Senior Experimentation Lead at VML… · London

Who We Are VML, part of WPP, 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 human first, award-winning work for blue chip client partners including AstraZeneca, Colgate-Palmolive, Dell, Ford, Microsoft, Nestlé, The Coca-Cola Company, and Wendy's. The agency is recognized by the Forrester Wave™ Reports, as a Leader among Marketing Creative and Content Service Providers, Commerce Services, Global Digital Experience Services, Global Marketing Services and, most recently, Marketing Measurement & Optimization. In addition, VML’s specialist health network, VML Health, is one of the world’s largest and most awarded health agencies. VML’s global network is powered by 26,000 talented people across 55+ markets, with principal offices in Kansas City, New York, Detroit, London, São Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore, and Sydney. About WPP WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands. We unite cutting-edge media intelligence and data solutions, world-class creativity, next-generation production, transformative enterprise solutions and expert strategic counsel in a single company – powered by exceptional talent and our agentic marketing platform, WPP Open, to help our clients navigate change, capture opportunity and deliver transformational growth. For more information, visit WPP.com. We are seeking a dynamic and experienced leader to drive the execution and refinement of our client's experimentation-led growth initiatives. The Experimentation Lead will be responsible for translating overarching optimisation strategies into robust experimentation programs, cultivating a culture of rigorous testing and learning, and ensuring measurable business impact through a systematic, data-driven approach focused exclusively on experimentation. This role will operate with a high degree of granularity, directly implementing and optimising the experimentation framework defined by the Optimisation Principal. What you’ll be doing: Lead for Global Experimentation Activities: Serve as the lead for all global experimentation activities, overseeing daily operations and tactical direction for the client's testing roadmap. Develop a deep understanding of the client's business landscape and challenges to identify and drive high-impact, experimentation-based growth opportunities. Manage program resources and timelines specific to experimentation initiatives, ensuring the successful, on-schedule, and in-scope delivery of tests and learning agendas. Leverage a strong commercial acumen to optimise resource allocation for experiments, monitor testing throughput, and rigorously track the Return on Investment (ROI) of experimentation. Contribute to strategic forecasting and provide comprehensive performance reporting on experimentation outcomes and insights. Cultivate and maintain robust relationships with client stakeholders, specifically around experimentation planning, execution, and results across global regions. Experimentation Strategy & Execution: Champion Experimentation-Led Growth (ELG) across the organisation, fostering a mindset of continuous learning and data-driven decision-making through practical application. Implement and continuously refine the comprehensive ELG framework, methodologies, and best practices, working within the strategic direction set by the Optimisation Principal. Lead cross-functional teams to meticulously design, execute, and rigorously analyse experiments that drive key business metrics. Develop and scale an infrastructure for continuous testing, learning, and iteration, focusing on efficiency and velocity. Translate complex data insights derived directly from experiments into actionable strategies that ensure sustained business impact. Technical Planning and Experimentation Delivery: Lead the technical planning and execution of all experimentation programs, leveraging in-depth knowledge of the underlying technology stack crucial for testing. This includes, but is not limited to, advanced experimentation platforms, comprehensive analytics suites (for measurement), and Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) (for audience segmentation). Architect integrated solutions by understanding the capabilities, limitations, and interoperability of these experimentation-focused technologies, ensuring they are strategically deployed to maximise testing velocity, accuracy, and deliver against growth objectives. What we want from you: This is a pivotal role demanding a unique blend of leadership, strategic thinking, deep technical grounding, and exceptional relationship-building. Visionary Leadership & Strategic Thinking We need someone who can chart a clear course, transforming complex business challenges into actionable, growth-focused optimisation strategies. This involves setting ambitious goals, building strategic roadmaps, and understanding the market landscape. You'll be a true leader and influencer, inspiring and guiding diverse teams, fostering a culture where experimentation and continuous improvement thrive. This means being adept at leading, mentoring, and communicating effectively across all levels, driving organisational change where needed. Crucially, you'll be a champion for Experimentation-Led Growth (ELG). We're looking for someone with a deep conviction and the ability to instil this mindset throughout the organisation, pushing beyond basic A/B testing towards a systemic, evidence-driven approach to growth. You should be excellent at generating hypotheses and applying scientific rigor to business problems. Given your global reach, a global perspective is essential. You'll need to understand and navigate diverse market needs, cultural nuances, and regional complexities to implement effective strategies worldwide. Deep Technical Expertise & Architectural Acumen This role demands profound knowledge of optimisation technologies. You'll need to know the capabilities, limitations, and how to integrate core platforms that power modern growth initiatives. This includes: Experimentation Platforms: (e.g., Adobe Target, Optimizely) - understanding advanced features, server-side vs. client-side testing, and statistical interpretation. Analytics Suites: (e.g., Google Analytics 4, Adobe Analytics, Amplitude) - knowing how to implement advanced segmentation, custom reporting, and effective event tracking. Content Management Systems (CMSs): (e.g., Adobe Experience Manager, Sitecore) - understanding how they support personalisation and content delivery. Customer Data Platforms (CDPs): (e.g., Segment, Tealium) - familiarity with data ingestion, unification, segmentation, and activation. Recommendation & Personalisation Engines: (e.g., Dynamic Yield, Braze) - understanding algorithm types, real-time personalisation, and integration patterns. You'll act as a champion of integrated solutions, designing use cases for how these various platforms work together seamlessly to achieve specific business outcomes. While not a data engineer, you should also have a strong understanding of data infrastructure and operations, particularly data pipelines, warehousing, and governance related to experimentation. Flawless Execution & Program Management We need someone adept at managing large-scale programs and projects. This means meticulously planning, executing, and overseeing multiple, complex global initiatives, always ensuring on-time and on-budget delivery. Proficiency in agile or waterfall methodologies, resource allocation, and risk management will be key. You'll also be instrumental in defining and implementing efficient processes, creating and optimising repeatable frameworks for experimentation, technical delivery, and reporting. Data-Driven Acumen & Commercial Focus You'll embody data-driven decision-making, leveraging insights to identify opportunities, validate hypotheses, measure impact, and drive strategic recommendations. This includes strong analytical skills, statistical understanding for A/B testing, and the ability to interpret complex datasets. A sharp commercial acumen is vital. You'll understand the financial implications of your work, consistently tying technical and strategic initiatives back to measurable business value and a clear return on investment. This includes proficiency in ROI calculation, forecasting, and budgeting. Finally, you'll excel at performance reporting and storytelling, communicating complex results and strategic recommendations clearly and compellingly to diverse audiences, from technical teams to executive leadership. Exceptional Client & Stakeholder Partnership Success in this role hinges on building and maintaining strong relationships with key client stakeholders across all levels and global regions. You'll be a trusted advisor, practicing active listening and expert expectation management. This extends to collaborating effectively across functions internally. You'll work seamlessly with product, engineering, marketing, and data science teams, influencing without direct authority and fostering a truly collaborative environment. Overall, we're seeking a growth-obsessed, highly curious individual with a problem-solving mindset. Someone who is accountable, results-driven, and possesses a strong systemic view, understanding how all the pieces fit together to drive continuous, measurable impact. What we can offer you: Alongside the opportunity to work with some of the most exciting brands around the world, we’ll also prioritise your career development and help you grow your skills. We’ll empower you to make a difference, allow you to be yourself, and respect who you are. Permanent only: We offer a great benefits package including a discretionary bonus scheme, training opportunities, competitive pension, medical insurance, life assurance, social events, opportunities to buy and sell holidays, family friendly policies, discounts with hundreds of retailers and much more. Our culture thrives on our core values, designed for impact-driven individuals: Heart, Brains and Courage. We lead with Heart, fostering empathy and trust where genuine connections and human-centric work flourish. We empower your Brains for innovation, valuing relentless curiosity and collaborative intelligence to solve complex challenges. And we champion Courage, inspiring you to speak up, embrace experimentation, and advocate for bold solutions that push our thinking to be better than yesterday. AT VML Enterprise Solutions Our Enterprise Solutions division houses strategic consultants, creative and technical architects and skilled developers and operators that together help some of the world’s leading organisations to deliver outstanding digital experiences across all major routes to market worldwide: marketplaces, online retailers, D2C, B2B and social platforms. With over 4,200 experts in 55 operational centres across 34 countries, our capabilities span the entire buying journey from customer acquisition, through engagement, to conversion and loyalty, driving multi-channel growth for world-leading brands. We work with some of the most exciting brands such as The Coca-Cola Company, EY, Bosch, Unilever, Ford, DFS, Mercedes-Benz, Johnson & Johnson, Nestlé, Sainsbury’s, Selfridges, Shell and Tiffany & Co. We’ve built over 500 platforms for brands and retailers and generate in excess of $29bn annually for our clients and work with over 50 strategic partners including Adobe, SAP, Salesforce, HCL, Shopify, Sitecore, BigCommerce, commerce tools and Acquia. Our reputation is based on our people, and we believe we have some of the best in the business. As our business grows internationally, we’re looking for new people to join us on our journey to inspire and take a key role in shaping some of the best commerce solutions, services, and websites in the world. Working as a team, no problem is insurmountable; we share in our client’s successes and believe that anyone can show creative bravery no matter what their role is in the team. #LI-EMEA #LI-AS1 WPP (VML Enterprise Solutions) is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers. VML is a WPP Agency. For more information, please visit our website, and follow VML on our social channels via Instagram, LinkedIn, and X. When you click "Submit Application", this will send any information you add below to VML. Before you do this, we think it's a good idea to read through our Recruitment Privacy Policy. California residents should read our California Recruitment Privacy Notice. 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