Director, Global Modern Workplace

dentsu UK Limited; Camden Town; On-site; GBP 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Dentsu in London seeks a Director of Modern Workplace to design and lead the complete modern workplace ecosystem. You will guide cross-functional engineering teams, own the architectural vision, and drive secure, productive experiences across endpoints, collaboration tools, identity systems, and applications at scale.

The role involves strategic leadership, budget stewardship, and governance, with emphasis on AI-powered automation, self-service, and continuous improvement.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field.
• Master's degree preferred.
• 15+ years in IT operations, infrastructure, or technology leadership roles.
• 10+ years in workforce identity management and directory services.
• Experience managing large-scale global technology programmes across geographies.

Responsibilities

• Lead strategic modernization of the global workplace ecosystem across endpoints, collaboration platforms, and identity systems.
• Own global Microsoft 365 design and delivery, governance, licensing optimization, and integrations.
• Oversee workforce identity design, ILM, access reviews, and MFA strategies.
• Set operational governance, SLAs, KPIs, and budgets for modern workplace services.
• Drive change management, user adoption, and continuous improvement.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Executive communication

Cross-functional collaboration

Problem solving

Budget governance

Incident escalation

Mentoring teams

Travel flexibility

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science/IT/related field

Master's degree preferred

Tools

Active Directory

Entra ID (Azure AD)

Endpoint management

PAM tools

ITIL / DevOps practices

Job description

The Director of Modern Workplace is a strategic technology leader responsible for designing, delivering, and leading the complete modern workplace ecosystem. This role directs cross-functional engineering teams, working in a matrix reporting environment, to build secure, productive, and seamless work experiences across global endpoints, collaboration platforms, identity systems, and applications. The Director owns the architectural vision, strategic direction, and user adoption of modern workplace services while serving as the primary escalation point for complex incidents and cross-platform issues. The Director manages multi-million dollar budgets, develops precise forecasts, scales engineering teams and solutions to support organisational growth, and builds efficiency into the operating model by leveraging self-service capabilities, AI-powered automation, and continuous process optimisation.

Reports To: Chief Information Officer (CIO)

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership & Vision: Partner with organisational leaders to align strategy, develop solutions and resolve complex problems Define and communicate modern workplace strategy aligned with business objectives, security requirements and the technology roadmap Set architectural standards and design principles for collaboration, workforce identity, endpoints and applications Drive digital transformation to improve employee productivity, experience and operational efficiency Establish governance for licensing, vendors, compliance and cost optimisation Champion security and workforce governance across modern workplace services Resolve conflicts between IT operational standards and business needs collaboratively Influence peer engineering leaders and business stakeholders without direct authority
• Collaboration Platforms Engineering: Own global Microsoft 365 design and delivery (Office, Teams, SharePoint, Exchange, OneDrive) and supporting tools (Power Platform, Slack, Dropbox, Miro) Set collaboration governance, data classification, retention and DLP standards Optimise M365 licensing and manage third-party collaboration integrations Govern AI agents and copilots within collaboration platforms Drive adoption of modern collaboration practices while maintaining security
• Identity & Access Engineering: Lead workforce identity design and implementation (Active Directory and Entra ID) as foundational security controls Establish global identity lifecycle management (ILM) for joiners, movers, leavers, rehires and contractors across regions and platforms Implement identity governance, access reviews and reporting for least-privilege access and compliance (SOX, GDPR, ISO 27001) Oversee workforce privileged access management (PAM) and multi-factor authentication (MFA) strategies Manage non-human identities (service accounts, application credentials, API tokens) across on-premises and cloud infrastructure Ensure resilient, auditable identity systems and rapid threat response; manage hybrid AD and Entra ID environments
• Endpoints & Remote Applications Engineering: Lead strategy and operations for Windows, macOS and emerging endpoint platforms Oversee Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD), remote application delivery and virtual workspace infrastructure Set endpoint security, patching, compliance and device management policies Deliver application lifecycle management, endpoint provisioning and image management Implement centralised endpoint analytics and reporting for visibility and compliance Support BYOD and contractor device policies within security and governance boundaries Enable remote and hybrid work with secure, high-performing endpoint technologies
• Operational Leadership & Escalation: Set operational governance, SLAs, KPIs and metrics across modern workplace services Equip operations teams to resolve issues independently through processes, tools and knowledge management (runbooks, automation, decision trees) Act as primary escalation point for critical incidents, complex problems and cross-platform issues beyond operations teams’ scope Remove organisational and procedural barriers and support operational problem-solving Improve operational efficiency and incident response through data analysis, process refinement and coaching Manage third-party partnerships, vendor contracts, outsourced service governance and vendor escalations Set cost allocation frameworks and manage collaboration, workforce identity, endpoint and operational service budgets
• Solutions & Change Management: Lead change and release management for modern workplace transformations and updates Direct end-user training, communications and adoption to improve experience and productivity Oversee community engagement, user feedback and continuous improvement Coordinate resource allocation and vendor preview programmes to shape future capabilities

Key Accountabilities & Success Metrics

• Enable operations teams to maintain 99.9%+ availability for critical modern workplace services through effective governance and enablement
• Meet or exceed established MTTR targets for all engineering support tickets
• Automate the provisioning of requests through ServiceNow, dentsu tools such as Chatbot, Support AI or API driven provisioning
• Ensure at least 75% of tickets are handled through self-service or automation
• Achieve zero critical security findings in annual workforce identity and endpoint audits (AD, Entra ID, PAM)
• Maintain 100% compliance with regulatory frameworks (SOX, GDPR, ISO 27001, HIPAA as applicable)
• Complete annual identity governance reviews and access certifications on schedule
• Ensure 100% compliance with joiner, mover, leaver process
• Reduce licensing costs through optimisation and vendor negotiation
• Reduce operational overhead through automation and process improvement
• Deliver projects within budget and on schedule
• Achieve ROI targets for major modern workplace investments within 12-18 months
• Achieve 85%+ adoption of modern workplace capabilities across the organisation
• Achieve 90%+ satisfaction on user onboarding experience
• Reduce time-to-productivity for new hires by 30% through modern workplace automation
• Complete modern workplace transformation roadmap milestones on schedule
• Optimise all request provisioning time from days/hours to minutes through automation and process optimisation

Required Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field
• Master's degree preferred
• At least 15 years in IT operations, infrastructure, or technology leadership roles
• At least 10 years in workforce identity management, directory services (Active Directory, Entra ID), endpoint management, or related infrastructure roles
• Proven experience managing large-scale global technology programmes and organisational transformation across multiple geographies
• Deep hands-on experience with Active Directory, Entra ID (Azure AD), directory services, hybrid identity sync, cloud identity architecture, access management, and on-premises to cloud integration patterns
• Solid understanding of endpoint management (Windows, macOS), MDM, and emerging device technologies
• Understanding of PAM (privileged access management) for workforce and infrastructure, identity governance, and compliance frameworks
• Experience with both ITIL Frameworks and DevOps principles
• Strategic thinker with ability to translate business requirements into technology solutions
• Strong executive presence and communication skills; comfortable presenting to C-level leadership
• Proven ability to lead, mentor, and develop high-performing teams across matrix structures; experience leading initiatives where you influence without direct authority
• Travel up to 10% for global team engagement and organisational presence
• Demonstrated commitment to continuous learning in a rapidly evolving technology landscape through active participation in industry groups, conferences, and professional development

Inclusion and Diversity

Our diverse and inclusive culture enables our employees to bring their whole selves to work and be proud of doing so. For us, this is the foundation for great innovation which, in turn, generates better outcomes for our people, partners and communities. This is why we encourage applications from people with disabilities, and of all ages, nationalities, backgrounds and cultures. We are happy to discuss flexible and agile approaches to working for all our roles – we can’t promise we will be able to offer you everything you want or need but we do promise to discuss it with you openly and honestly. If you have any reasonable adjustment needs arising from a disability or medical condition to fully participate in the recruitment process, please discuss this with our recruitment teams.

About Dentsu

Taking a people‑centred approach to business transformation, we use insights to connect brand, content, commerce and experience, underpinned by modern creativity. As part of Dentsu Group Inc. we are headquartered in Tokyo, Japan and our 65,000 employee‑base of dedicated professionals work across four regions (Japan, Americas, EMEA and APAC). Dentsu combines Japanese innovation with a diverse, global perspective to drive client growth and to shape society. Diversity, equity, and inclusion sits at the heart of our Social Impact strategy – our fully integrated sustainability strategy which includes our ambition to build a fair and more equal society, where everyone is equipped to thrive.

Location: London Brand: Global Technology Time Type: Full time Contract Type: Permanent