Director, Product Engineering
Job Summary
Publicis Groupe Canada is the Canadian subsidiary of Publicis Groupe the second largest communications group in the world and a global leader concentrated within four main activities: Communication Media Data and Technology. Publicis Groupe Canada represents the vision of a set of collaborative and integrated agencies that offer expertise and insightful services to many of the biggest brands in North America.
Publicis Groupe Canada is committed to its Diversity Equity and Inclusion mandate which focuses on four pillars: Education Talent Management Outreach and Giving Back. Since the mandates launch in 2020 they have made strong and continued growth in all their pillars including top-tier mental health benefits regular education sessions for employees six business resources groups for employees of various backgrounds and their allies and developing training and scholarships programs with POV and the Miami Ad School Canada. The Groupe also launched This Is The Job an initiative designed to work with Canadas largest school boards to change the complexion of the marketing industry and inspire racialized teens and young adults to consider a career in the industry.
Canadian brands include: Publicis Canada (Publicis Canada Hawkeye Razorfish Publicis Health ThePubProductions Nurun Publicis Sports & Entertainment) Publicis Media (Starcom Spark Foundry Zenith) Leo Burnett (Leo Burnett Canada Ove Brand Design Leo Burnett Design) Saatchi & Saatchi (Saatchi & Saatchi Canada Synergize TPM)MSL Canada/North Strategic (North Strategic MSL Canada Notch Canada) and Publicis Sapient.
As Director of Product Engineering you will lead the strategic development and execution of AI-powered products and solutions across the agency. This roleis responsible foroverseeing the full product development lifecyclefrom ideation to deploymentwhile managing a high-performing team of engineers and collaborating with cross-functional leaders. You will drive innovation operational efficiency and measurable business impact by integrating artificial intelligence machine learning and automation into core agency workflows.
You will also oversee the integration of applied data science and machine learning into our product partnership with AI Product Engineers Product Managers and research teams you will guide the development of predictive models automation frameworks and intelligence tools that enhance audience targeting media performanceand creative optimization. Your leadership will be instrumental in shaping the agencys innovation roadmap and delivering transformative value to clients.
Leadership & Strategy
- Define and execute the product engineering vision aligned with agency goals and client needs.
- Lead and mentor a team of product engineers fostering a culture of innovation accountability and continuous learning.
- Oversee the roadmap prioritization and delivery of AI-driven products and enhancements.
- Collaborate with executive leadership to align product strategy with businessobjectivesand market trends.
- Champion responsible AI practices across all initiatives ensuring ethical standards data privacy and compliance.
Product Oversight
- Direct the design development and deployment of scalable AI solutions that enhance agency capabilities.
- Own the end-to-end product lifecycle including architecture testing release management and performance optimization.
- Evaluate and implement emerging technologies tomaintaina competitive edge in AI and automation.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Partner with Data Science Martech and Client Services toidentifyopportunities for AI integration and workflow automation.
- Translate complex business challenges into actionable technical strategies and product features.
- Present product vision progress and impact to internal stakeholders and clients in a clear compelling manner.
Operational Excellence
- Establish and enforce engineering best practices development standards and quality assurance protocols.
- Monitor team performance resource allocation and delivery timelines to ensure efficiency and scalability.
- Audit existing workflows and recommend AI-driven enhancements to improve productivity and outcomes.
Agency Collaboration & Impact
- Lead strategic partnerships with Research Martech and Data Intelligence teams to drive innovation.
- Support planning and leadership teams with AI-driven insights and technical guidance.
- Represent Product Engineering in cross-functional initiatives workshops and client engagements.
- Promote a collaborative inclusive culture through mentorship thought leadership and knowledge sharing.
- 8 years of experience in product engineering AI/ML development or related fields.
- 4 years in a leadership role managing engineering teams and product development.
- Proventrack recordof delivering enterprise-grade AI solutions and managing cross-functional teams.
- Expertisein Python R and machine learning framaeworks (TensorFlowPyTorch Scikit-learn).
- Strong understanding of cloud platforms (AWS Azure GCP) data engineering and model deployment.
- Experience with data visualization tools (Tableau Power BI Datorama) and workflow orchestration.
- Exceptional communication skills with the ability to influence senior stakeholders and clients.
- Deep knowledge of responsible AI principles including ethics bias mitigation and data governance.
Publicis Canada is committed to building a diverse workforce representative of our community. We encourage and are pleased to consider all qualified candidates without regard to race colour citizenship religion sex marital / family status sexual orientation gender identity aboriginal status age disability or persons who may require an accommodation to apply. If you require a specific accommodation please contact Human Resources at or by email at
AI Use
We use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of our hiring process such as reviewing applications or analyzing resumes. These tools assist our recruitment team but never replace human decision-making. We believe in a human-first approach where your experience and potential are recognized by people.
Required Experience:
Director
About Company
Publicis Media is one of the four solutions hubs of Publicis Groupe ([Euronext Paris FR0000130577, CAC 40], alongside Publicis Communications, Publicis.Sapient and Publicis Healthcare. Led by Steve King, CEO, Publicis Media is powered by its five global brands, Starcom, Zenith, Spark ... View more