Associate Director, Data Strategy

WPP Media•New York, NY

1d•$75,000 - $180,000•Hybrid

About The Position

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. Wavemaker, part of WPP, positively provokes growth for clients by reshaping consumer decision-making and experiences through media, content, and technology. We're looking for a sharp, curious, and strategically minded Associate Director, Data Strategy to join the Data Strategy team in the US. This role will support one of the world's most iconic beauty brands — Estée Lauder. This is a pivotal, client-facing role at the intersection of audience strategy, data activation, and media technology. You'll help set the foundations for intelligent, audience-led media planning — defining how data assets are identified, built, governed, and activated to drive measurable client outcomes. You'll work across a dynamic mix of internal teams, external partners, and clients, bringing clarity and structure to complex data challenges. If you're someone who gets genuinely excited about the evolving data landscape, loves translating technical complexity into client-ready storytelling, and wants to be part of building something meaningful with WPP's Open platform — this role is for you.

Requirements

Significant experience in data strategy, audience strategy, martech/adtech, or a closely related field — ideally within a media agency, consultancy, or platform environment
Demonstrated ability to develop audience-first strategies using 1P/2P/3P data and translate strategy into activation-ready audience logic
Experience creating audience insights and reporting within audience management platforms (e.g., DMP/CDP)
Familiarity with identity, data onboarding/syndication concepts, and operational metrics like match rates
Working knowledge of the adtech/martech ecosystem and how platforms support data strategy execution
Familiarity with audience modeling approaches including lookalikes, propensity models, value-based segmentation, and suppression
Strong client-facing communication skills — able to make complex concepts clear for both technical and non-technical audiences
A genuine curiosity and commitment to continuous learning in a fast-moving industry

Nice To Haves

Experience driving platform adoption in a SaaS/PaaS environment and supporting enablement programs
Experience designing data strategies for large, complex, multi-brand, or multinational advertisers (CPG a plus)
Familiarity with the GroupM/WPP ecosystem, data platforms, and ways of working

Responsibilities

Define audience frameworks across foundational, enrichment, and activation layers; identify the right signals and data sources to answer real business questions
Develop audience strategies and insights, overseeing the translation of audience logic into activation in partnership with planning, activation, and analytics teams
Assess client data maturity, identify gaps, and surface enrichment opportunities to improve addressability, measurement, and outcomes
Support privacy-safe data collaboration and clean room strategies (e.g., InfoSum), translating client business questions into compliant use cases for audience insights and activation
Stay ahead of industry trends and provide thought leadership that positions WPP Media as a leading voice in data strategy
Build, taxonomize, and syndicate audiences across relevant platforms — ensuring audience definitions, dependencies, and usage guidance are clear and repeatable
Analyze and present audience-level reporting (e.g., overlaps, correlations, affinity/indexing) within DMP/CDP platforms to inform planning and optimization
Proactively monitor audience onboarding and syndication health (e.g., match rates), communicating risks and remediation paths to reduce data loss
Own audience integration documentation and operational guidance to enable consistent cross-functional execution
Become a deep product expert on WPP Open and our broader suite of data tools and platforms
Support the growth of the WPP Open platform by driving adoption of our data assets and capabilities with clients and internal teams
Clearly communicate technical capabilities to both internal stakeholders and external audiences
Build strong, trusted relationships across media, analytics, technology, and commercial teams in a matrixed environment
Manage a high volume of tasks and priorities with confidence and clarity
Develop and maintain strong partnerships with external data vendors and technology partners