Executive Director, Business Lead-Content Supply Chain

wundermanthompson; Detroit (MI); On-site; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

WPP Enterprise Solutions is leading a senior Business Lead role overseeing a Ford Content Supply Chain transformation program. The person will be the ultimate accountable business leader for the workstream, aligning with Ford's marketing, data, production and technology priorities.

The role demands executive presence, strong commercial judgment, and the ability to translate enterprise ambition into clear priorities, shaping strategy and driving measurable business value within a complex WPP-Ford

Qualifications

• Senior client and business leader who can translate enterprise ambition into clear priorities.
• Connect workstreams across a complex WPP and Ford ecosystem.
• Translate what Ford needs and why it matters into actionable decisions.

Responsibilities

• Owns overall business leadership of the Ford Content Supply Chain transformation workstream.
• Connect program to Ford's enterprise priorities including content personalization and data enablement.
• Lead senior-level conversations with strategic judgement and prioritization.
• Act as a senior strategic advisor to Ford and WPP leadership for clear decisions.

Skills

Executive presence

Commercial judgment

Stakeholder management

Strategic thinking

Client leadership

Job description

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.

Role Summary

WPP Enterprise Solutions is seeking a senior Business Lead to oversee a large-scale AI-enabled Content Supply Chain transformation program for Ford. This role will be the ultimate accountable business leader for the workstream, responsible for ensuring that the program is strategically connected to Ford's broader marketing, customer experience, personalization, production, data, technology, and business transformation priorities.

This is not a traditional account management role. It requires a senior client and business leader who can translate enterprise ambition into clear priorities, connect workstreams across a complex WPP and Ford ecosystem, and ensure the program delivers meaningful business value. The ideal candidate understands how content, data, technology, decisioning, workflow, governance, and measurement come together to enable modern personalized marketing at scale.

The Business Lead will own the "what" and "why" of the program: what Ford needs, why it matters, how the work connects to enterprise objectives, how priorities should be shaped, and how WPP should organize around the opportunity. This is a hands-on business leadership role, requiring someone who can both lead the room and do the work - shaping strategy, writing POVs, building executive narratives, getting into workstream details, and turning ambiguity into clear decisions and action. They will partner closely with the Program Delivery Lead, who will own the "how" of activation, delivery operations, governance, and execution.

This role requires executive presence, strong commercial judgment, deep client relationship skills, and the ability to bring clarity to ambiguity. The right candidate will be able to lead senior stakeholder conversations, identify growth opportunities, shape strategic narratives, and keep a complex transformation effort moving with focus, confidence, and momentum.

Core Responsibilities

Business Leadership & Strategic Ownership

• Own the overall business leadership of the Ford Content Supply Chain transformation workstream across WPP Enterprise Solutions, Ford.
• Serve as the senior business owner responsible for connecting the program to Ford's broader enterprise priorities, including content personalization, marketing efficiency, customer experience, data enablement, production transformation, AI adoption, and measurable business growth.
• Translate complex transformation needs into clear business priorities, strategic narratives, workstream objectives, and executive-ready recommendations.
• Ensure the full program ladder ups to Ford's ambition to deliver the right content, in the right format, to the right customer, in the right channel, at the right moment.
• Maintain a clear view of how content production, asset lifecycle management, taxonomy, metadata, DAM modernization, data connectivity, decisioning, workflow governance, and measurement work together as one connected transformation.
• Help WPP and Ford prioritize the right opportunities, avoiding fragmented activity and ensuring the work remains focused on scalable, enterprise-level outcomes.
• Act as a senior strategic advisor to Ford and WPP leadership, helping stakeholders understand what matters, what is urgent, what is dependent, and where investment or decision‑making is required.

Client Partnership & Stakeholder Leadership

• Build and maintain trusted relationships with senior Ford stakeholders across marketing, customer digital and loyalty, IT, product, CRM, web, production, media, measurement, legal, governance, and related business units.
• Serve as a primary client-facing business lead for the CSC transformation workstream, ensuring Ford stakeholders have confidence in the direction, clarity of priorities, and value of WPP's role.
• Lead senior-level conversations that require business framing, strategic judgment, prioritization, escalation, and alignment.
• Understand Ford's business environment, internal dynamics, stakeholder needs, organizational constraints, and transformation ambitions.
• Connect dots across Ford teams that may be working on related but disconnected efforts, hel