ASEAN Digital Excellence & Operations Lead

Wpp; Kuala Lumpur; Hybrid; MYR 260,000 - 380,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Medical, dental & vision insurance

Pension/retirement benefits

Paid time off and wellbeing

Job summary

WPP Media in Kuala Lumpur seeks an ASEAN Digital Excellence & Operations Lead to drive digital media standards and a regional operating model across ASEAN for a key FMCG client. The role requires strategic leadership, governance, and cross-market coordination.

Based in Malaysia, you will coordinate with OpenMind and GDS Offshore, deliver regional frameworks, and promote scalable best practices while maintaining client outcomes. Hybrid work and regional travel are expected.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in marketing, business, media, digital, or related field.
• 8–10+ years in digital media, performance marketing, or platform strategy.
• Strong regional/multi-market experience and agency background.

Responsibilities

• Lead ASEAN digital excellence agenda and advisory for OpenMind ASEAN.
• Oversee DES/ATS standards, compliance, and quality governance.
• Act as ASEAN point of contact for GDS Offshore and shape regional operating model.
• Define regional performance framework and playbooks for measurement.
• Lead platform partnerships, tests, and evidence-based optimization across markets.
• Communicate regional strategy to stakeholders and clients.

Skills

Digital leadership

Digital governance

GDS stewardship

Platform partnerships

Stakeholder management

Strategic planning

Education

Bachelor’s degree in marketing or related field

Tools

Google Ads

Meta Ads

Programmatic DSP

Job description

ASEAN Digital Excellence & Operations Lead

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 ourpioneeringagentic 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.

The ASEAN Digital Excellence & Operations Lead will lead the digital media excellence agenda for one of our key FMCG clients across ASEAN. The role will ensure that global standards and priorities are translated into practical market action, while improving the quality of digital planning, execution, performance and governance across the region.

The role will also serve as the main ASEAN point of contact for GDS (Offshore), with end-to-end responsibility for the regional operating model, service quality, performance governance, market alignment and escalation management. Success will be measured by stronger digital outcomes, greater consistency across markets, improved GDS delivery and the ability to scale effective practices across ASEAN.

The existing regional digital operations scope has primarily focused on executional governance, compliance monitoring, market follow-up, selected platform coordination and escalation support. As OpenMind’s ASEAN digital agenda expands, the business requires a dedicated regional lead with broader accountability for digital quality, performance, GDS (Offshore) stewardship, platform relationships and market capability.

This role is therefore designed as a strategic expansion of the current operational remit, not simply an increase in capacity. It will create one accountable regional point of leadership to improve the consistency, effectiveness and scalability of digital media delivery across ASEAN.

Skills and Experience

1. ASEAN Digital Excellence and Strategic Leadership

• Set and lead the regional digital excellence agenda for OpenMind ASEAN, providing senior digital counsel on plans, platform choices and investment rationale aligned with client priorities.
• Challenge markets to move beyond cost and delivery metrics, incorporating quality, context, attention and outcome-based measures into planning and evaluation.
• Identify systemic digital challenges across markets and develop regional (not just market-level) solutions, maintaining a clear view of digital maturity, capability gaps and improvement priorities.

2. Digital Standards, Compliance and Executional Quality

• Own regional oversight of Digital Execution Standards (DES), Ad Technology Standards (ATS) and naming conventions, maintaining a scorecard that tracks performance, gaps and required actions by market.
• Move compliance management beyond score reporting by diagnosing root causes, agreeing market improvement plans, and coordinating resolution of priority execution escalations.
• Act as primary point of contact for client and global teams on digital standards, connecting compliance and quality to campaign performance and client confidence.

3. GDS Stewardship and Regional Operating Model

• Act as the main ASEAN point of contact and accountable owner for the GDS (Offshore) relationship, defining and continuously improving the operating model — scope, RACI, service expectations and escalation routes.
• Lead regional demand, capacity and transition planning for work moving into GDS (Offshore), overseeing market onboarding and knowledge transfer with minimal disruption.
• Track GDS delivery against quality, timeliness and satisfaction measures, leading root-cause reviews and consolidating market feedback into a single ASEAN improvement agenda that demonstrates delivered value.

4. Digital Performance Governance and Continuous Improvement

• Establish a consistent regional approach to reviewing digital performance across priority platforms, objectives and markets, identifying trends and opportunities requiring regional action.
• Guide markets on optimization priorities across paid social, search, video and programmatic, developing ASEAN benchmarks by platform, objective and market maturity.
• Create practical playbooks for recurring challenges, ensuring campaign learnings are documented, shared and applied across markets to strengthen measurement discipline.

5. Platform Partnerships and Test-and-Learn Agenda

• Lead regional working relationships with priority digital media platforms and technology partners, translating opportunities and product developments into relevant market actions.
• Ensure platform credits and value commitments are deployed against clear priorities, challenging recommendations to ensure they are evidence-based and aligned to business needs.
• Develop a structured regional test-and-learn agenda with clear hypotheses and measurement criteria, codifying successful tests for adoption across additional markets.

6. Global-to-Market Translation and Market Advocacy

• Act as the regional digital interface translating global frameworks, standards and priorities into clear ASEAN implementation plans, adapting guidance where needed for local maturity, ecosystem or regulation.
• Provide markets with one clear source of truth for digital operating guidance, consolidating market feedback and barriers for relevant regional or global stakeholders.
• Identify strong local practices and elevate them for regional or wider adoption, ensuring global initiatives are implemented consistently yet practically.

7. Stakeholder and Client Management

• Build trusted relationships with OpenMind regional and market stakeholders on digital quality, operations and GDS delivery, communicating complex topics in clear business language.
• Bring a proactive regional point of view to client discussions, ensuring decisions, risks and actions are documented and followed through across markets.
• Navigate a complex matrix of regional, market, platform and delivery stakeholders without direct authority, representing the ASEAN digital agenda with credibility and diplomacy.

Expected Deliverables in the First 12 Months

ASEAN digital excellence roadmap– A prioritized annual plan covering digital quality, performance, standards, capability and platform opportunities.

GDS operating model– Documented scope, RACI, service expectations, governance cadence, escalation process and market onboarding approach.

GDS performance scorecard– A consistent view of delivery quality, timeliness, accuracy, capacity, escalations and market satisfaction.

Regional digital standards scorecard– Consolidated visibility of DES, ATS, naming convention and related executional risks with agreed improvement plans.

Digital performance framework– A repeatable approach to reviewing priority market and platform performance, including relevant regional benchmarks.

Platform partnership plan– Clear priorities, commitments, tests and value delivery expectations for key digital partners.

Test-and-learn pipeline– A structured portfolio of tests with hypotheses, measures, owners, timelines and scaling decisions.

Key Performance Indicators

GDS (Offshore) delivery and governance:Success will be measured by achievement of agreed service levels for quality, timeliness and responsiveness; reduction in recurring errors, rework and escalations; improvement in market satisfaction with GDS (Offshore) delivery; and successful onboarding or expansion of agreed scopes.

Digital standards and quality:This includes measurable improvement in DES, ATS, naming convention and related compliance measures; completion and closure of market improvement plans; reduction in executional risk and repeated quality issues; and clear evidence that stronger standards are improving campaign delivery and client confidence.

Digital performance:Performance will be evaluated through improvement against agreed regional and market benchmarks; quality and effectiveness gains identified through regional performance reviews; clear recommendations implemented across priority markets and campaigns; and stronger use of quality, attention, context and outcome measures alongside efficiency metrics.

Platform and innovation value:This covers delivery of agreed partner commitments, resources and credits; the number and quality of structured tests completed; the percentage of successful tests codified and scaled; and documented value generated through platform partnerships.

Expected Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in marketing, business, media, digital, communications or a related discipline.
• Typically 8–10+ years of experience in digital media, performance marketing, biddable media, digital operations or platform strategy.
• At least 2-3 years of experience in a regional, multi-market or complex matrix role.
• Strong agency experience is required; FMCG or other high-volume consumer category experience is highly desirable.
• Demonstrated experience overseeing digital media standards, operational governance and performance improvement across multiple markets.
• Experience working with offshore, centralized or shared-service delivery models; direct GDS or hub-governance experience is strongly preferred.
• Strong working knowledge of major digital platforms, including Google, Meta, TikTok, programmatic ecosystems and relevant Southeast Asian media platforms.
• Experience managing senior client, market, platform and operational stakeholders without direct authority.
• Strong commercial awareness, including the ability to assess resource models, service quality, efficiency and value delivery.

Core Skills and Knowledge

• Strong digital media strategy, planning and performance marketing judgment, with the ability to optimize across platforms and translate data into actionable insight
• Deep expertise in digital governance, standards, quality assurance and risk management (including data privacy and brand safety)
• Proven experience managing shared-service/offshore operating models, including process design, RACI and service governance
• Skilled in platform partnership management and leading structured test-and-learn agendas Strong regional stakeholder and matrix management, with clear, persuasive executive communication
• Effective at capability building, coaching, benchmarking and codifying best practices, backed by strong problem-solving and follow-through

Leadership Profile

• Strategic and evidence-led: Sets clear direction while staying close enough to delivery to spot real issues, challenging assumptions and platform recommendations using data, benchmarks and business logic.
• Proactive and influential: Identifies recurring problems and proposes solutions before they elevate, aligning diverse stakeholders and driving action without relying on formal authority.
• Commercially pragmatic and outcome-focused: Balances quality, ambition and resource realities, measuring success through improved performance, scalability and client value.

Travel and Working Requirements

• Based in Kuala Lumpur, with responsibility across ASEAN.
• Regular collaboration with regional, market, platform and GDS stakeholders across multiple locations.
• Travel within ASEAN may be required for market reviews, capability sessions, transitions and priority client meetings.
• The role requires flexibility to work across different market needs and regional or global stakeholder time zones.

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 believingin and Championing Growth and Development for every individual. This commitment allows WPP Media employees toleveragethe extensive global WPP Media & WPP networks to pursue their passions, build vital professional connections, and learn at thecutting edgeof marketing and advertising.

We Create an Open environment built on trust and respect, where everyone feels they belong and has opportunities to progress. This inclusive culture is fostered through a variety of employee resource groups and frequent in-office eventsshowcasingteam wins, sharing thought leadership, and celebrating holidays and milestone events. Our comprehensive benefits package reflects this commitment, including 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 believe the best work happens whenwe'retogether, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection in this open and supportive environment.That'swhywe’veadopted a hybrid approach, with teams in the office around four days a week. If yourequireaccommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process. Please note that while our philosophy is the same across WPP, benefits may vary by office/country.

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