VML

Associate Director- AI Product Strategist

VML$75K — $180K *
Enterprise Technology
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 6-8 years of experience in solutions consulting, technical product management, or delivery management.
  • Ability to operate across creative, media, production, and retail domains simultaneously.
  • Experience creating structured technical briefs from ambiguous business requirements.
  • Familiarity with AI/ML tools in marketing or commercial contexts.
  • Exceptional stakeholder management skills to establish trust with SMEs and technical teams.
  • Adaptability to fast-paced environments with evolving priorities.

Responsibilities

  • Serve as the main strategic liaison between WPP | Ford and the central AI team.
  • Conduct discovery sessions to gather requirements from various SME teams.
  • Re-engineer and document business processes for AI solution alignment.
  • Translate business requirements into actionable briefs for technical teams.
  • Partner with AI teams on feasibility assessments and product roadmap prioritization.
  • Ensure AI initiatives are integrated rather than developed in isolation.
  • Track project timelines and manage communication with stakeholders.

Benefits

  • Flexible hybrid work model with in-office collaboration.
  • Comprehensive benefits package tailored to employee needs.
  • Opportunity to work with cutting-edge AI technologies in the automotive sector.
Full Job Description
ABOUT FORD AND THE OPPORTUNITY

This is an exciting opportunity to join the team dedicated to WPP's critically important client, Ford Motor Company. The AI Product Strategist is the connective layer between WPP | Ford business and capability owners and the central AI team, ensuring that AI product development aligns to Ford's strategic priorities rather than evolving as disconnected, parallel efforts. This is a cross-functional, discovery-led role: it bridges the operational needs of the business (Shopper, Media, Web, Production, Creative SMEs) with the technical build capacity of the AI program, translating requirements into a shared architecture and roadmap.

Ford is in a period of rapid transformation, modernization, and evolution. This exciting challenge is about more than just marketing vehicles. It's about lifestyle, experiences, technology and helping to build a better world, where every person is free to move and pursue their dreams. Ford is a global company founded on powerful shared ideals - valuing service to the world as much as they do to their customers. After 123 years, this iconic brand has learned to adapt and change, continuously evolving to focus on services, experiences and software, in addition to vehicles.

Key Responsibilities
  • Serve as the primary strategic interface between WPP | Ford business and capability owners and the central AI team
  • Conduct structured discovery and requirements-gathering across SME teams (Shopper, Media, Production, Creative), mapping current-state workflows before recommending AI-enabled solutions
  • Re-engineer and document business processes as a precondition to any agent or AI build - ensuring solutions are architected around real workflows, not assumptions
  • Translate business needs into clear, technically actionable briefs for the AI Architect and Applied AI Product Manager
  • Partner with the AI Architect and Development on feasibility assessments, ensuring SME-identified needs are properly scoped and prioritized into the product roadmap
  • Ensure workstreams build toward a shared AI architecture rather than in silos - flagging duplication, misalignment, or gaps early
  • Track execution of SME-requested builds through to deployment; manage timelines and communicate status to stakeholders
  • Partner with the AI Value Engineering & Measurement function to ensure every use case sourced from SMEs is logged, centralized, and routed to measurement
  • Flag blockers, risks, and architectural gaps to Rachel Beecroft; maintain visibility into AI program status across all business-facing workstreams
  • Act as a change-sensitive advocate for the business - ensuring the AI program builds with the business, not in a vacuum

Required Experience
  • 6-8 years in solutions consulting, technical product management, business process consulting, or delivery management
  • Comfortable operating across creative, media, production, and shopper/retail domains simultaneously
  • Experience translating ambiguous business requirements into structured technical briefs for engineering/product teams
  • Familiarity with AI/ML tools and platforms in a marketing, content, or commercial environment
  • Strong stakeholder management skills; ability to build trust with both SME teams and technical product owners
  • Comfortable working in a fast-moving, evolving program with incomplete information and shifting priorities


The base salary range for this position at the time of this posting is indicated below. Individual compensation varies based on job-related factors, including location, business needs, level of responsibility, experience, and qualifications. We offer a competitive benefits package, click WPP Benefits for more details.

$75,000-$180,000 USD

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 an average of four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process.

About VML

VML is a global marketing and advertising agency. The company was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. VML provides a wide range of services including brand strategy, creative design, social media, and e-commerce. The company has worked with several high-profile clients including Ford, PepsiCo, and Wendy's. VML has won numerous awards for its innovative marketing campaigns and has been recognized as one of the top advertising agencies in the world.
Learn more about VML
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3,000 employees
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