WPP OPEN : Senior Product Lead

London, England, United Kingdom

12/6/2024

WPP is the creative transformation company. We use the power of creativity to build better futures for our people, planet, clients, and communities.

Working at WPP means being part of a global network of more than 115,000 accomplished people in 110 countries. WPP has headquarters in New York, London and Singapore and a corporate presence in major markets worldwide.

We create transformative ideas and outcomes for our clients through an integrated offer of communications, experience, commerce, and technology.

WPP and our award-winning agencies work with most of the world's biggest companies and organisations – from Ford, Unilever and P&G to Google, HSBC, and the UN. Our clients include 61 of the FTSE 100, 307 of the Fortune Global 500, all 30 of the Dow Jones 30 and 62 of the NASDAQ 100. WPP are the leader in the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index and 20th in the FTSE 100 rankings for Women on Boards.

Why we're hiring:

We are seeking an experienced and passionate Senior Product Manager to lead the product vision, strategy, and execution within WPP Open, our cutting-edge AI-powered marketing orchestration platform. You will play a critical role in shaping the future of AI-driven marketing solutions, working closely with a talented team of engineers, designers, and data scientists. This is a unique opportunity to make a significant impact on a rapidly growing platform within a dynamic and innovative environment.

What you'll be doing:

• Vision Setting:
• Define and champion a compelling product vision and strategy for the product areas within WPP Open, alongside strategic business stakeholders with a focus on aligning with WPP Open's overall goals, market trends, and the evolving needs of our clients.
• Conduct thorough market research, customer analysis, and competitive analysis to identify opportunities and unmet needs.
• Stay abreast of emerging technologies and trends in AI, machine learning, and marketing technology.
• Stay up-to-date on industry trends, competitive landscape, and emerging technologies.
• Roadmap Creation & Backlog Planning:
• Translate the product vision into a clear and actionable roadmap, prioritizing features and initiatives based on value, feasibility, and strategic alignment.
• Manage and maintain a prioritised product backlog, ensuring it reflects the latest product strategy and stakeholder feedback.
• Collaborate with engineering, design, and data science to define detailed Epics, and roadmaps that traces back to strategic outcomes.
• Stakeholder Management:
• Build and maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders across WPP, including executive leadership across Op Co’s, delivery teams, CX, client services, and technology partners.
• Effectively communicate product vision, roadmap, and progress updates to stakeholders at all levels.
• Proactively gather and incorporate feedback from stakeholders to ensure alignment and buy-in.
• Manage Expectations & Evaluate Value:
• Set realistic expectations with stakeholders regarding timelines, resources, and deliverables.
• Define and track key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of the platform and individual features
• Analyse product usage data and gather customer feedback to identify areas for improvement and optimization.
• Continuously iterate on the product based on data-driven insights and user feedback.
• Lead Product Delivery:
• Lead the end-to-end delivery of the product roadmap, working closely with delivery and engineering leads to ensure timely and high-quality execution.
• Partner closely with the engineering team throughout the entire product development lifecycle, from ideation to launch and iteration.
• Work with and influence individual product teams to deliver towards the roadmap.
• Remove roadblocks and facilitate communication between the product and engineering teams.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration:
• Work closely with the CX team to ensure a seamless and delightful end-to-end user experience across the platform, aligning on user journeys and interaction design.
• Collaborate with the partner management team to assess potential third-party solutions, evaluate product fit, and manage integrations that enhance the platform's capabilities.
• Align roadmaps and manage dependencies with other product leads, ensuring a cohesive and integrated product offering across the WPP Open platform.
• Strategic Alignment & Product Leadership:
• Collaborate closely with the Product Director to contribute to the overall product vision, strategy, and roadmap for WPP Open.
• Participate in product leadership meetings and contribute to cross-team initiatives, ensuring alignment and consistency across the product portfolio.
• Idea Validation & Design:
• Lead the validation and design of new product ideas and initiatives, collaborating with cross-functional teams (engineering, design, data science) to conduct feasibility assessments, prototype solutions, and gather feedback.
• Drive alignment on product decisions through structured decision-making forums, presenting clear options, trade-offs, and recommendations to stakeholders.
• New Request Intake & Prioritisation:
• Manage the intake of new product requests from business owners, client teams, and other stakeholders.
• Collaborate with other product leads to validate, prioritise, and integrate new requests into the product roadmap, ensuring alignment with overall product strategy and resource allocation.
• Growth and Adoption:
• Work with comms and change teams to support internal communication to improve understanding of the capabilities and products available within client facing teams
• Develop interactive demos showcasing the breadth of Commerce Studio applications and support client sales activities
  

Desired Skills and Experience:

• 5 + years of experience in product management, ideally within the Marketing ecosystem across strategy, creation, marketing, media, PR, brand and commerce.
• Proven track record of successfully bringing products / features to market as part of a SaaS offering.
• Proven track record of successfully launching and scaling products, with a strong understanding of SaaS business models.
• Experience working closely with professional services, deployment, and adoption teams to ensure successful product launches and client onboarding
• Strong decision-making skills, with the ability to weigh trade-offs, assess risks, and make data-driven decisions.
• Proven ability to influence and build consensus with senior leadership (C-suite and department heads) and navigate complex stakeholder relationships within a large organisation.
• Strong technical aptitude with the ability to understand complex technical concepts and communicate effectively with engineers.
• Experience working in an agile development environment, with a solid understanding of agile principles and methodologies.
• Ability to work autonomously, taking ownership of initiatives and driving them to completion with minimal supervision.
• Excellent communication, collaboration, stakeholder management, and problem-solving skills.
• Passion for AI, machine learning, and the future of marketing technology.
  
  

Who you are:

You're open: We are inclusive and collaborative; we encourage the free exchange of ideas; we respect and celebrate diverse views. We are accepting: of new ideas, new partnerships, new ways of working.

You're optimistic: We believe in the power of creativity, technology and talent to create brighter futures or our people, our clients and our communities. We approach all that we do with conviction: to try the new and to seek the unexpected.

You're extraordinary: we are stronger together: through collaboration we achieve the amazing. We are creative leaders and pioneers of our industry; we provide extraordinary every day.

What we'll give you:

Passionate, inspired people – We promote a culture of people that do extraordinary work.

Scale and opportunity – We offer the opportunity to create, influence and complete projects at a scale that is unparalleled in the industry.

Challenging and stimulating work – Unique work and the opportunity to join a group of creative problem solvers. Are you up for the challenge?

WPP is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without regard to race, color, 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.

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