle issues that matter, alongside talented colleagues who care deeply about what they do. It’s demanding – but always rewarding. This is meaningful work with real-world impact – the kind you can point to with pride.

As a Senior Manager, Data Engineering you will be joining the WPP 650 division of WPP Media’s Data, Technology and Analytics team. This role involves leading client projects and overseeing the strategic development of solutions that aggregate diverse data sources into a single, unified view. You will act as a subject matter expert and strategic for our Measure data platform – a unified system for data connection, ingestion, transformation, and reporting – built on a robust technology stack including Adverity, GCP, and PowerBI. You will be responsible for the strategic design and delivery of robust, scalable data engineering solutions that power critical insights and analytics for our diverse client base. You will be responsible for establishing best practices, quality assurance processes and ways of working that ensure the reporting solutions we deliver are consistently accurate and meeting the needs of our clients. Your core focus will be on partnering with our clients to deeply understand their strategic objectives and challenges. You will also be responsible for fostering a high-performing and collaborative team culture between your direct report, the WPP 650 BI team, and the wider business.

Key Responsibilities

• In partnership with the Senior BI Manager, design, build, and implement robust data engineering solutions and data pipelines, high standards for data quality, reliability, and performance.
• Serve as senior technical liaison and strategic partner to planning teams, client stakeholders, and cross-functional departments, translating business specifications into precise technical requirements for implementation.
• Design and enforce robust validation and auditing processes to ensure the highest levels of data integrity, consistency, and reliability across all platforms.
• Oversee the development and maintenance of data pipelines and data models to power dashboarding solutions delivered via the Measure platform, taking ownership of advanced data model design, dashboard deployment strategies, innovation, and change management.
• Lead initiatives to identify, evaluate, and integrate new data sources and technologies to enhance the Measure platform's capabilities and drive continuous improvement.
• Mentor and guide your direct reports on BI best practices, advanced data modeling, Power BI development, data governance, and effective client engagement.

Essential:

• Experience in designing, architecting, and implementing complex data integration strategies, transforming disparate datasets into unified, high-value data models for advanced analytics and visualization.
• Extensive experience with cloud data platforms, specifically Google Cloud Platform (GCP) services.
• High proficiency in SQL for data manipulation, transformation, and analysis, with an emphasis on optimization and best practices.
• Demonstrated experience in designing, building, and maintaining complex and scalable data pipelines (ETL/ELT).
• Experience with data transformation tools like dbt.
• Experience working with data ingestion tools like Adverity.
• Deep understanding and practical application of data modeling techniques.
• Extensive experience working with digital marketing, media campaign data, ad serving technologies, and/or web analytics data, with the ability to guide a team in this domain.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and stakeholder management skills.
• Strong strategic thinking, project management, and problem-solving abilities, with a focus on delivering impactful, high-quality solutions.

Desirable:

• Experience working with dashboarding tools (PowerBi preferred).
• Proficiency in a scripting language like Python.
• Exposure to CI/CD practices for data pipelines.
• Experience with project management tools such as Jira and Confluence.
• Basic understanding of data governance principles.

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 this is a UK based role and requires individuals to have the right to work in this location.