Data Scientist at WPP Media in Milan, Lombardy, Italy

About WPP Media WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands. With exceptional talent, trusted data and intelligence, and world-class partnerships – all united by our pioneering agentic marketing platform, WPP Open – we help clients navigate change, capture opportunity, and deliver transformational growth. WPP Media is WPP's AI-driven media operating unit, bringing together media, data, and partnerships to deliver creative personalisation at scale. Connected through WPP Open and powered by Open Intelligence, clients see exactly where, how, and why their media investment is working. For more information, visit wppmedia.com. Role Summary & Impact As a Data Scientist at WPP Media, you will be a critical force in transforming complex media and marketing data into actionable insights and innovative solutions that drive unparalleled effectiveness and client success. You will leverage cutting-edge analytical techniques, machine learning, and statistical modeling to unravel consumer behavior, optimize campaign performance across diverse channels, and inform strategic decisions for some of the world's leading brands. Your work will directly contribute to the development of groundbreaking data products and services, and the continuous evolution of WPP Media's data-driven capabilities. You will empower media strategists, planners, and client service teams with predictive models, robust analytical frameworks, and data-backed recommendations, ultimately shaping the future of advertising and marketing in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. Key Responsibilities Design, develop, and implement advanced statistical models and machine learning algorithms (e.g., predictive analytics, natural language processing, time series forecasting, media mix modeling, attribution modeling, audience segmentation, propensity modeling) to address key business challenges in media and advertising. Conduct in-depth data exploration and analysis to identify trends, patterns, and anomalies in large and complex datasets originating from various sources (e.g., ad servers, DMPs, CRM, web analytics, social media, walled gardens). Collaborate closely with Cloud Engineers to ensure data quality, availability, and pipeline efficiency, and with other stakeholders (e.g., media planners, strategists, client service teams, product managers) to understand business needs and translate them into scalable data science solutions. Communicate complex analytical findings, model results, and strategic recommendations clearly and concisely to both technical and non-technical audiences through compelling visualizations, presentations, and written reports. Develop, deploy, and maintain robust, scalable, and production-ready data science models, working closely with MLOps and Data Engineering teams for seamless integration, monitoring, and performance optimization. Stay abreast of the latest developments in data science, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and media measurement, evaluating and implementing new techniques and tools to continuously enhance our capabilities and deliver competitive advantage. Contribute to the continuous improvement of data science practices, methodologies, documentation, and tooling within WPP Media, fostering a culture of innovation and data excellence. Requirements Bachelor’s degree plus relevant industry experience, or a Master’s degree, in a quantitative field such as Statistics, Computer Science, Mathematics, Economics, Physics, Operations Research, or related fields. Experience: 2-3 years of professional experience as a Data Scientist, ideally within the media, advertising, marketing technology, e-commerce, or consulting industries. Proven experience with the full data science lifecycle, from problem definition, data acquisition and cleaning, exploratory data analysis, model development, validation, to deployment, monitoring, and iteration. Demonstrated experience in applying statistical modeling, machine learning to solve real-world business problems with tangible impact. Strong Python proficiency with a focus on building production-ready ML systems: clean architecture, reusable modules, testing, and pipeline orchestration. Hands-on experience with data processing (Pandas, NumPy), machine learning frameworks (Scikit-learn, XGBoost, LightGBM, CatBoost), PyTorch, and statistical modeling in production environments. Expertise in SQL for querying, manipulating, and transforming large datasets in various database environments. Understanding of MLOps principles, including model deployment, versioning, and monitoring. Strong problem-solving and analytical skills, with solid algorithmic thinking and a curiosity to deeply explore data and modeling challenges. Strong communication skills with the ability to convey complex technical concepts to diverse audiences. Nice to have Experience with cloud platforms such as Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Amazon Web Services (AWS), or Microsoft Azure, including their data and machine learning services (e.g., BigQuery, Sagemaker, Vertex AI, Databricks). Experience with MLflow (experiment tracking and model registry), feature stores, and containerized deployment (Docker) is highly desirable. Familiarity with data visualization tools (e.g., Tableau, Looker, Power BI) and libraries (e.g., Matplotlib, Seaborn, Plotly) to effectively communicate insights. Knowledge of big data technologies (e.g., Apache Spark, Hadoop) is a plus. Life at WPP Media & Benefits Our passion for shaping the next era of media includes investing in our employees to help them do their best work, and we’re just as committed to employee growth as we are to responsible media investment. WPP Media employees can tap into the global WPP Media & WPP networks to pursue their passions, grow their networks, and learn at the cutting edge of marketing and advertising. We have a variety of employee resource groups and host frequent in-office events showcasing team wins, sharing thought leadership, and celebrating holidays and milestone events. Our benefits include competitive medical, group retirement plans, vision, and dental insurance, significant paid time off, preferential partner discounts, and employee mental health awareness days. WPP Media is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to particular 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. 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 around four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process. 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