Director, Global Client Finance Data & Platform

About WPP Media

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WPP Media is WPPs AI-driven media operating unit bringing together media data and partnerships to deliver creative personalisation at scale. Connected through WPP Open and powered by Open Intelligence clients see exactly where how and why their media investment is working.

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6841 - Director Global Client Finance Data & Platform

About WPP Media

WPP is the creative transformation company. We use the power of creativity to build better futures for our people planetclientsand communities. For more information visit .

WPP Media is WPPs global media 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

Role Summary and Impact

TheDirectorClient FinanceData& Platform is the chief architect and owner of Abacus our coreGlobal Client Financedataecosystem. This is a critical leadership role responsible for building andoperatingthe reliabledatapipelines robust standards and intuitive self-service interfaces that will transform ourGlobal ClientFinancefunction.

You will own the end-to-enddatajourney from ingestion from source systems like SAP BFC through transformation inDatabricks to the delivery of certified user-friendly Power BI semantic models. Your mission is tooperatea world-classdataplatform with rock-solid reliability enabling theGlobal Client Financeteam to move from manualdatawrangling to high-impact strategic analysis. This role is perfect for adataexpert who is passionate about buildingdataproducts 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 alldataproducts.

• DataEngineering & 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 newdatasources.

• DataGovernance & Contracts:Define and governdataconnections with source system owners. Manage schema change control ensure backward compatibility and triagedataquality issues. Publish andmaintainclear API/feed documentation for alldataintegrations.

• Power BI & Semantic Layer:Deliver and certify user-friendly Power BI semantic models and curateddatamarts that serve as the single source of truth forGlobal Client Financereporting. ContinuouslyoptimizeDAX query performance and manage access governance for our broad user base.

• DataQuality & Reliability:Implement a framework for automated testingdataquality checks and performance monitoring. Define and manage SLAs for alldataproducts and lead incident management and root-cause remediation to ensure the business has uninterrupted access to trusteddata.

• Enable AI-Powered Self-Service:Drive the strategy and implementation of AI/ML across thedataplatform. This includes not only developing models for forecasting and anomaly detection but alsopioneering AI-driven interfaces (e.g. natural language querying) to truly democratizedataaccess. Your goal is to empower non-technical users to explore and understand complex financialdataintuitively asking questions in plain language and getting immediate reliable answers.

• Strategic Partnership:Work in close partnership with the Global Business Systems (GBS) team MasterDataManagement (MDM) projects and WPP technology counterparts to ensure ourdataplatform aligns with the broader enterprise technology landscape.

Skills and Experience

Core Tech Stack:

• DataPlatform:Expert-level knowledge ofDatabricks (Notebooks Delta Lake SQL endpoints).

• ETL/ELT:Proven experience building and managingdatapipelines using tools like AzureDataFactorydbt or similar.

• BI & Semantic Layer:Deepexpertisein Microsoft Power BI including mastery of DAX M (Power Query)dataflows and performance tuning of large-scale semantic models.

• DataLanguages:Expert-level SQL is Python and/or Scala is highly preferred.

• DataModeling:Deepexpertisein dimensionalmodeling(Kimballmethodology star/snowflake schemas) anddatawarehousing principles.

• Source Systems:Experience integratingdatafrom 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 an understanding of how Large Language Models (LLMs) can be applied to create natural language querying (Text-to-SQL or Text-to-DAX) interfaces fordataexploration and business intelligence is highly desirable.

• DataOps/DevOps:Experience with CI/CD pipelines source control (Git) and automated testing frameworks fordata.

Experience & Personal Attributes

• Experience indataarchitecturedataengineering or BI development with at least 3-5 years in a technical leadership or platform ownership role.

• Crucially demonstrable experience working within or invery closepartnership with a corporate Finance or FP&A function. You must be able to understand financial concepts and translate business requirements into robust technical solutions.

• Proventrack recordof designing building andoperatinglarge-scaledataplatforms and BI solutions in a global enterprise environment.

• Strategic thinker with the ability to see the big picture and define a long-termdataroadmap 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 fordataquality governance and building trust indataacross an organization.

Life atWPP Media& Benefits

Our passion for shaping the next era of media includes investing in our employees to help them do their best work andwerejust as committed to employee growth as we are to responsible media Mediaemployees can tap into the globalWPP Media& WPP networks to pursue their passions grow their networks and learn at thecutting edgeof marketing and advertising. We have a variety of employee resource groups and host frequent in-office eventsshowcasingteam 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 Mediais an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard toparticular 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 whenweretogether fostering creativity collaboration and a hybrid approach with teams in the office around four days a week. If yourequireaccommodations 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

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