VP, Marketplace & Partnerships - Large Language Models (LLM)

dentsu•New York, NY

5d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Marketplace & Partnerships division is responsible for all elements of strategic partnerships for the dentsu Media practice in the US. The team sits at the intersection of dentsu’s media agencies (Carat, iProspect and dentsuX), clients, investment and activation communities, and Amplifi, the commercial innovation arm for dentsu. The team is responsible for translating the business needs of dentsu’s clients, the strategic and commercial imperatives of dentsu itself, as well as emergent and established trends across the industry and society into strategic, value-driven, and beneficial partnerships. They also set the strategic agenda for partnerships at dentsu in the marketplace, how that pertains to new business and in product/solution design within dentsu. This VP role focuses on the rapidly evolving landscape of Large Language Models (LLMs), generative AI platforms, and model infrastructure. Sitting at the intersection of enterprise AI strategy, product innovation, engineering, and commercial operations, this role ensures that the organization has the right LLM partners, capabilities, and commercial agreements to accelerate growth and deliver differentiated value for clients. You will operate as an enterprise subject matter expert in LLMs—including foundation models, finetuning partners, vector database vendors, model ops platforms, and safety/guardrail technologies. They will define our LLM partnership strategy, negotiate and structure commercial and technical agreements, and ensure that these partnerships align with the strategic, innovative, and value driven objectives of the organization. The VP will contribute meaningfully to the broader AI partnership vision across all channels and business units. Reporting into the SVP, Commerce & Intent Partnerships Lead, this role will be tasked with contributing their core objectives towards the overall partnership strategy and vision across all channels.-matter expert in LLMs—including foundation models, fine-tuning partners, vector database vendors, model-ops platforms, and safety/guardrail technologies. They will define our LLM partnership strategy, negotiate and structure commercial and technical agreements, and ensure that these partnerships align with the strategic, innovative, and value-driven objectives of the organization. The VP will contribute meaningfully to the broader AI partnership vision across all channels and business units. Given the cross‑functional nature of AI transformation, this role will collaborate with product, engineering, data science, legal, security, media, and commercial teams to create mutually beneficial outcomes. The VP will also provide senior leadership with insights on market evolution, emerging risks, competitive differentiation, and partnership performance.

Requirements

10-12 years’ experience within the digital industry as a partnership or investment lead at a reputable agency or partner.
5+ years’ experience management of a team – with the ability to lead a highly successful team.
Consistent exceptional project management, ability to prioritize and meet deadlines.
Excellent verbal and written communications, presentation, and analytical skills; must be comfortable working with and presenting sophisticated metrics to C-level.
Ability to retain professionalism in all situations.
Passion for problem-solving and collaboration across teams.
Ability to translate complex ideas into actionable solutions.

Responsibilities

Own and lead a portfolio of LLM focused partnerships, including model providers, infrastructure platforms, safety/guardrail vendors, and model ops technologies.-focused partnerships, including model providers, infrastructure platforms, safety/guardrail vendors, and model-ops technologies.
Translate market intelligence, client needs, and internal priorities into a comprehensive annual LLM partnership strategy.
Identify, vet, and cultivate new LLM and gen‑AI partnership opportunities that enhance product innovation and enterprise capabilities.
Serve as a senior subject‑matter expert on LLM technologies, while representing adjacent AI domains in partnership conversations.
Collaborate with Product, Engineering, and Data Science to ensure LLM partnerships align with capability roadmaps, model requirements, and value‑creation goals.
Work cross‑functionally across AI, media, creative, and commercial teams to design integrated go-to-market strategies leveraging LLM partners.
Evaluate commercial viability and technical compatibility of LLM opportunities; ensure each partnership is optimized for performance, safety, and cost efficiency.
Act as a problem solver and integrator, coordinating multiple stakeholders and maintaining forward momentum across complex partnership initiatives.
Drive excellence in LLM partnership governance, reporting, compliance, and enablement across the organization.
Represent the organization as an AI thought leader in market‑facing opportunities (panels, PR, partner events) within the LLM domain.
Provide communication, documentation, and knowledge management for all LLM partnerships, ensuring transparency, alignment, and adoption across teams.
Support client conversations and new‑business pitches as the LLM expert and AI partnership lead.
Liaise and partner with Product and Solutions organizations to facilitate partnership development and capability creation within dentsu.
Consult on client business to build custom partnership plans and subject-matter expertise of partner landscape.