VML

Associate Director - Martech Technology Strategy

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

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Marketing, Business, Strategy, or a related field.
  • 6+ years of experience in technology strategy, marketing technology strategy, digital transformation, or consulting.
  • Strong knowledge of Martech ecosystems including CDP, CRM, personalization, and analytics.
  • Experience with Adobe products such as Experience Platform, Real-Time CDP, and Salesforce Marketing Cloud.
  • Proven ability to support cross-functional programs and facilitate working sessions.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills for translating complex technology into business materials.

Responsibilities

  • Support the end-to-end Mazda Martech roadmap across various technology areas.
  • Translate business priorities into actionable workstream plans and requirements.
  • Identify risks and decision points, providing clear recommendations.
  • Define and maintain governance standards across various marketing technologies.
  • Support the optimization of Mazda's Adobe Experience Platform and CDP programs.
  • Serve as a Martech Technology Strategy partner across various stakeholder groups.
  • Define the measurement framework for marketing activities and business outcomes.

Benefits

  • Competitive benefits package including health and wellness programs.
  • Hybrid work model encouraging collaboration and team connections.
  • Opportunity for mentorship and professional growth in a leading company.
Full Job Description
Job Summary

The Associate Director, Martech Technology Strategy is a client-facing role responsible for supporting and advancing Mazda North America Operations' enterprise Martech roadmap under the direction of senior Technology Strategy leadership. This role sits within Technology Strategy and helps connect Mazda's business goals to the technology, data, platform, governance, and operating model decisions needed to drive measurable growth.

This role helps manage the integrated Martech picture across CDP, CRM, personalization, content operations, taxonomy, media activation, analytics, and data engineering. They translate strategic direction into clear use cases, requirements, workstream plans, governance inputs, and decision support that cross-functional teams and partners can build, operate, and measure.

The role supports Mazda's audience, segmentation, and taxonomy governance agenda, including the use of Claravine as the operational system of record for naming, metadata, campaign classification, and audience definitions across the Martech ecosystem.

At the Associate Director level, this person is expected to be a strong day-to-day strategy partner to Mazda stakeholders and internal delivery teams, helping shape recommendations, clarify trade-offs, and prepare decisions for senior client and agency leadership.

This role requires a minimum of four days per week in-office presence, with travel to Mazda and key partner locations as needed.
Key Responsibilities
Technology strategy and roadmap ownership
  • Support the end-to-end Mazda Martech roadmap across CDP, CRM, personalization, content operations, taxonomy, analytics, media activation, and data engineering.
  • Translate Mazda's business priorities and customer experience goals into workstream plans, requirements, roadmap inputs, and fundable use case detail.
  • Develop analysis and recommendation materials to support build, buy, partner, defer, or stop decisions across the Martech ecosystem.
  • Identify risks, dependencies, trade-offs, and decision points early, and escalate them with clear context and recommended paths forward.
CDP strategy, segmentation, and audience orchestration
  • Support strategy and ongoing optimization for Mazda's Adobe Experience Platform and Real-Time CDP program.
  • Define audience frameworks, lifecycle segmentation, suppression logic, activation requirements, and measurement expectations.
  • Ensure audience definitions are consistent across CRM, paid media, personalization, analytics, and reporting.
  • Partner with data engineering and platform teams to validate feasibility, data readiness, identity logic, and activation dependencies.
Enterprise taxonomy and governance
  • Support Mazda's enterprise taxonomy program, with Claravine serving as the system of record for naming, metadata, campaign classification, and audience definitions.
  • Help define and maintain governance standards across Claravine, Adobe Experience Platform, Real-Time CDP, AJO, AEM, CJA, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, media platforms, WPP Open, Domo, and reporting tools.
  • Establish naming conventions, metadata standards, decision rights, approval processes, versioning, and change management for taxonomy and audience governance.
  • Ensure taxonomy supports activation, reporting, measurement, personalization, AI classification, and long-term scalability.
CRM, personalization, and journey orchestration
  • Support the strategic direction for Mazda's CRM and personalization roadmap across owned channels and customer journeys.
  • Translate priority moments into use cases with clear owners, dependencies, triggers, suppression rules, success metrics, and platform implications.
  • Connect segmentation strategy to measurable outcomes such as lead quality, conversion, service engagement, loyalty, retention, and sales lift.
Cross-agency orchestration and stakeholder leadership
  • Serve as a Martech Technology Strategy partner across Mazda Marketing, Digital, IT, Legal, Data Privacy, Analytics, Media, and related stakeholder groups.
  • Coordinate work across VML, WPP Media, WPP Choreograph, Shift Digital, Adobe, TransUnion, Salesforce, and other ecosystem partners.
  • Partner with client, strategy, and delivery leadership to support roadmap decisions, maintain alignment, and build trust across teams.
  • Facilitate workshops, roadmap reviews, retrospectives, and executive alignment sessions that turn complex inputs into a clear plan.
Measurement, value realization, and business impact
  • Define the measurement framework for CDP, CRM, personalization, media activation, taxonomy, and content orchestration.
  • Partner with analytics and reporting leads to connect platform activity to business outcomes.
  • Support value-realization narratives for executive forums, steering committees, quarterly business reviews, and roadmap funding conversations.
  • Identify opportunities for influenced revenue, expanded scope, reusable assets, partner motion, and broader WPP Enterprise Solutions value creation for review with senior leadership.
Practice contribution and team support
  • Provide day-to-day guidance and support to Martech Technology Strategy resources across CDP, CRM, personalization, taxonomy, content pipeline, and orchestration as assigned.
  • Help maintain the quality bar for roadmaps, use case maps, operating models, taxonomy frameworks, business requirements, recommendations, and points of view.
  • Mentor supporting team members in business analysis quality, stakeholder communication, platform context, and client-facing delivery practices.
  • Contribute reusable frameworks, account learnings, and thought leadership to the broader Technology Strategy practice.
Qualifications
  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Marketing, Business, Strategy, or a related field.
  • 6+ years of experience in technology strategy, marketing technology strategy, digital transformation, business analysis, consulting, or enterprise platform delivery.
  • Experience supporting or shaping enterprise technology roadmaps across multiple teams, platforms, and stakeholders.
  • Strong knowledge of Martech ecosystems, including CDP, CRM, personalization, analytics, customer journey orchestration, media activation, content operations, and data governance.
  • Experience with Adobe Experience Platform, Real-Time CDP, Adobe Journey Optimizer, Customer Journey Analytics, Adobe Experience Manager, Adobe Target, or Salesforce Marketing Cloud.
  • Experience defining audience frameworks, segmentation logic, taxonomy standards, journey triggers, suppression rules, activation requirements, and measurement expectations.
  • Proven ability to support cross-functional or multi-partner programs, facilitate working sessions, and influence through clear analysis and communication.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate complex technology considerations into clear business-facing materials.
Preferred Qualifications
  • Experience in automotive, retail, financial services, or another multi-tier, data-intensive industry.
  • Experience with Mazda, MNAO, or automotive manufacturer / dealer ecosystem operating models.
  • Adobe certification or equivalent expertise across AEP, RT-CDP, AJO, CJA, AEM, or Adobe Target.
  • Experience with Claravine, Domo, TransUnion, LiveRamp, The Trade Desk, DV360, Meta, Google Ads, Salesforce CRM, or WPP Open.
  • Experience designing taxonomy councils, governance models, change management processes, and platform adoption frameworks.
  • Working knowledge of privacy, consent, profile stitching, deletion chain, and audience activation considerations.
  • Experience with content supply chain or creative automation platforms such as Adobe Workfront, GenStudio, Frame.io, Bynder, or Brandfolder.
  • Advanced degree in a related field.


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
Size
3,000 employees
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