Director of Data & Product Company: VML Location: Sea Containers, London Reporting to: Chief Data Officer 9 month FTC Who we are: At VML, we are a beacon of innovation and growth in an ever-evolving world. Our heritage is built upon a century of combined expertise, where creativity meets technology, and diverse perspectives ignite inspiration. With the merger of VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson, we have forged a new path as a growth partner that is part creative agency, part consultancy, and part technology powerhouse. Our global family now encompasses over 30,000 employees across 150 offices in 64 markets, each contributing to a culture that values connection, belonging, and the power of differences. Our expertise spans the entire customer journey, offering deep insights in communications, commerce, consultancy, CRM, CX, data, production, and technology. We deliver end-to-end solutions that result in revolutionary work. The Role Data is now the lifeblood of the creative and brand experience. Everything we create, every message, every image, and every experience is rooted in data to produce the right impact for the right consumer in the right moment. At VMLY&R, we are no stranger to that concept. No longer are the Brand and ßCustomer Experience different in the minds of the worlds most customer-centric brands, and in those brands, data powers a unified experience. We have already begun our journey of bringing data powered experiences with our cloud-native data platform. However, in order to harness it both effectively and ethically, we are now looking for a leader who can harness what we have and take us further forward in the storage and intelligent use of our data. The Head of Data will report into the Chief Data Officer for Europe and be responsible for both the delivery of the automation of data but also the quality and governance of the policies surrounding our data as well. They will have had previous experience both engineering the platform but also have managed the data within it. A side bonus would be if they have done so in a creative environment or a digital/technology company. The Director of Data will manage a number of data planners and engineers spread across London and other locations across Europe. We are looking for the candidate who will harmonise and centralise aspects of our data platforms and to drive towards best practice to bring about the platform that not only is fit for purpose for central reporting, analytics and AI use cases, but also for localised data and AI use cases in our local European markets as well. The data contained within the platforms are used for delivering insight on new audiences to target with media, building digital experiences on the site, but also for optimising and personalising the customer experience to drive the most efficient impact of every marketing pound spent. The candidate will work the most closely with our internal agency teams, but also with the main Ford client as we assist in building a data platform on the agency side for them, but also consulting them on how best they can build their own data assets internally. They will also liaise with the Global Data Platforms and Products teams to share and learn from our counterparts in the US, on our Snowflake and Looker tools. The candidate will also have the opportunity to start building their careers towards a multi-client data practice comprising some of the biggest brands in the UK and Europe. In return, we offer a creative working environment, one that thrives on teamwork, collaborative problem solving, flexibility in time schedules and days in the office and a strong diversity, equity and inclusion focus. You will work with a dynamic team, with all the benefits of a social culture that a digital creative agency can offer. Our central London location on the Southbank also means ridiculously scenic views of the Thames and an easily commutable location for most. If the job inspires and intrigues you, we would ask for you to have the following skills and experiences: Delivery of high quality data and architecture across your current organization: Currently in a strategic role in creating a vision and roadmap for data across the business An understanding of data engineering in the cloud and working with and selecting the right technology vendors to meet the needs of the business (Bonus points for Snowflake, but well take it if you have cloud based data experience) Prioritising the needs of the business, centrally and at squad level, to help achieve the most impact with our data and resources A thorough understanding of the design of data architectures that backs all insights Have some knowledge and experience of data science and machine learning in production, using these capabilities to build, maintain and improve processes (Zepl is what we use, but if youve had Jupyter notebook experience and/or Dataiku/Data Robot, well smile a lot more) Strong project management and agile ways of working knowledge in order to keep client projects delivering on time Lead, coach and develop the Data team Have led a centralised data function, including all data professionals in the business Have coached, mentored and developed data professionals in the team Helped and driven the team to deliver timely high quality work Build data advocacy and data literacy Ability to inspire, engage and influence your teams, internal and external clients to adopt a data-driven or data-informed mindset. Creation of some internal education programs to assist in improving data literacy across an organisation a nice to have Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion VMLY&R is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without regard to race, colour, religion or belief, sex, age, national origin, citizenship status, marital status, military/veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical or mental disability. We believe in creating a dynamic work environment that values diversity and inclusion and strives to recruit a diverse slate of candidates to help us achieve that goal. If you are unable or limited in your ability to access our career site as a result of a disability, we will be happy to assist you. Please contact our People Team to request an alternate accommodation. Please note that only requests for an employment application accommodation will be returned.