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 100,000 talented people dedicated to doing extraordinary work for our clients. We operate in over 100 countries, with corporate headquarters in New York, London and Singapore.
WPP is a world leader in marketing services, with deep AI, data and technology capabilities, global presence and unrivalled creative talent. Our clients include many of the biggest companies and advertisers in the world, including approximately 300 of the Fortune Global 500.
Our people are the key to our success. We're committed to fostering a culture of creativity, belonging and continuous learning, attracting and developing the brightest talent, and providing exciting career opportunities that help our people grow.
Why we're hiring:
At WPP, technology is at the heart of everything we do, and it is WPP IT’s mission to enable everyone to collaborate, create and thrive. WPP IT is undergoing a significant transformation to modernise ways of working, shift to cloud and micro-service-based architectures, drive automation, digitise colleague and client experiences and deliver insight from WPP’s petabytes of data.
WPP Media is the world’s leading media investment company responsible for more than $63B in annual media investment through agencies Mindshare, MediaCom, Wavemaker, Essence and m/SIX, as well as the outcomes-driven programmatic audience company, Xaxis and data and technology company Choreograph. WPP Media’s portfolio includes Data & Technology, Investment and Services, all united in a vision to shape the next era of media where advertising works better for people. By leveraging all the benefits of scale, the company innovates, differentiates and generates sustained value for our clients wherever they do business.The WPP Media IT team in WPP IT are the technology solutions partner for the WPP Media group of agencies and are accountable for co-ordinating and assuring end-to-end change delivery, managing the WPP Media IT technology life cycle and innovation pipeline.
We are looking for a hands-on, technically strong Data Operations Lead to head our newly established Data Integration & Operations team in Chennai.
This is a build-and-run role: you’ll help define how the team operates while leading day-to-day delivery. The team is part of the global Data & Measure function and is responsible for ensuring that our data products run efficiently, reliably, and consistently across platforms and markets.
You will own the operational layer of our data products — including data ingestion, monitoring, deployment pipelines, automation, and support. This role requires deep technical knowledge of Azure and/or GCP, alongside the ability to lead and scale a growing team.
What you'll be doing:
- Technical Ownership & Execution
- Lead a team responsible for data integration, ingestion, orchestration, and platform operations
- Build and maintain automated data pipelines using Azure Data Factory, GCP Dataflow/Composer, or equivalent tools
- Define and implement platform-wide monitoring, logging, and alerting
- Manage cloud environments, including access control, security, and deployment automation
- Operational Standardisation
- Create and roll out standard operating procedures, runbooks, onboarding guides, and automation patterns
- Ensure repeatable, scalable practices across all supported data products
- Define reusable deployment frameworks and templates for integration
- Platform Support & Performance
- Set up and manage SLAs, incident workflows, and escalation models
- Proactively identify and resolve operational risks in cloud-based data platforms
- Partner with development and product teams to ensure seamless transition from build to run
- Team Leadership
- Lead and mentor a new, growing team in Chennai
- Shape the team’s operating model, priorities, and capabilities
- Act as a subject matter expert and escalation point for technical operations
What you'll need:
- Required Skills
- 7+ years in data operations, platform engineering, or data engineering
- Deep, hands-on experience in Azure and/or GCP environments
- Strong understanding of cloud-native data pipelines, architecture, and security
- Skilled in orchestration (e.g. ADF, Dataflow, Airflow), scripting (Python, Bash), and SQL
- Familiarity with DevOps practices, CI/CD, and infrastructure-as-code
- Proven experience managing production data platforms and support
- Ability to design operational frameworks from the ground up
- Demonstrated experience leading technical teams, including task prioritization, mentoring, and delivery oversight
- Preferred Skills
- Experience with tools like dbt, Azure Synapse, BigQuery, Databricks, etc.
- Exposure to BI environments (e.g. Power BI, Looker)
- Familiarity with global support models and tiered ticket handling
- Experience with documentation, enablement, and internal tooling
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 open-minded: to 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 aim to create a culture in which people can 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?
We believe the best work happens when we're together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection. That's why we’ve adopted a hybrid approach, with teams in the office around four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process.
WPP is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to particular 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.
Please read our Privacy Notice (https://www.wpp.com/en/careers/wpp-privacy-policy-for-recruitment) for more information on how we process the information you provide.
