About WPP Media
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WPP Media is WPP’s global media collective. In a world where media is everywhere and in everything, we bring the best platform, people, and partners together to create limitless opportunities for growth. For more information, visit wppmedia.com
Role Summary and Impact
The Director, Client Finance Data & Platform is the chief architect and owner of Abacus, our core Global Client Finance data ecosystem. This is a critical leadership role responsible for building and operating the reliable data pipelines, robust standards, and intuitive self-service interfaces that will transform our Global Client Financefunction.
You will own the end-to-end data journey, from ingestion from source systems like SAP BFC, through transformation in Databricks, to the delivery of certified, user-friendly Power BI semantic models. Your mission is to operate a world-class data platform with rock-solid reliability, enabling the Global Client Finance team to move from manual data wrangling to high-impact strategic analysis. This role is perfect for a data expert who is passionate about building data products and thrives on bridging the gap between the technical and financial worlds.
Key Responsibilities
- Abacus Platform Ownership: Own the Abacus architecture and semantic layer. Design and govern the dimensional model (star schemas, dimensions, facts), set development standards, manage versioning, and run a predictable, agile release cadence for all data products.
- Data Engineering & Pipelines: Lead the build and operation of robust, scalable, and automated ingestion pipelines for core sources (e.g., SAP BFC, Dynamics 365, Timesheet systems). Champion the use of reusable connectors, templates, and test suites to simplify and accelerate the onboarding of new data sources.
- Data Governance & Contracts: Define and govern data connections with source system owners. Manage schema change control, ensure backward compatibility, and triage data quality issues. Publish and maintain clear API/feed documentation for all data integrations.
- Power BI & Semantic Layer: Deliver and certify user-friendly Power BI semantic models and curated data marts that serve as the "single source of truth" for Global Client Finance reporting. Continuously optimize DAX query performance and manage access governance for our broad user base.
- Data Quality & Reliability: Implement a framework for automated testing, data quality checks, and performance monitoring. Define and manage SLAs for all data products, and lead incident management and root-cause remediation to ensure the business has uninterrupted access to trusted data.
- Enable AI-Powered Self-Service: Drive the strategy and implementation of AI/ML across the data platform. This includes not only developing models for forecasting and anomaly detection but also pioneering AI-driven interfaces (e.g., natural language querying) to truly democratize data access. Your goal is to empower non-technical users to explore and understand complex financial data intuitively, asking questions in plain language and getting immediate, reliable answers.
- Strategic Partnership: Work in close partnership with the Global Business Systems (GBS) team, Master Data Management (MDM) projects, and WPP technology counterparts to ensure our data platform aligns with the broader enterprise technology landscape.
Skills and Experience
Core Tech Stack:
- Data Platform: Expert-level knowledge of Databricks (Notebooks, Delta Lake, SQL endpoints).
- ETL/ELT: Proven experience building and managing data pipelines using tools like Azure Data Factory, dbt, or similar.
- BI & Semantic Layer: Deep expertise in Microsoft Power BI, including mastery of DAX, M (Power Query), dataflows, and performance tuning of large-scale semantic models.
- Data Languages: Expert-level SQL is essential. Proficiency in Python and/or Scala is highly preferred.
- Data Modeling: Deep expertise in dimensional modeling (Kimball methodology, star/snowflake schemas) and data warehousing principles.
- Source Systems: Experience integrating data from financial consolidation systems (e.g., SAP BFC/Cartesis, Hyperion) and ERPs (e.g., SAP, Dynamics 365) is a significant advantage.
- AI/ML & Advanced Analytics: Familiarity with machine learning concepts and their practical application for forecasting and anomaly detection is a strong plus. Crucially, an understanding of how Large Language Models (LLMs) can be applied to create natural language querying ("Text-to-SQL" or "Text-to-DAX") interfaces for data exploration and business intelligence is highly desirable.
- DataOps/DevOps: Experience with CI/CD pipelines, source control (Git), and automated testing frameworks for data.
Experience & Personal Attributes
- Experience in data architecture, data engineering, or BI development, with at least 3-5 years in a technical leadership or platform ownership role.
- Crucially, demonstrable experience working within or in very close partnership with a corporate Finance or FP&A function. You must be able to understand financial concepts and translate business requirements into robust technical solutions.
- Proven track record of designing, building, and operating large-scale data platforms and BI solutions in a global enterprise environment.
- Strategic thinker with the ability to see the big picture and define a long-term data roadmap, while also being hands-on and capable of diving deep into technical details.
- Exceptional stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex technical concepts to non-technical audiences, from junior analysts to C-suite executives.
- A passion for data quality, governance, and building trust in data across an organization.
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
Please read our Privacy Notice (https://www.wppmedia.com/pages/privacy-policy) for more information on how we process the information you provide.
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