Data Management and BI Manager, GOC

About WPP Media WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands. With exceptional talent, trusted data and intelligence, and world-class partnerships – all united by our pioneering agentic marketing platform, WPP Open – we help clients navigate change, capture opportunity, and deliver transformational growth. 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. For more information, visit wppmedia.com . Role Summary and Impact As part of the Global Operations Centre (GOC) , you will work closely with teams across the United States, Europe, and Asia to deliver high-impact solutions in a collaborative and multicultural environment. As a Senior Data Engineer , you will be responsible for: • Designing, developing, and optimizing enterprise ETL/ELT pipelines using Azure Data Factory, Azure Data Lake Storage, and serverless technologies , ensuring scalability, security, and reliability. • Building and optimizing complex Azure T-SQL solutions , including query tuning, partitioning, and indexing, to support advanced analytics models and real-time data processing. • Developing automation frameworks with Python and API orchestration to streamline the data lifecycle and improve operational efficiency. • Owning production pipeline reliability by performing root-cause analysis, resolving critical incidents, and implementing long-term stability measures. • Defining and enforcing coding and architectural standards through code reviews and technical audits , while mentoring engineers and improving delivery quality. • Maintaining technical documentation, data lineage, governance, and automated CI/CD deployment practices across data assets. • Partnering with US onshore leadership and analytics and media teams to translate business requirements into scalable, high-performance technical solutions. • Leading end-to-end pipeline architecture and modernization initiatives involving Azure Databricks, dbt, and advanced DevOps practices . • Monitoring service-level agreements, mitigating technical risks, and supporting data security and compliance requirements. Skills and Experience If this opportunity looks right for you, we are looking for candidates who have: • Multiple years of hands-on professional data engineering experience in production , with 3+ years of relevant experience strongly preferred . Experience should include personally building or maintaining production data pipelines, beyond academic projects or reporting-only responsibilities. • Demonstrated ownership of end-to-end ETL/ELT pipelines , with the ability to explain the source systems, storage layers, transformations, target datasets, orchestration, and monitoring they personally implemented or maintained. • Strong hands-on SQL skills , including the ability to independently write and troubleshoot queries using joins, aggregations, CTEs, and window functions , and apply SQL to data validation, duplicate detection, and reconciliation. • Practical production experience with cloud data pipelines . Azure Data Factory, Azure Data Lake Storage, and Azure SQL are the target stack. Candidates with strong GCP data engineering experience may also be considered if they demonstrate solid ETL/ELT fundamentals and can translate pipeline patterns across cloud platforms. • Relevant hands-on Databricks experience , including working with data workloads and distributed transformations. • The ability to independently write Python for data automation, API extraction , and data processing, supported by concrete examples of professional implementation. • Direct experience monitoring production pipelines, investigating failures, performing root-cause analysis, and implementing durable fixes . • A practical understanding of safe development-to-production delivery , including version control, testing, environment configuration, deployment practices, and rollback considerations. • The ability to clearly explain technical decisions, personal contributions, troubleshooting approaches, and production outcomes . The following experience is a plus: • Advanced T-SQL performance tuning , including indexing, partitioning, and execution-plan analysis. • Delta Lake optimization, Spark performance tuning, and Databricks job orchestration . • Building reusable Python automation frameworks , including testing, packaging, concurrency, and robust retry and backoff handling. • Ownership of SLAs/SLOs, observability, data lineage, and incident-prevention practices . • Experience with Terraform or other infrastructure-as-code tools, Azure DevOps, dbt testing, and data governance practices . • Experience mentoring engineers, making architectural decisions, or leading platform modernization initiatives . As part of the SmartData technical evaluation process , candidates will complete a live SQL coding assessment and discuss practical pipeline design, Python usage, and production reliability. Candidates should be prepared to write, explain, and troubleshoot their own queries without external AI or code-generation assistance . If you require an accommodation for the assessment, please discuss it with the hiring team. Life at WPP Media & Benefits Our passion for shaping the next era of media is powered by our commitment to Be Extraordinary , investing in our employees to inspire transformational creativity. We also Lead Optimistically , firmly believing in and Championing Growth and Development for every individual. This commitment allows WPP Media employees to leverage the extensive global WPP Media & WPP networks to pursue their passions, build vital professional connections, and learn at the cutting edge of marketing and advertising. We Create an Open environment built on trust and respect, where everyone feels th