Director Technology - Martech Technology Strategy

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.
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.
Job Summary
The Director, Martech Technology Strategy is a senior client-facing role responsible for shaping and leading Mazda North America Operations’ enterprise Martech roadmap. This role sits within Technology Strategy and connects Mazda’s business goals to the technology, data, platform, governance, and operating model decisions needed to drive measurable growth.
This leader owns the integrated Martech picture across CDP, CRM, personalization, content operations, taxonomy, media activation, analytics, and data engineering. They translate strategic needs into clear roadmaps, use cases, requirements, and decisions that cross-functional teams and partners can build, operate, and measure.
The role will lead 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 Director level, this person is expected to be a trusted advisor to senior Mazda stakeholders, making clear recommendations on what to build, buy, partner for, or defer while connecting technology decisions to business outcomes, marketing effectiveness, and customer experience.
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
Own 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 a sequenced technology strategy, roadmap, and portfolio of fundable use cases.
Provide clear recommendations on build, buy, partner, defer, or stop decisions across the Martech ecosystem.
Identify risks, dependencies, trade-offs, and decision points early, and frame them for executive stakeholders in clear business language.
CDP strategy, segmentation, and audience orchestration
Lead 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
Lead Mazda’s enterprise taxonomy program, with Claravine serving as the system of record for naming, metadata, campaign classification, and audience definitions.
Define 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
Set 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 the senior Martech Technology Strategy voice across Mazda Marketing, Digital, IT, Legal, Data Privacy, Analytics, Media, and executive stakeholders.
Coordinate work across VML, WPP Media, WPP Choreograph, Shift Digital, Adobe, TransUnion, Salesforce, and other ecosystem partners.
Pair with client and delivery leadership to shape roadmap decisions, maintain trust, and drive alignment 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.
Build 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.
Practice leadership and team development
Lead and develop Martech Technology Strategy resources supporting Mazda across CDP, CRM, personalization, taxonomy, content pipeline, and orchestration.
Set the quality bar for roadmaps, use case maps, operating models, taxonomy frameworks, business requirements, recommendations, and points of view.
Build team capability in strategic judgment, executive communication, business analysis quality, and client-facing presence.
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.
8+ years of experience in technology strategy, marketing technology strategy, digital transformation, business architecture, consulting, or enterprise platform strategy.
Experience owning 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 lead cross-functional or multi-partner programs, facilitate executive alignment, and influence without direct authority.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate complex technology decisions into clear business recommendations.
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, leve