Managing Director - AIE & Amazon Commerce Connections Lead

Who We Are VML is a global creative company that combines brand experience, customer experience, and commerce to create connected brands that drive growth. Guided by a Human First philosophy, VML is known for its innovative work for brands and consistently ranks among the world’s leading creative companies, including the WARC Creative 100. VML’s global network spans 55+ markets with principal offices in Buenos Aires, Kansas City, London, New York, São Paulo, Shanghai and Singapore. VML is part of WPP, the trusted growth partner for the world's leading brands. Powered by exceptional talent and our agentic marketing platform WPP Open, WPP unites cutting-edge media intelligence and data solutions, creativity, production, enterprise solutions and expert strategic counsel. For more information, please visit www.vml.com and follow along on LinkedIn #WeAreVML. AIE & Amazon Commerce Connections Capability Lead Managing Director, Commerce Connections The Role We are looking for a senior Commerce leader to build and lead a new AIE & Amazon Commerce capability within WPP Commerce Connections. This role sits at the intersection of Amazon commerce, data, AI, technology and business transformation. The immediate mandate is to lead the business and solution vision for a significant AI-enabled Amazon Commerce engagement, working alongside AWS and a cross-functional WPP team to turn complex retail, media, operational and financial data into actionable commercial intelligence. The ambition extends well beyond the initial project you will lead. This leader will help turn the solution, learnings and underlying capabilities into a repeatable WPP offering that can scale across clients and future AWS opportunities. What You'll Own - Lead the business and solution vision for AIE, ensuring technology and AI are grounded in meaningful Amazon business problems, decisions and measurable outcomes. - Serve as the senior Amazon Commerce subject matter leader, connecting retail operations, profitability, inventory, digital shelf, search, media, measurement and customer experience. - Translate client business priorities into high-value use cases, requirements and product capabilities, working closely with strategy, analytics, experience design and technology teams. - Partner with AWS and WPP technical leadership to shape solutions that combine Amazon data, cloud infrastructure, analytics and AI into scalable commercial applications. - Provide senior client leadership, helping executives and operating teams understand what the intelligence means, what decisions it enables and how to act on it. - Work alongside Program Delivery leadership to ensure the business vision, product roadmap and technical execution remain connected throughout delivery. - Build the broader AIE & Amazon Commerce Connections capability, identifying reusable IP, methodologies, technology and operating models that can be deployed across additional clients. - Help shape the WPP + AWS Commerce partnership, identifying new opportunities and turning successful client solutions into repeatable offerings. - Develop and mentor a multidisciplinary team spanning Amazon Commerce, retail operations, analytics, strategy, product, experience and technology. - Support growth and commercialization, including client development, solution design, scoping and executive-level pitches. What We're Looking For We're looking for someone who has operated at the intersection of Amazon, technology and commercial decision-making, rather than someone whose experience is limited to managing an Amazon account or individual discipline. The strongest candidate will bring: - Deep Amazon ecosystem expertise, ideally including experience inside Amazon and/or leading sophisticated Amazon solutions for major brands. - Significant experience with data, analytics, technology and AI-enabled solutions and the ability to translate technical capabilities into commercial value. - Strong understanding of the signals that drive an Amazon business, including sales, profitability, inventory, operations, search, digital shelf, media and measurement. - Experience building products, solutions or capabilities from ambiguity rather than simply operating established programs. - Ability to move comfortably between executive conversations, Amazon business strategy, product definition and technical teams. - Demonstrated success leading complex, cross-functional teams across strategy, analytics, engineering, product and delivery. - Strong client leadership and communication skills, with the ability to simplify complex problems and create alignment across multiple stakeholders. - An entrepreneurial mindset and interest in building a capability, not simply filling a role on one account. What Success Looks Like In the near term, success means establishing a strong business and solution vision, earning client and partner confidence, and helping the multidisciplinary team turn AIE from an ambitious concept into a working capability that improves Amazon decision-making. Longer term, success means building beyond the first engagement: creating a differentiated AIE & Amazon Commerce offering, developing reusable capabilities and IP, deepening the AWS relationship, and expanding the model across the next wave of WPP clients. The base salary range for this position at the time of this posting is indicated below. Individual compensation varies based on job-related factors, including location, business needs, level of responsibility, experience, and qualifications. We offer a competitive benefits package, click WPP Benefits for more details. _ $125,000—$295,000 USD We believe the best work happens when we're together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection. That's why we’ve adopted a hybrid approach, with teams in the office an average of four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process. WPP (VML) is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers. When you click "Submit Application", this will send any information you add below to VML. Before you do this, we think it's a good idea to read through our Recruitment Privacy Policy. California residents should read our California Recruitment Privacy Notice. This explains what we do with your personal data when you apply for a role with us, and, how you can update the information you have provided us with or how to remove it.