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

Role Summary and Impact

The Director, People Partner is a critical strategic leader, responsible for developing and executing people strategies which drive business outcomes across multiple brands, critical functions or major segments across WPP Media UK. This role drives the “People First” strategy and influences senior leaders (EVP, SVP, VP) to advance our 'Client Obsessed and AI Powered' vision, leading transformations, resolving complex challenges, and managing a team of People Partners. This individual orchestrates collaboration with HR Centres of Value and the People Services Hub to deliver integrated HR solutions, enhance employee experience, and fuel business growth.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Strategic Business Partnership & Influence (Client Obsessed):

• Serve as a trusted strategic business partner to EVP, SVP, and VP-level business leaders, understanding their business goals, challenges, and opportunities, and proactively identifying people-related risks and opportunities.
• Develop and implement people strategies specific to their assigned remit, brands or functions that align with broader business objectives, drive organisational performance, and champion the "One WPP Media" culture.
• Anticipate future workforce needs within their domain and proactively develop comprehensive people solutions to address them, ensuring WPP Media UK maintains its competitive edge.
• Lead HR partnership for highly strategic and complex internal client groups, including multiple UK Client Presidents, Open Clients, and Global Client Solutions teams, as well as major enabling and embedded teams, providing comprehensive strategic people guidance.

1. Leadership & Team Management:

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of People Partners, fostering a high-performing, collaborative, and engaged environment.
• Provide expert coaching and guidance to team members on complex people issues, professional development, and navigating WPP Media UK's matrix organisation.
• Set clear expectations, provide regular performance feedback, conduct performance reviews, and champion a culture of continuous learning and development.

1. Organisational Effectiveness & Transformation Leadership (Unified Operating Model):

• Lead the design and execution of complex organisational transformation programmes (e.g., significant restructures, integrations, new operating models ) within their  scope, ensuring effective change management and communication, leveraging support from CoVs where needed.s.
• Address deep-seated structural and leadership ambiguities across their business remit, driving clarity on reporting lines, decision rights, and the relationship between WPP Media and agency brands,in collaboration with CoVs.
• Champion and lead initiatives to fundamentally re-engineer critical HR and talent processes (e.g., end-to-end hiring, internal mobility frameworks, performance management cycles) based on feedback from PSH/People Partners and strategic needs, collaborating closely with PSH leadership and relevant Centres of Value.
• Provide strategic input into the overall HR technology roadmap and implementation (including WPP Open), ensuring it addresses business needs, streamlines processes, and enhances user experience, always exploring and advocating for AI-driven solutions.

1. Advanced Talent Strategy & Leadership (People & Talent Focus):

• Collaborate with Talent Acquisition and Organisational Effectiveness to develop and implement domain-specific talent acquisition and development strategies for critical skill sets (e.g., AI specialists, digital transformation roles), building a future-ready workforce.
• Lead robust succession planning and talent calibration for senior leadership roles within their domain, identifying and developing the next generation of WPP Media UK leaders.
• Design and implement programmes to foster a high-performance, inclusive culture, ensuring clarity on performance expectations and robust development frameworks, by partnering with relevant CoVs.
• Provide significant business input to the Reward Centre of Value on compensation philosophy, market competitiveness, and effectiveness of reward programmes, influencing strategic reward decisions.

1. Strategic Employee Relations & Risk Management (Consistent & Excellent Employee Experience):

• Oversee and provide expert guidance on highly complex, high-profile, or systemic employee relations matters, often involving legal implications or widespread impact, partnering closely with the Employee Relations Centre of Value and legal counsel. This role also serves as a point of escalation for their team and manages high-profile cases directly.
• Develop and implement proactive strategies to mitigate significant HR risks across their domain, ensuring ethical practices and legal compliance.

1. Executive Data & Insights (People Data as a Managed Product):

• Direct the utilisation of advanced people data and analytics (from PSH and the People Data Centre of Value) to provide strategic insights and recommendations that drive significant people and business outcomes.
• Develop and present compelling, data-driven business cases for major people initiatives to senior leadership, demonstrating clear ROI and strategic alignment.

1. Enterprise Change Management & Communication Leadership:

• Lead and direct the communication changes within their scope, ensuring clear, consistent, and actionable messaging, stakeholder buy-in, and effective adoption, leveraging guidance from CoVs as required..
• Translate complex strategic visions into clear, actionable people strategies and communication plans for senior leadership, improving overall clarity and addressing identified communication gaps, directly addressing ExCo feedback.

1. Compliance & Governance:

• Oversee compliance with local UK employment laws and regulations in all people-related activities across their domain, ensuring robust governance.
• Proactively identify and recommend strategic adjustments based on HR best practices, trends, and evolving legal landscapes, ensuring implementation of changes to the team and business.

Key Behaviours (Rules of engagement and delivery): These behaviours are demonstrated by leading and mentoring People Partner teams, driving significant strategic initiatives within their defined domain, and influencing EVP, SVP, and VP-level business leadership across a major segment of WPP Media UK.

• Own It End-to-End and Prevents Gaps: Takes ultimate personal accountability for strategic client inquiries and people initiatives, seeing them through to full resolution. Acts as the primary HR leader, shielding the business from internal complexities and demonstrating unwavering ownership. Ensures no strategic people initiative or critical business issue "falls through the cracks,"
• Seek & Simplify (Coordination): Proactively seeks out and synthesises complex information across PSH and all Centres of Value (Resource Management, Reward, Employee Relations, Talent Acquisition, Inclusion & Impact, Organisational Effectiveness, People Data, Immigration). Prioritises direct, strategic communication over passive methods. Drives simplification and clarity in HR processes and solutions.
• Curious & Strategic: Demonstrates exceptional curiosity to uncover the strategic "why" behind senior business needs. Challenges existing paradigms and explores the broader organisational context (budget, funding, people capabilities) to provide transformative, AI-driven, and forward-thinking HR strategies that enhance efficiency and effectiveness.
• Cultivate Partnership (Connectedness): Builds and maintains strong, influential, and trusting relationships with EVP, SVP, and VP-level business leaders and key internal business stakeholders across WPP Media UK. Acts as a critical bridge, owning the end-to-end client relationship and championing a "One WPP Media mindset" at a leadership level.
• Deliver Clarity & Simplicity (Collaboration, Communication): Drives clarity and simplicity in all HR communications, strategies, and processes for senior leaders. Orchestrates seamless collaboration across the entire HR function (People Partners, PSH, CoVs) to deliver a unified, high-impact "One HR Team" experience.
• Upholds Discretion & Confidentiality: Consistently handles privileged and sensitive information with the utmost discretion and confidentiality, demonstrating a high level of maturity and emotional intelligence in all interactions.
• Demonstrates Integrity & Resilience: Acts with unwavering integrity, upholding ethical standards and WPP Media's values in all decisions and actions. Exhibits resilience and adaptability when navigating complex, challenging, or ambiguous situations.
• Fosters Inclusive Culture & Values: Actively champions WPP Media's culture and values, promoting an inclusive environment where diverse perspectives are valued, and all individuals feel respected and have a sense of belonging.

Key Relationships:

• Internal: Global and Regional People Partners, Incl. Client People Partner, People Partner reports, PSH Leadership, Leads and Specialists within all Centres of Value (Reward, Employee Relations, Talent Acquisition, Inclusion & Impact, Organisational Effectiveness, People Data), Finance Leadership, Legal Counsel, IT Leadership.
• Internal Stakeholders/Clients: EVP, SVP, and VP-level business leaders across major internal client groups managers, and employees, including Global Client Solutions teams, enabling teams, and embedded teams.

Required Skills & Experience:

• Proven extensive experience in a senior HR leadership role (e.g., Head of HR for a significant business unit, Senior Manager, People Partner), preferably within a large, complex, matrixed, and fast-paced UK operating environment or similar markets.
• Deep expertise in UK employment law, HR best practices, and strategic application of HR principles to complex business challenges.
• Extensive experience in leading and resolving highly complex and sensitive employee relations issues at a strategic level, including high-profile investigations and managing systemic ER trends.
• Demonstrated ability to partner with, coach, and influence senior business leaders effectively on strategic people-related matters, organisational design, and change leadership.
• Proven track record in leading and successfully implementing large-scale talent management, organisational development, and significant organisational change initiatives.
• Exceptional leadership and management skills, with proven ability to build, develop, and inspire high-performing HR teams (including Senior Managers and Managers).
• Expert-level analytical and data interpretation skills, with the ability to translate complex people data into actionable senior leadership-level insights and strategic business decisions.
• Outstanding communication (written and verbal), presentation, negotiation, and influencing skills at senior organisational levels.
• Proficiency in HRIS systems (e.g., Workday) and other HR platforms (e.g., Greenhouse, Trinity/Slingshot), with an understanding of HR technology strategy.
• Ability to strategically lead, manage ambiguity, drive transformation, and operate effectively within a dynamic, UK-based media organisation.

Desired Qualifications:

• CIPD Level 7 qualification or equivalent senior HR professional certification.
• Master's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field.
• Extensive experience within the media, marketing, or advertising industry in a complex, matrixed operating environment.

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 particular 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.

Please note this is a UK based role and requires individuals to have the right to work in this location

Please read our Privacy Notice (https://www.wppmedia.com/pages/privacy-policy) for more information on how we process the information you provide.

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About the Team

The IT team is responsible for the internal systems, tooling, and support that keep Typeform running smoothly day to day. We work across identity and access, endpoint management, service management, SaaS administration, and employee productivity tooling.

This team partners closely with Security, People, Finance, Product Operations, and R&D to make sure Typeformers have secure, reliable, and well-governed systems. As Typeform continues to invest in AI-enabled ways of working, IT also plays an important role in preparing the internal infrastructure, workflows, and operational foundations that make safe AI adoption possible.

About the Role

We’re looking for a Senior IT Engineer to help strengthen the infrastructure and service management foundations behind Typeform’s internal operations.

This role is a mix of systems ownership, operational excellence, and workflow improvement. You’ll take on complex infrastructure and ITSM work, improve how our internal tools are managed, and reduce manual effort through automation and better process design. You’ll also help shape how IT supports the company’s move toward more AI-enabled productivity.

This is a strong fit for someone who enjoys improving internal systems at a structural level, is comfortable operating across a broad SaaS stack, and wants to make internal technology more reliable, secure, and scalable.

Things you will do:

• Own and resolve complex IT Infrastructure incidents and service requests, acting as an escalation point for IT Support and helping ensure SLOs and OLAs are met
• Administer, maintain, and improve core internal platforms including Okta, Atlassian, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Jamf, Intune, HiBob, Torii, Jira Service Management, and 1Password
• Design and implement automations for onboarding, offboarding, access management, device management, and other internal IT workflows
• Improve the IT service management foundation, including workflows, SLAs, asset data quality, service operations, and knowledge management
• Strengthen the quality and reliability of asset and license management data across systems such as Torii, Jamf, Intune, and Firstbase
• Contribute to internal IT projects such as migrations, upgrades, systems changes, and operational improvements with a focus on low-risk execution and clear communication
• Create and maintain clear, useful, AI-consumable documentation in Notion, including runbooks, troubleshooting guides, and architectural context
• Partner with stakeholders across Security, People, Finance, Product Operations, and R&D to assess risk, improve tooling, and support scalable internal operations
• Identify high-value opportunities to reduce toil, improve service quality, and introduce safe AI-assisted workflows in IT

What you already bring to the table:

• Several years of experience in Corporate IT, Internal IT, Systems Engineering, or a similar hands-on role in a modern SaaS or technology company
• Strong experience with identity and access management, ideally with Okta administration
• Strong experience with device management and endpoint operations across macOS and Windows, ideally using Jamf and Intune
• Experience administering a broad SaaS environment and owning internal systems beyond frontline support
• Solid ITSM foundations, including incident, request, change, and problem management in a practical SaaS environment
• Experience working with service desk and service management platforms, ideally Jira Service Management
• Strong troubleshooting skills across identity, endpoints, applications, and general corporate infrastructure
• Experience improving workflows through automation, integrations, APIs, webhooks, or low-code tooling
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to work effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• A high level of ownership, good judgment, and a structured approach to problem-solving

Extra awesome:

• Advanced Atlassian or Jira Service Management experience, including workflow design, asset schemas, or service operations optimization
• Experience with HRIS to IT integrations such as HiBob to Okta and broader user lifecycle design
• Experience improving documentation systems and knowledge frameworks in tools like Notion
• Scripting experience in Python, Bash, or PowerShell for automation, reporting, or systems integration