Associate Director - AEP Martech Technology Strategy

VML•Kansas City, MO

1d•$75,000 - $180,000•Hybrid

About The Position

VML is hiring an Associate Director, Martech Technology Strategy, to support and advance Mazda North America Operations’ enterprise Martech roadmap under the direction of senior Technology Strategy leadership. The client-facing role connects Mazda’s business goals to the technology, data, platform, governance, and operating-model decisions needed to drive measurable growth. The position helps manage the integrated Martech ecosystem across CDP, CRM, personalization, content operations, taxonomy, media activation, analytics, and data engineering. The Associate Director translates strategic direction into use cases, requirements, workstream plans, governance inputs, and decision support for cross-functional teams and partners. The role also supports Mazda’s audience, segmentation, and taxonomy governance agenda, with Claravine serving as the operational system of record for naming, metadata, campaign classification, and audience definitions. The person in this role acts as a day-to-day strategy partner to Mazda stakeholders and internal delivery teams, helping shape recommendations, clarify trade-offs, and prepare decisions for senior client and agency leadership. The role requires at least four days per week in the office, with travel to Mazda and key partner locations as needed.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Marketing, Business, Strategy, or a related field.
At least 6 years of experience in technology strategy, marketing technology strategy, digital transformation, business analysis, consulting, or enterprise platform delivery.
Experience supporting or shaping enterprise technology roadmaps across multiple teams, platforms, and stakeholders.
Strong knowledge of Martech ecosystems, including CDP, CRM, personalization, analytics, customer journey orchestration, media activation, content operations, and data governance.
Experience with Adobe Experience Platform, Real-Time CDP, Adobe Journey Optimizer, Customer Journey Analytics, Adobe Experience Manager, Adobe Target, or Salesforce Marketing Cloud.
Experience defining audience frameworks, segmentation logic, taxonomy standards, journey triggers, suppression rules, activation requirements, and measurement expectations.
Ability to support cross-functional or multi-partner programs, facilitate working sessions, and influence through clear analysis and communication.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to translate complex technology considerations into clear business-facing materials.

Nice To Haves

Experience in automotive, retail, financial services, or another multi-tier, data-intensive industry.
Experience with Mazda, MNAO, or automotive manufacturer/dealer ecosystem operating models.
Adobe certification or equivalent expertise across AEP, RT-CDP, AJO, CJA, AEM, or Adobe Target.
Experience with Claravine, Domo, TransUnion, LiveRamp, The Trade Desk, DV360, Meta, Google Ads, Salesforce CRM, or WPP Open.
Experience designing taxonomy councils, governance models, change-management processes, and platform adoption frameworks.
Working knowledge of privacy, consent, profile stitching, deletion chain, and audience activation considerations.
Experience with content supply chain or creative automation platforms such as Adobe Workfront, GenStudio, Frame.io, Bynder, or Brandfolder.
Advanced degree in a related field.

Responsibilities

Support the end-to-end Mazda Martech roadmap across CDP, CRM, personalization, content operations, taxonomy, analytics, media activation, and data engineering.
Translate Mazda’s business priorities and customer experience goals into workstream plans, requirements, roadmap inputs, and fundable use-case detail.
Develop analysis and recommendations to support build, buy, partner, defer, or stop decisions across the Martech ecosystem.
Identify risks, dependencies, trade-offs, and decision points, and escalate them with context and recommended paths forward.
Support strategy and ongoing optimization for Mazda’s Adobe Experience Platform and Real-Time CDP program.
Define audience frameworks, lifecycle segmentation, suppression logic, activation requirements, and measurement expectations.
Ensure audience definitions are consistent across CRM, paid media, personalization, analytics, and reporting.
Partner with data engineering and platform teams to validate feasibility, data readiness, identity logic, and activation dependencies.
Support Mazda’s enterprise taxonomy program, using Claravine as the system of record for naming, metadata, campaign classification, and audience definitions.
Help define and maintain governance standards across Claravine, Adobe Experience Platform, Real-Time CDP, AJO, AEM, CJA, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, media platforms, WPP Open, Domo, and reporting tools.
Establish naming conventions, metadata standards, decision rights, approval processes, versioning, and change management for taxonomy and audience governance.
Ensure taxonomy supports activation, reporting, measurement, personalization, AI classification, and scalability.
Support the strategic direction of Mazda’s CRM and personalization roadmap across owned channels and customer journeys.
Translate priority moments into use cases with clear owners, dependencies, triggers, suppression rules, success metrics, and platform implications.
Connect segmentation strategy to outcomes such as lead quality, conversion, service engagement, loyalty, retention, and sales lift.
Serve as a Martech Technology Strategy partner across Mazda Marketing, Digital, IT, Legal, Data Privacy, Analytics, Media, and related stakeholder groups.
Coordinate work across VML, WPP Media, WPP Choreograph, Shift Digital, Adobe, TransUnion, Salesforce, and other ecosystem partners.
Partner with client, strategy, and delivery leadership to support roadmap decisions, maintain alignment, and build trust across teams.
Facilitate workshops, roadmap reviews, retrospectives, and executive alignment sessions.
Define measurement frameworks for CDP, CRM, personalization, media activation, taxonomy, and content orchestration.
Partner with analytics and reporting leads to connect platform activity to business outcomes.
Support value-realization narratives for executive forums, steering committees, quarterly business reviews, and roadmap funding conversations.
Identify potential influenced revenue, expanded scope, reusable assets, partner motion, and broader WPP Enterprise Solutions value creation for review with senior leadership.
Provide day-to-day guidance and support to Martech Technology Strategy resources across CDP, CRM, personalization, taxonomy, content pipeline, and orchestration as assigned.
Help maintain quality standards for roadmaps, use-case maps, operating models, taxonomy frameworks, business requirements, recommendations, and points of view.
Mentor supporting team members in business analysis quality, stakeholder communication, platform context, and client-facing delivery practices.
Contribute reusable frameworks, account learnings, and thought leadership to the broader Technology Strategy practice.