Senior Program Director

wundermanthompson; Detroit (MI); On-site; USD 180,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

VML, a leading creative company, seeks a Senior Program Delivery leader to drive Ford's AI-enabled Content Supply Chain transformation. You will own the delivery architecture, govern multi-workstream programs, and coordinate across Ford, WPP, and partners to ensure scalable results.

The role requires senior delivery expertise, ability to create structure in ambiguity, and accountability for outcomes across complex stakeholder groups. Strong governance and communication skills are essential.

Responsibilities

• Own the integrated delivery model for the Ford Content Supply Chain transformation workstream.
• Translate transformation agenda into a structured program plan with clear workstreams, deliverables, milestones, dependencies, owners, risks, and decision points.
• Design and maintain the program operating system: meeting cadence, governance forums, status reporting, escalation paths, decision logs, dependency tracking, milestone management, and executive updates.
• Coordinate across Ford, WPP, and partner teams to ensure workstreams are not operating in silos.
• Track the health of each workstream and identify where sequencing, resourcing, decision-making, or dependency management needs intervention.

Skills

Program Delivery Leadership

Transformation Leadership

Governance & Operating Model

Cross-functional Collaboration

Risk Management

Job description

Who We Are

VML is a leading creative company that combines brand experience, customer experience, and commerce, creating connected brands to drive growth. VML is celebrated for its innovative and award-winning human-first work for clients including AstraZeneca, Colgate-Palmolive, Dell, Ford, Microsoft, Nestlé, The Coca-Cola Company, and Wendy's. In 2026, VML was named Campaign's Global Network of the Year and ranked #2 Creative Network of the Year at Cannes Lions. VML's global network spans 55+ markets with principal offices in Buenos Aires, Kansas City, London, New York, São Paulo, Shanghai and Singapore.

VML is part of WPP , the trusted growth partner for the world's leading brands. Powered by exceptional talent and our agentic marketing platform WPP Open, WPP unites cutting-edge media intelligence and data solutions, creativity, production, enterprise solutions and expert strategic counsel.

For more information, please visit www.vml.com and follow along on LinkedIn #WeAreVML.

Role Summary

WPP Enterprise Solutions is seeking a Senior Program Delivery leader to run the day-to-day program operating engine for Ford's AI-enabled Content Supply Chain transformation workstream. This role will own how the program gets activated, governed, sequenced, resourced, tracked, and delivered across a complex ecosystem of Ford stakeholders, WPP capabilities, platform partners, production teams, data teams, technology teams, and agency workstreams.

This is a high-complexity transformation delivery role. The work spans content production, asset lifecycle management, taxonomy, metadata, DAM modernization, AI-enabled production, customer data connectivity, decisioning, workflow, governance, measurement, and optimization. The Program Delivery Lead must be able to convert strategic ambition into an executable program model with clear workstreams, owners, milestones, dependencies, risks, operating rhythms, and decision paths.

The Business Lead will own the overall business agenda and client growth strategy. This role will own the delivery architecture: how the program runs, how work gets organized, how teams stay aligned, how decisions get made, how progress is tracked, and how WPP ensures high-quality execution across every workstream.

The ideal candidate is a senior delivery operator and transformation leader who can build structure in ambiguity, manage multiple integrated workstreams, anticipate risk, drive accountability, and create the conditions for a large cross-functional team to succeed.

Core Responsibilities

Program Delivery Leadership

• Own the integrated delivery model for the Ford Content Supply Chain transformation workstream.
• Translate the overall transformation agenda into a structured program plan with clear workstreams, deliverables, milestones, dependencies, owners, risks, and decision points.
• Design and maintain the program operating system: meeting cadence, governance forums, status reporting, escalation paths, decision logs, dependency tracking, milestone management, and executive updates.
• Ensure the program moves from disconnected initiatives into a coordinated, sequenced transformation roadmap.
• Partner with the Business Lead to turn business priorities into actionable delivery plans.
• Create clarity around what is active, what is planned, what is blocked, what requires decision, and what is ready to scale.
• Drive day-to-day progress across multiple workstreams, ensuring teams are aligned, accountable, and focused on the right outcomes.

Workstream Management & Activation

• Lead the orchestration of all CSC workstreams.
• Establish workstream charters, success measures, delivery plans, timelines, dependencies, and operating models.
• Ensure each workstream has clear ownership, scope, inputs, outputs, and escalation paths.
• Coordinate across Ford, WPP, and partner teams to ensure workstreams are not operating in silos.
• Track the health of each workstream and identify where sequencing, resourcing, decision-making, or dependency management needs intervention.
• Help convert early-stage opportunities and pilots into structured delivery plans with clear objectives, assumptions, constraints, and measurable outputs.
• Ensure workstreams are delivered with consistency, discipline, and appropriate documentation.

Governance, Process & Operating Model

• Build and manage the governance model required to run a large, multi-stakeholder transformation program.
• Define how decisions are made, who needs to be involved, what forums are required, and how issues move from discovery to resolution.
• Establish operating rhythms across core team standups, workstream meetings, leadership reviews, executive readouts, and stakeholder workshops.
• Create templates, tools, and repeatable processes that improve how the team briefs, scopes, tracks, reports, escalates, and delivers work.
• Drive consistency across program documentation, status reporting, action tracking, risk management, and milestone planning.
• Ensure the program