Chief Technology Officer

Who We Are WPP Enterprise Solutions designs, builds, and operates the growth systems that competitive businesses rely on. In a world where Al is reshaping how companies drive growth, we lead clients in business transformation and marketing modernization, connecting strategy directly to execution. Our 12,000 experts in engineering and platforms, commerce, consulting, content transformation, CRM, and CX work within a unified global operating unit across 40+ markets. WPP Enterprise Solutions works alongside best-in-class partners including Adobe, AWS, Braze, Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, and Shopify, as well as innovators in AI, to deliver growth solutions tailored to the needs of our clients’ businesses. VML, part of WPP, supports WPP Enterprise Solutions by helping brands activate transformation through creativity and experience. The opportunity WPP Enterprise Solutions is building technology leadership across the globe to power its focus on technical transformation. The Global Talent Hub is our centre of engineering and architecture excellence, providing the technical capability and capacity that underpins global delivery. The CTO for the Global Talent Hub is a senior technical leader who owns the "How" and the "How well" of delivery — the technical authority behind WPP Enterprise Solutions' engineering and architecture teams based in the hub. While commercial strategy, go-to-market, and client relationships are predominantly won and shaped in our global markets, this role ensures those ambitions are delivered to a consistently high technical standard. You will provide architectural and technical leadership across the hub's engineering and architecture teams, run internal technical governance, drive the adoption and measurement of AI tooling, and build a high-performing cross-functional organization. You will work hand-in-hand with global locations and Operating Companies (OpCos) to understand what they need — including the required level of technical specification — and translate that into clear, actionable direction for hub teams. Working alongside the SVP of Engineering, who leads hands-on delivery execution, you will focus on architecture, design integrity, technical standards, and continuously evolving how the teams work What you’ll be doing Architecture & Design Authority: Act as the senior authority on architecture and design across the hub, ensuring solutions are well-structured, scalable, and consistent with best practice across all global deliveries. Technical Governance: Establish and chair internal technical governance — architecture review, design and delivery standards, security, quality, and technical risk management — setting and enforcing the standards teams work to. Global Collaboration & Requirements Translation: Partner with global locations and OpCos to understand delivery requirements and the expected level of technical specification, translating these into structured inputs, standards, and guidance for hub teams. Innovation & Ways of Working: Bring an innovation mindset to how the teams operate — identifying where ways of working need to evolve and introducing new processes, tooling, and practices to raise productivity, quality, and consistency. AI Tooling Adoption & Measurement: Own the adoption of AI-enabled engineering tools across the hub, defining how their use, impact, productivity, and quality gains are measured and continuously improved. Building a High-Performing Team: Build, scale, and develop a high-performing cross-functional engineering and architecture organisation — driving capability building, talent development, and career progression, in partnership with the SVP of Engineering. Platform & Partner Enablement: Maintain strong technical alignment with key platform partners (Adobe, Salesforce, Shopify, Google, AWS, etc.), keeping teams certified, current with product roadmaps, and at the forefront of platform capabilities. Cross-OpCo Delivery Coordination: Coordinate across OpCos within W…