Executive Director, Data Engineering
VML (a WPP creative/marketing company) is hiring an Executive Director of Data Engineering in Detroit to lead global data architecture, AI infrastructure, and engineering standards for its marketing intelligence function. Day to day: modernizing MLOps and data pipelines, setting global data governance/taxonomy standards, and leading a distributed engineering team.
- Compensation
- $155K–$390K / yr
- Location
- Detroit, Michigan, United States
- Work setup
- Not specified
- Seniority
- Not specified
- Employment
- Not specified
- Experience
- 20+ years
- Category
- Data engineering
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- 20+ years of experience in data engineering, data architecture, or platform engineering, including senior leadership of global or distributed engineering teams
- Deep expertise in modern data infrastructure, cloud platforms, and AI/ML engineering, with hands-on command of scalable pipeline and platform design
- Proven success establishing data taxonomies, standards, and governance frameworks across complex, multi-domain environments
- Experience modernizing engineering practices toward automation, agile delivery, and AI-assisted development
- Strong understanding of marketing and media data domains — creative, CX/site, CRM, audience, and media — ideally within automotive, broader industry, or agency/media agency contexts
- Track record of integrating AI responsibly and at scale, with fluency in MLOps, DataOps, and data governance
- Exceptional leadership, communication, and stakeholder-management skills at the executive level
Full description
Who We Are
VML is a global creative company that combines brand experience, customer experience, and commerce to create connected brands that drive growth. Guided by a Human First philosophy, VML is known for its innovative work for brands and consistently ranks among the world’s leading creative companies, including the WARC Creative 100. VML’s global network spans 55+ markets with principal offices in Buenos Aires, Kansas City, London, New York, São Paulo, Shanghai and Singapore.
VML is part of WPP, the trusted growth partner for the world's leading brands. Powered by exceptional talent and our agentic marketing platform WPP Open, WPP unites cutting-edge media intelligence and data solutions, creativity, production, enterprise solutions and expert strategic counsel.
For more information, please visit and follow along on LinkedIn #WeAreVML.
About the Role
We’re seeking a Executive Director of Data Engineering to lead the architecture, infrastructure, and engineering standards that power our global marketing intelligence capabilities. Reporting directly to the Chief Marketing Intelligence Officer, this leader will modernize our AI infrastructure, accelerate how we build and deliver, and set global data standards across every domain we touch — creative, CX/site, CRM, audience, and media data. The ideal candidate is a hands-on technologist and a strategic leader who can build best-in-class engineering practices at global scale while driving the move toward agile, automated, and AI-native data delivery.
What You’ll Do
AI Infrastructure & Engineering Modernization
- Design and evolve scalable AI and data infrastructure that supports predictive, prescriptive, and generative use cases across the function.
- Establish standards and tooling for accelerated delivery and faster coding — including AI-assisted development, reusable components, and automation that compresses time-to-value.
- Evaluate and introduce new technologies that enable innovation across creative, CX/site, CRM, audience, and media data domains.
- Mature our MLOps and deployment practices so models and data products move from prototype to production reliably and repeatably.
Data Standards, Taxonomies & Governance
- Develop comprehensive, future-proof data taxonomies and data standards that bring consistency and interoperability across domains and regions.
- Set and govern global data standards — architecture, quality, lineage, documentation, and metadata — that scale across the network and agency partners.
- Embed data governance, privacy, and security by design, ensuring compliance with global regulatory requirements (e.g., GDPR, CCPA) and responsible AI practices.