Data Steward Lead - People (Platforms)

Why we're hiring:

As a Data Steward in the WPP’s Enterprise Technology Data team, you will be responsible for the hands-on administration and maintenance of master data across one or more enterprise data domains. Reporting to the Global Programme Director - Data, you will be the first line of stewardship, ensuring that golden records are accurate, source system mappings are maintained, and data governance standards are consistently applied.

You will execute matching and mapping activities, triage stewardship exceptions, and support the onboarding of new source systems into the MDM framework. Your work will directly impact the trustworthiness and completeness of master data flowing through WPP’s enterprise platforms.

This role involves daily data administration including investigating and resolving match conflicts, maintaining entity mappings and hierarchies, classifying data assets, and supporting the operational processes that keep master data healthy across the enterprise.

You will be part of a Data Steward team led by the Global Programme Director - Data, with the opportunity to develop deep expertise in master data management, data governance, and stewardship at enterprise scale.

What you'll be doing:

• Execute day-to-day stewardship activities including reviewing, approving, and correcting master data records in line with governance standards set by the Global Programme Director - Data.
• Maintain and curate golden records, ensuring survivorship rules are correctly applied and master entities remain accurate and complete.
• Investigate and resolve match conflicts, potential duplicates, and merge exceptions, escalating complex cases to the Global Programme Director - Data with supporting analysis.
• Process new entity creation requests, validating source data against matching rules before golden record creation.

• Manage and maintain mappings between source system entities and golden master records, ensuring traceability and accuracy.
• Support the onboarding of new agencies and source systems by executing mapping activities and validating initial data loads against MDM standards.
• Maintain reference data configurations, ensuring code sets and lookup values remain aligned across source systems.

• Apply data classification standards to master data entities as defined by the governance framework, covering sensitivity, confidentiality, and regulatory categorisation.
• Review and correct AI-generated data classifications, providing feedback to improve automated tagging accuracy over time.
• Follow and enforce stewardship workflows including exception handling, approval processes, and escalation procedures.
• Maintain accurate documentation of entity mappings, transformation rules, hierarchy structures, and stewardship decisions.

• Act as the human-in-the-loop for AI-assisted matching and entity resolution, reviewing model-suggested matches, adjudicating low-confidence merge candidates, and approving or rejecting proposed golden record updates.
• Review and validate AI-generated mapping recommendations during source system onboarding, ensuring accuracy before mappings are committed.
• Provide feedback on AI model outputs to support continuous improvement of match accuracy, classification quality, and enrichment relevance.
• Work with AI-driven anomaly detection alerts, investigating flagged records and determining appropriate stewardship actions.

• Monitor data quality dashboards and alerts, investigating exceptions and applying remediation actions in a timely manner.
• Execute data quality checks across master data entities, documenting findings and tracking resolution through to completion.
• Maintain and update data quality rules as business requirements and source systems evolve, under the direction of the Data Manager.

• Provide first-line support for master data issues raised by downstream consumers and business users.
• Contribute to operational reporting on stewardship volumes, exception trends, match rates, and resolution times.

Support data migration and reconciliation activities during source system onboarding and platform changes.

What you'll need:

• Experience in a data stewardship, data administration, or master data management role.
• Practical understanding of MDM concepts including golden records, matching, survivorship, and entity resolution.
• Familiarity with enterprise master data management and data governance solutions (e.g. Informatica MDM, Informatica Data Governance) or equivalent platforms is desirable.
• Proficiency in SQL for data investigation, validation, and reporting.
• Understanding of data governance principles including data classification, ownership, and stewardship workflows.
• Willingness to work with AI and machine learning tools as part of day-to-day stewardship operations, including reviewing AI-suggested matches, classifications, and enrichments.
• Experience working with ERP or HCM data (Workday, SAP, Dynamics, or similar) is an advantage.
• Attention to detail with the ability to identify and resolve data discrepancies methodically.
• Strong organisational skills with the ability to manage multiple concurrent stewardship tasks and priorities.
• Good communication skills with the ability to document and explain findings clearly to both technical and business audiences.
• Self-motivated with a proactive approach to identifying and resolving data problems.
• Enthusiasm for developing expertise in master data management, data governance, and AI-assisted data operations.

Who you are: