Engineering Lead, Data & Technology (General Manager)

WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands. With exceptional talent, trusted data and intelligence, and world-class partnerships – all united by our pioneering agentic marketing platform, WPP Open – we help clients navigate change, capture opportunity, and deliver transformational growth. 

WPP Media is WPP's 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.

For more information, visit wppmedia.com.

About the role
WPP Media is looking for an experienced Engineering Lead to shape and deliver the next generation of AI-, data-, and technology-enabled marketing capabilities in China.
This is a senior, hands-on leadership role responsible for engineering strategy, architecture, quality, and delivery across platforms supporting consumer intelligence, strategy, audience planning, content, media, optimisation, measurement, and workflow automation.
The role will lead the localisation of global capabilities for China’s cloud, data, media, AI model, and regulatory environment, while developing local solutions where global products or services do not meet market requirements.
The successful candidate will combine strong engineering fundamentals with practical experience in AI, data platforms, cloud architecture, product development, and team leadership.
Key responsibilities
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Lead the engineering strategy, architecture, and delivery roadmap for AI, data, media, and marketing technology in China.
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Build and lead multidisciplinary teams across backend, frontend, AI, data, platform, architecture, and quality engineering.
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Establish engineering standards covering architecture, code quality, testing, security, documentation, performance, and operational readiness.
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Create a culture of technical excellence, ownership, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
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Lead the development of integrated platforms connecting briefing, insights, strategy, audiences, content, media, commerce, optimisation, and measurement.
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Develop reusable APIs, services, AI agents, orchestration frameworks, and enterprise integrations that can support multiple clients and use cases.
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Lead the integration of local and global AI models across text, image, video, audio, reasoning, and multimodal applications.
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Establish approaches for retrieval, knowledge systems, model evaluation, guardrails, monitoring, and human review.
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Support tools for audience discovery, segmentation, campaign planning, channel strategy, budget allocation, optimisation, predictive decisioning, and measurement.
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Enable secure integration with client systems and first-, second-, and third-party data sources.
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Adapt global technology for China-specific cloud infrastructure, media platforms, data sources, identity environments, and regulatory requirements.
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Replace unavailable global dependencies with appropriate local alternatives.
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Lead architecture reviews, technical governance, delivery planning, vendor management, and production readiness.
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Work closely with global and China product, engineering, data, media, strategy, and client teams.
Experience and education
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15+ years of experience in software engineering, platform development, technology, or a related field.
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Significant experience leading engineering teams and delivering enterprise-grade platforms.
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Strong experience across software architecture, cloud platforms, APIs, distributed systems, data platforms, and DevOps.
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Practical experience with AI, machine learning, generative AI, agentic systems, or retrieval-based applications.
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Strong understanding of model integration, orchestration, evaluation, monitoring, and AI risk controls.
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Experience building products that combine workflow, data, analytics, automation, and enterprise integration.
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Experience in media, advertising, marketing technology, commerce, or customer data is highly desirable.
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Experience operating within China’s digital, cloud, data, and regulatory environment is strongly preferred.
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Strong stakeholder-management skills and the ability to work across global and local teams.
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Ability to communicate complex technical decisions clearly to technical and non-technical audiences.
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Bachelor’s degree or above in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, Data Science, Engineering, or a related discipline.
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A master’s degree or equivalent advanced qualification is preferred but not required.
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Equivalent practical experience will also be considered.
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Fluent Mandarin and strong professional English are preferred.
What success looks like
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A strong and scalable engineering organisation with clear ownership and standards.
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Reliable, compliant, and scalable China-ready technology.
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Faster movement from concept and proof of value into production.
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Greater reuse of shared platforms, services, data, and AI capabilities.
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Increased adoption of intelligent workflows across client and internal teams.
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Measurable improvements in productivity, quality, media effectiveness, and business outcomes.

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