Associate Director, Programme Management

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

The Associate Director of Programme Management will work closely with the Programme Leads, the Head of Global Business Systems and the wider project team to deliver, maintain and drive adoption of a portfolio of solutions that provide our agencies with an advantage through access to internal business data intelligence via best‑in‑class systems.

• Develop a program of works with existing and new systems that supports WPP Media’s goals and best practices for maintaining internal business data on clients.
• Translate project requirements into tangible deliverables and solutions with a key focus on cost and time to deliver.
• Own project planning required to deliver programme objectives.
• Contribute to solution design in a thoughtful and user‑centric manner, ensuring end users engage and get best value from the programme’s products.
• Work directly with all project contributors – from external vendors, internal team members to all stakeholders – to allocate and prioritise workload to reach business goals and to incrementally deliver value.
• Continuously prioritise the backlog to ensure the team focuses on the most impactful areas first.
• Define goals, timelines and potential risks.
• Maintain clear project plans and monitor progress against them.
• Test to ensure that the product functions correctly and meets quality standards in the deployed state.
• Assist in implementation of the product, including onboarding new users and migration of data, and manage updates or new features gradually to minimise disruption.
• Change management: deliver the change and adoption throughout the business both at launch and through an ongoing programme of works.
• Ensure that users are fully enabled and trained, ready to drive quality outcomes, including designing supporting materials, user guides and online demonstrations.
• Gather feedback from users and stakeholders to identify areas for improvement for future deployments.
• Derive actionable insights from usage metrics to inform improvements in products and processes, driving greater adoption.
• Assist in the development of reporting solutions to democratise data captured in our applications.
• Contribute to the overall vision, product goals, roadmaps and backlog for the products in your portfolio.

Measure of Success in First 100 Days

• Undertake a full audit of the projects in scope core to the programme’s 2026 objectives and achieve full knowledge transfer, making a tangible impact on product delivery.
• Establish meaningful relationships with business owners to support future change requests and features required as part of the transformation.
• Produce a plan with clear tasks required to deliver the core system out to the target launch markets and manage the delivery of those tasks to successful completion.
• Develop, in consultation with the product owner, a staged approach to deliver the core projects as a master programme plan, complete with priorities and resource requirements.

Skills and Experience

• Experience of working within internal business teams, managing core in‑house project teams and external suppliers.
• Proven experience in a platform, product or technology service deployment and enablement role.
• Deep understanding of the product development lifecycle and change management methodologies.
• Ability to communicate with and understand cross‑functional, highly matrixed, multi‑geographical teams.
• Highly effective communication and interpersonal abilities, with a focus on collaboration, consensus and relationship building.
• Exceptional resourcefulness and quick, practical thinking in a demanding environment.
• A strong and flexible work ethic; able to work under pressure and juggle multiple responsibilities to meet deadlines and deliver results.
• Proficiency in project management software such as Asana, Wrike, Jira/Confluence, Azure DevOps.
• Familiarity with agile methodologies (Scrum, Kanban) to deliver technical products and data solutions.
• Experience in AI tools and processes including Machine Learning and Generative AI.
• Working knowledge of Power BI or similar reporting solutions software would be an advantage.
• Proven experience in project/change management.
• Excellent communicator with highly developed stakeholder management and influencing skills, applying them across C‑suite, executive sponsors, product owners and development team members.
• Excellent listener who can balance multiple perspectives on opportunities, challenges and requirements and translate into action.
• Highly analytical and data‑driven.
• Can‑do attitude to achieve objectives.
• Motivated, self‑starter, self‑reliant, resilient and ambitious.

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.