Production Innovation Director, North America

WPP Production•New York, NY

4d•$100,000 - $230,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Production Innovation Director is one of the most forward-facing roles in WPP Production's portfolio, a senior innovation leadership position built not to manage what exists today, but to define and build what comes next. You will help lead WPP Production's dedicated Innovation Squad, one of three regional teams across New York, London, and Singapore, purpose-built to drive AI and production innovation across one of WPP's most strategically important global client partnerships. Together, these three regional squads form a connected global innovation engine, fully funded, fully dedicated, and singularly focused on identifying, proving, and scaling the future of AI-driven content production. This is a role that demands genuine vision and deep technical fluency in equal measure. You won't just be championing innovation from a distance. You'll be in it. Running pilots. Building proof-of-concepts. Working directly alongside the client's own AI, R&D, and technology teams to co-develop solutions that are grounded in real business challenges and built to scale. You will set the strategic direction of the NA innovation agenda, lead a focused and agile squad, and own the full journey from early experimentation through to productized, graduated capability that the wider WPP Production business can adopt and run at scale. You are the person who sees around corners, who understands where AI and production technology are heading, translates that into relevant opportunity for the client, and then does the hard work of making it real. As AI continues to reshape how content is created, produced, and distributed, WPP Production is building the capability to lead that transformation for some of the world's most ambitious brands. This role puts you at the centre of that work, with the remit, the resources, and the client relationship to make a real mark, not just on this account, but on how the industry thinks about AI-driven production.

Requirements

8+ years in account management, client services, production, or a senior client-facing role within a content production agency or advertising environment. The strongest candidates will bring experience that spans both client relationship management and hands-on innovation or technology delivery
Proven track record managing complex, multi-stakeholder client relationships, with a demonstrated ability to identify and develop opportunities for growth within large, global partnerships
Experience working with or alongside large global technology or platform organisations, with familiarity with how their innovation, R&D, and AI ecosystems operate strongly preferred
Demonstrated success leading AI-first transformation programmes, innovation initiatives, or technology-driven change in a marketing or content production context
Proven ability to take AI or production technology from concept to scaled, adopted capability. You have built things and seen them land, not just recommended them
Deep, hands-on knowledge of AI tools, agentic workflows, and generative AI as applied to marketing and content production. Technical fluency is required, not just a working awareness
Experience collaborating with account team members and working closely with project management teams across onshore and offshore geographies
Financial acumen with experience managing budgets, forecasting, and reporting on performance against plan
Exceptional relationship-building and communication skills with the ability to engage and influence at all levels including C-Suite
Strategic mindset balanced with a bias for action. You think big but execute with precision
Proactive, solutions-focused, and comfortable operating in ambiguity and fast-moving environments
Familiarity with agile or sprint-based ways of working
Grounded in content production craft across media, creative, or production disciplines. You need to understand what you are innovating within
High emotional intelligence, strong collaborative instincts, and a genuine passion for developing talent and building high-performing teams

Responsibilities

Serve as a senior client-facing presence on the account, building deep and trusted working relationships with the client's AI innovation, R&D, technology enablement, and marketing operations teams
Act as the client's primary point of contact for all things innovation and AI within WPP Production, complementing the Global MD's senior commercial relationships by owning the innovation and technology dimension of the partnership
Host regular innovation showcases, co-creation workshops, and working sessions with client stakeholders, focused on collaborative problem-solving and hands-on exploration of what AI can do for their content production ecosystem
Proactively identify and nurture opportunities to deepen the partnership through the introduction and scaling of AI-driven production capabilities, demonstrating consistent value that leads to expanded scope and a stronger long-term relationship
Translate the client's business objectives, internal AI roadmap, and technology priorities into relevant and actionable production innovation strategies that WPP Production can design, pilot, and deliver
Develop a compelling and evolving narrative around WPP Production's innovation capabilities, specifically tailored to the client's own AI ambitions, ensuring WPP Production is consistently positioned as a forward-thinking and technically credible partner
Collaborate with the Global MD on pitch and RFP responses where innovation capability is a key component, contributing the technical depth and AI expertise that strengthens the overall proposition
Proactively bring the outside in, sharing relevant industry developments, emerging AI capabilities, and production technology trends that keep the client ahead of the curve and WPP Production indispensable to their thinking
Lead and manage the Innovation Squad, a small, agile, fully dedicated team focused exclusively on AI-driven production innovation within the account
Define the squad's ways of working, establishing a sprint-based, hypothesis-driven culture where ideas are tested quickly, learnings are captured rigorously, and only proven concepts move forward
Run structured innovation sprints end-to-end: define the challenge, frame the hypothesis, prototype the solution, run the pilot, measure the outcome, and make the call on whether to graduate or iterate
Own the NA innovation roadmap and pipeline, maintaining a prioritised view of what is in exploration, what is in pilot, and what is ready for graduation to the wider business
Coordinate with regional counterparts in London and Singapore to share learnings, avoid duplication, and ensure the three regional squads are building toward a coherent and complementary global innovation programme
Act as the innovation voice within the broader account leadership team, reporting into the Global MD and ensuring innovation priorities are visible, understood, and supported at the senior level
Foster a squad culture built on curiosity, experimentation, and psychological safety, where testing and learning from failure is treated as progress, not setback
Identify and evaluate emerging opportunities where AI, agentic workflows, and new production technologies can fundamentally change how content is made, distributed, or measured for the client
Develop and manage a structured innovation pipeline, from early-stage exploration through proof-of-concept, pilot, and into productized capability, ensuring momentum is maintained across all stages simultaneously
Build proof-of-concepts in close collaboration with WPP Production's technology and product teams, ensuring experimental work is grounded in genuine production reality and real client need rather than theoretical possibility
Define and apply clear graduation criteria for every initiative: what does "proven" look like, what does "scalable" require, and what needs to be true before this moves to the wider delivery team
Productize graduated innovations, creating the playbooks, toolkits, process documentation, and training materials that allow new ways of working to be adopted and run at scale across WPP Production globally
Track and report on innovation ROI across the pipeline, including time-to-value, efficiency gains, cost impact, adoption rates, and measurable business outcomes for both WPP Production and the client
Maintain a clear and current view of the competitive innovation landscape, including what other agencies, technology companies, and production businesses are building, and use that intelligence to sharpen the NA innovation agenda
Maintain deep, hands-on knowledge of AI tools, agentic workflows, generative AI platforms, and production automation. This role requires genuine technical fluency, not just the ability to talk about it
Act as the NA subject matter expert on AI-driven content production, providing informed guidance and practical recommendations to both the client and internal WPP Production teams
Partner with WPP Production's technology, product, and engineering teams to get early access to, test, and evaluate new tools and platforms before they reach the wider business, acting as a critical filter between emerging technology and real-world production application
Build and maintain a working knowledge of the client's own AI infrastructure, tools, and internal platforms, with an understanding of their technology environment deep enough to design solutions that integrate with, rather than sit alongside, what they are already building
Identify specifically where AI can remove production friction, reduce cost, accelerate timelines, or unlock entirely new creative and production capabilities, and move quickly from identification to pilot
Champion AI literacy across the wider WPP Production team, helping to raise the baseline understanding and confidence of delivery teams who will ultimately be running the capabilities the squad develops and graduates
Act as a strategic thought partner to the client's innovation and technology teams, consulting on how AI and agentic solutions can optimise their marketing operations and content delivery in ways that are practical, scalable, and grounded in production reality
Lead discovery sessions with client stakeholders to uncover emerging business challenges, map them to innovation opportunities, and co-develop tailored solution hypotheses with internal and external subject matter experts
Drive change management for innovation adoption, recognising that graduating a new way of working is as much about people and process as it is about technology, and designing handoffs that stick on both the client and WPP Production side
Identify where innovation initiatives have the potential to unlock new commercial opportunities within the account, and work closely with the Global MD to develop a clear path to realising them
Contribute to the broader WPP Production innovation strategy, bringing NA-specific client intelligence and learnings that inform how the business develops and positions its AI capabilities globally
Build and share best practice across the WPP network, acting as an internal ambassador for AI-driven production innovation and helping to raise the broader organisation's capability and confidence
Work in close and deliberate partnership with the Global MD, maintaining clear communication, aligned priorities, and a shared view of where innovation and account strategy intersect
Act as a key point of connection between the NA Innovation Squad and WPP's wider agency network, including media and creative leads, ensuring that innovation work is informed by and feeds back into the broader partnership
Collaborate with WPP Production's global technology, product, and delivery teams to ensure the NA squad has access to the right tools, platforms, and technical support to move quickly and build with confidence
Work closely with the Project Management team to ensure innovation pilots and workstreams are properly scoped, resourced, and tracked, bringing the same rigour to experimental work that the wider account applies to BAU delivery
Directly mentor and develop squad members, investing in their growth as AI-literate, innovation-capable production professionals who can carry this way of working forward
Contribute to the talent strategy for the squad, helping to identify the skills and profiles needed as the innovation programme grows and the scope of work evolves
Maintain strong working relationships with the EMEA and APAC regional innovation leads, ensuring the three squads operate as a genuinely connected global unit rather than three separate teams doing similar things independently
Own the NA innovation budget, maintaining a clear view of spend across the pipeline, prioritising investment based on potential impact and strategic alignment, and ensuring resources are deployed where they will generate the most meaningful return
Track and report on the financial impact of innovation initiatives, including both the cost of running pilots and the value generated through efficiency gains, new revenue, and graduated capabilities adopted at scale
Work with the Global MD and senior WPP Production leadership to make the case for continued and expanded innovation investment, using data and outcomes from the pipeline to build a compelling narrative around ROI
Ensure financial transparency across all innovation workstreams, flagging risks early and maintaining the discipline to stop investing in initiatives that are not generating sufficient signal