Talent Lead, Freelance 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. Connected through WPP Open and powered by Open Intelligence, clients see exactly where, how, and why their media investment is working.

Role Summary and Impact

WPP Media’s Talent Team was set up in 2008 to drive employer brand excellence and proactively attract and engage the best people for our group of companies, whilst keeping external recruitment spend to a minimum. The team manages the recruitment lifecycle effectively and efficiently across all WPP Media brands. As Talent Lead for Freelance hiring, you will take ownership of WPP Media UK’s freelance hiring strategy and delivery. This role plays a critical part in ensuring the business has access to high-quality, flexible talent at pace, while maintaining strong governance, compliance, and cost control. You will act as a strategic partner to senior stakeholders, lead on contingent workforce solutions, and drive best-in-class processes that support business growth and operational excellence.

Key Responsibilities

• Own and lead freelance (contingent) recruitment strategy across WPP Media UK, ensuring the business has access to high-quality, flexible talent at pace.
• Act as a strategic partner to senior stakeholders, advising on workforce planning, freelancer engagement models, and resourcing solutions.
• Build and maintain strong pipelines of pre-qualified freelance talent across key skill areas (e.g. digital, media, data & analytics, client services).
• Oversee the end-to-end freelance hiring process, ensuring speed, quality, compliance, and a seamless experience for both stakeholders and talent.
• Own IR35 compliance processes, including assessment, audit, and reporting, ensuring all freelance engagements meet regulatory requirements.
• Manage the creation and oversight of purchase orders (POs) for freelance placements, ensuring accurate tracking, governance, and budget alignment.
• Develop and optimise processes specific to freelance hiring, including talent pooling, vendor management, and onboarding workflows.
• Manage relationships with external suppliers, agencies, and freelancer platforms to ensure effective delivery and value.
• Use data and market insight to inform decision-making, optimise hiring performance, and identify trends in freelance demand.
• Champion best-in-class candidate experience, ensuring WPP Media is positioned as a client of choice within the freelance community.
• Drive consistency and compliance with relevant regulations and internal policies, partnering with legal, finance, and HR teams.
• Lead initiatives to improve how WPP Media engages, retains, and re-deploys freelance talent.
• Coach and support members of the Talent team, acting as a subject matter expert in freelance hiring.

Skills and Experience

At WPP Media, we believe in the power of our culture and our people. It’s what elevates us to deliver exceptional experiences for both our clients and each other. In this role it will be critical to embrace WPP & WPP Media’s shared core values:

• Be Extraordinary by Leading Collectively to Inspire transformational Creativity.
• Create an Open environment by Balancing People and Client Experiences by Cultivating Trust.
• Lead Optimistically by Championing Growth and Development to Mobilize the Enterprise.

Core Experience

• Significant experience in Talent Acquisition / recruitment, with strong exposure to freelance, contract, or contingent hiring models.
• Proven experience managing IR35 assessments, compliance, and audit processes within the UK market.
• Experience managing financial processes related to hiring, including raising and tracking POs and working with budgets.
• Proven track record of delivering high-volume and/or specialist freelance hiring in a fast-paced environment.
• Deep understanding of the UK freelance market and associated regulations.
• Experience partnering with senior stakeholders and influencing hiring and workforce decisions.
• Experience working with external vendors, agencies, or MSP/RPO models.
• Strong commercial mindset, balancing cost, speed, compliance, and quality.
• Data-driven approach, using reporting and insights to optimise performance.

Behavioural Capabilities

• Demonstrated ability to lead and deliver under pressure, balancing complex and competing business demands.
• Thrives in ambiguous environments, proactively creating structure, processes, and scalable solutions.
• Strong stakeholder leadership, influencing senior decision-makers and driving alignment across diverse business areas.
• Proven ability to oversee and prioritise multiple concurrent hiring workflows, ensuring consistency, quality, and delivery.
• Excellent communication skills with high emotional intelligence.
• Proactive, solutions-focused, and comfortable operating in a dynamic environment.
• Acts as a leader within the Talent function, driving best practice and continuous improvement.

Life at WPP Media & Benefits

Our passion for shaping the next era of media includes investing in our employees to help them do their best work, and we’re just as committed to employee growth as we are to responsible media investment. WPP Media employees can tap into the global WPP Media & WPP networks to pursue their passions, grow their networks, and learn at the cutting edge of marketing and advertising. We have a variety of employee resource groups and host frequent in-office events showcasing team wins, sharing thought leadership, and celebrating holidays and milestone events. Our benefits include 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 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. 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. Please note this is a UK based role and requires individuals to have the right to work in this location.