Role Summary

We are looking for a technically strong AI / ML Developer with hands-on expertise in training and fine-tuning Small Language Models (SLMs) and RAG Solutions. The ideal candidate will drive end-to-end AI Solutions — from dataset curation and pre-processing to training, evaluation, and production deployment. You will collaborate closely with product, product engineers, and infrastructure teams to build AI solutions that are efficient, scalable, and business-aligned.

Key Responsibilities

1  Model Design & Training

• Design, train, and fine-tune Small Language Models (SLMs) using frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, or JAX.
• Conduct experiments with supervised fine-tuning (SFT), reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF), and instruction tuning.
• Implement efficient training pipelines leveraging distributed training (DDP, FSDP) across GPU/TPU clusters.
• Perform hyperparameter optimisation, ablation studies, and model selection based on benchmark results.
• Develop and maintain data pipelines for collecting, cleaning, tokenising, and pre-processing large-scale training corpora.

2  Model Evaluation & Quality

• Define and implement evaluation frameworks including perplexity, BLEU, ROUGE, BERTScore, and task-specific benchmarks.
• Conduct red-teaming, bias analysis, and safety evaluations to ensure responsible AI deployment.
• Benchmark models against established baselines (e.g., GPT-2, Phi, Mistral) and track performance over iterations.
• Collaborate with QA teams to build regression suites for model versioning and continuous evaluation.

3  MLOps & Deployment

• Containerise and deploy models using Docker, Kubernetes, and cloud-native ML platforms (AWS SageMaker / GCP Vertex AI / Azure ML).
• Build and maintain model registries, experiment tracking (MLflow, Comet), and reproducible training pipelines.
• Optimise inference performance through quantisation (INT8, INT4), pruning, distillation, and ONNX/TensorRT conversion.
• Monitor model drift, data drift, and performance degradation in production; implement automated retraining triggers.

4  Research & Innovation

• Stay current with state-of-the-art NLP/LLM research; prototype and validate new techniques from published literature.
• Contribute to internal knowledge sharing, technical documentation, and model cards.
• Explore parameter-efficient fine-tuning (PEFT) methods such as LoRA, QLoRA, and Adapter layers.
• Investigate and apply mixture-of-experts (MoE), retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and agentic workflows as needed.

5  Collaboration & Stakeholder Management

• Work with product managers and domain experts to translate business requirements into model objectives and KPIs.
• Communicate model capabilities, limitations, and trade-offs clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Participate in architecture reviews, sprint planning, and cross-functional design discussions.

Required Qualifications

1  Education

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Machine Learning, Statistics, or a related quantitative field.
• Equivalent professional experience with a strong portfolio of delivered AI/ML projects will be considered.

2  Experience

• 4 – 6 years of professional experience in machine learning or NLP engineering.
• Minimum 2 years of direct, hands-on experience in training or fine-tuning language models (LLMs or SLMs).
• Demonstrable experience taking a model from dataset preparation through to production deployment.

3  Technical Skills — Core

• Programming: Python (proficient); familiarity with C++/CUDA a plus.
• Deep Learning Frameworks: PyTorch (primary), TensorFlow or JAX.
• NLP Libraries: Hugging Face Transformers, Datasets, PEFT, TRL, Accelerate.
• Training Infrastructure: Multi-GPU training, FSDP, DeepSpeed ZeRO stages 1–3.
• Data Engineering: Pandas, NumPy, Apache Spark or Dask for large-scale data prep.
• Vector DBs & Retrieval: FAISS, Pinecone, Weaviate, or equivalent.
• Cloud Platforms: AWS, GCP, or Azure — ML-specific services (SageMaker, Vertex AI, etc.).
• Version Control & CI/CD: Git, GitHub/GitLab, MLflow or W&B for experiment tracking.

4  Technical Skills — Nice to Have

• Experience with multimodal models or vision-language models (VLMs).
• Knowledge of model safety, alignment techniques, and responsible AI frameworks.
• Familiarity with LangChain, LlamaIndex, or similar orchestration frameworks.
• Contributions to open-source ML projects or publications at NeurIPS, ICML, EMNLP, ACL.

Behavioural Competencies

• Intellectual Curiosity: Keeps up with rapidly evolving AI research and applies learnings pragmatically.
• Problem Solving: Approaches ambiguous problems with structured, data-driven thinking.
• Ownership: Takes full accountability for model quality, timelines, and production reliability.
• Collaboration: Works effectively in cross-functional teams with diverse skill sets.
• Communication: Distils complex technical concepts for diverse audiences.
• Adaptability: Thrives in a fast-paced environment where priorities evolve with research breakthroughs.

About WPP Media 

WPP is the creative transformation company. We use the power of creativity to build better futures for our people, planet, clients and communities. For more information, visit wpp.com. 

WPP Media is WPP’s global media collective. In a world where media is everywhere and in everything, we bring the best platform, people, and partners together to create limitless opportunities for growth. For more information, visit wppmedia.com 

At WPP Media, we believe in the power of our culture and our people. It’s what elevates us to deliver exceptional experiences for both our clients and each other. In this role it will be critical to embrace WPP & WPP Media’s shared core values: 

• Be Extraordinary by Leading Collectively to Inspire transformational Creativity. 
• Create an Open environment by Balancing People and Client Experiences by Cultivating Trust. 
• Lead Optimistically by Championing Growth and Development to Mobilize the Enterprise. 

Role Summary and Impact   

The Manager / Senior Associate, Client Analytics reports to the Director of Analytics, working to design, customize and maintain platforms for business analytics and measurement. You would have excellent oral and written communication skills, be client obsessed, self-motivated and able to operate both as a team and independently with limited guidance and direction

The Manager / Senior Associate, Client Analytics is following the direction of Director of Analytics and is responsible for data manipulation and visualization, performing quantitative data analysis, problem solving, statistical modeling, and developing/analysing business cases.

WHAT YOU WILL DO   

• Apply deep knowledge of basic statistics (significance testing, correlation analysis, confidence intervals, descriptive statistics) to support analytical solutions.
• Use statistical modelling techniques (regression, classification) to extract business value from campaign data.
• Utilize programming languages (Python, R, SQL), statistical packages (SciPy), and Google tools (BigQuery, Tensorflow, Datalab) to prototype and deliver data-driven solutions.
• Recommend and develop technical solutions with guidance from senior leadership.
• Define project scope, setup, and effort estimation in collaboration with the account Analytics lead.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with Analytics leads and gain a deep understanding of client challenges.
• Work closely with key stakeholders to assess project needs and ensure delivery of best-in-class analytics work.
• Collaborate with regional leadership on process development, improvement, and compliance.
• Support campaign measurement, determine incremental lift from marketing activities, and manage reporting and data needs (ingestion, cleaning, delivery).
• Code in SQL and Python to create reports and build dashboards; automate recurring workloads to improve efficiency.
• Generate meaningful insights using advanced analytics/statistical techniques; create dashboards and presentations for wider teams.
• Ensure continuous collaboration and progression across bands, disciplines, and offices.

Skills and Experience  

• 3–6 years of relevant industry experience in analytics-focused roles.
• Degree in an applied quantitative field (data science, mathematics, statistics, engineering, economics, business management, computer science, or related).
• Understanding of marketing campaigns, objectives, and measurement techniques; prior experience in digital agency or consulting preferred.
• Proficient coding skills in statistical software (R, Python, SciPy), programming languages (SQL, Python), and MS Office tools (especially advanced Excel/Google Sheets).
• Experience in owning and delivering analytics projects, including correlation, regression, significance testing, A/B tests, and supervised machine learning.
• Practical understanding of data science techniques, statistical analysis, and modelling.
• Passion for data analysis, troubleshooting data anomalies, integrating data from multiple sources to create repositories for data science models.
• Ability to transform raw data into actionable business insights for decision-making and strategic planning.
• Strong logical thinking, problem-solving, and stakeholder management skills.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Adherence to quality standards and ability to plan and prioritize work.
• Experience using or building reports with business intelligence tools is a plus.
• Experience in applying big data, statistics, and analytical techniques to solve client problems is preferred.
• Business acumen to provide actionable strategic recommendations is preferred

Life at WPP Media & Benefits 

Our passion for shaping the next era of media includes investing in our employees to help them do their best work, and we’re just as committed to employee growth as we are to responsible media investment. WPP Media employees can tap into the global WPP Media & WPP networks to pursue their passions, grow their networks, and learn at the cutting edge of marketing and advertising. We have a variety of employee resource groups and host frequent in-office events showcasing team wins, sharing thought leadership, and celebrating holidays and milestone events. Our benefits include competitive medical, group retirement plans, vision, and dental insurance, significant paid time off, preferential partner discounts, and employee mental health awareness days.   

WPP Media 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.

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 around four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process.