Manager, Technical Solutions

The Opportunity:

We are seeking a highly skilled and passionate Manager to join our cutting-edge AI Automation team. In this role, you will be instrumental in designing, building, and deploying robust, scalable, and high-performance AI/ML solutions that automate and optimize critical media processes across WPP's global network.

You will work closely with Data Scientists, Business Analysts, and Product Managers to translate complex business problems and ML models into production-ready software, focusing on MLOps best practices, system integration, and cloud-native development. If you thrive on solving challenging technical problems, have a strong engineering mindset, and are eager to make a significant impact on the future of media, this is the role for you.

Key Responsibilities:

Software Development & Architecture:

• Design, develop, test, deploy, and maintain high-quality, scalable, and resilient software applications and microservices for AI/ML automation initiatives.
• Lead technical design discussions, propose architectural solutions, and ensure adherence to best practices in coding, security, and performance.
• Write clean, maintainable, and well-documented code primarily in Python, with potential for other languages (e.g., Java, Go) for specific services.
• Conduct thorough code reviews, provide constructive feedback, and ensure code quality standards are met.

AI/ML System Integration & MLOps:

• Operationalize machine learning models developed by Data Scientists, integrating them into production systems via APIs, batch processes, or streaming pipelines.
• Implement and manage MLOps pipelines for model training, validation, deployment, monitoring, and retraining (e.g., using tools like MLflow, Kubeflow, Sagemaker, Azure ML, Vertex AI).
• Develop robust data pipelines for feature engineering, data ingestion, transformation, and storage to support AI models.
• Design and implement systems for real-time inference and prediction serving at scale.

Cloud-Native Development:

• Develop and deploy applications leveraging cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP), utilizing services such as serverless functions, container orchestration (Kubernetes, ECS/AKS/GKE), managed databases, and message queues.
• Implement CI/CD pipelines to automate the build, test, and deployment processes.
• Monitor and optimize cloud resource utilization and application performance.

Collaboration & Mentorship:

• Work closely with Business Analysts to understand requirements and translate them into technical specifications.
• Collaborate with Data Scientists to refine model interfaces, optimize performance, and troubleshoot production issues.
• Partner with Product Managers to contribute to the technical roadmap and sprint planning.
• Mentor junior developers, provide technical guidance, and foster a culture of continuous learning and excellence.

Problem Solving & Innovation:

• Identify and troubleshoot complex technical issues in development and production environments.
• Research and evaluate new technologies, frameworks, and tools to improve our AI automation capabilities.
• Proactively identify opportunities for technical improvement and contribute to strategic technical decisions.

Qualifications:

Education:

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related quantitative field.

Experience:

• 8+ years of professional software development experience.
• Minimum of 3-5 years of hands-on experience designing, developing, and deploying AI/ML-driven applications or components in a production environment.

Mandatory:

• Proven experience in the advertising, media, or marketing technology (AdTech/MarTech) industry, with a strong understanding of media planning, buying, optimization, and relevant platforms (DSPs, SSPs, Ad Servers, DMPs, CDPs).
• Strong track record of delivering scalable and robust software solutions using Agile methodologies.

Technical Skills:

• Proficient in Python: Expert-level coding skills, including experience with relevant libraries (e.g., FastAPI, Flask, Django, NumPy, Pandas).
• AI/ML: Experience deploying MCP, RAG Models, or context engineering.
• Cloud Platforms: Extensive experience with at least one major cloud provider (AWS, Azure, or GCP), including services relevant to AI/ML (e.g., Sagemaker, Azure ML, Vertex AI, Lambda/Cloud Functions, EC2/VMs, EKS/AKS/GKE, S3/Blob Storage/Cloud Storage, RDS/Cloud SQL, Kafka/Kinesis/Pub/Sub).
• MLOps: Solid understanding and practical experience with MLOps principles and tools for model versioning, monitoring, data lineage, and automated retraining.
• CI/CD: Experience setting up and managing CI/CD pipelines (e.g., Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps).
• API Development: Experience designing and implementing RESTful APIs.

Soft Skills:

• Exceptional problem-solving and analytical skills with a strong attention to detail.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, capable of explaining complex technical concepts to diverse audiences.
• Strong collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively in cross-functional teams.
• Leadership qualities, including the ability to guide, mentor, and influence technical direction.
• Proactive, self-motivated, and able to thrive in a fast-paced, evolving environment.