Director, Commerce Strategy

About the role

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 . Who we are looking for: VML is seeking a Director, Commerce Strategy to be the primary strategic lead and consultant for our client partners. You are a master practitioner and people leader who defines the standard of strategic excellence for your clients. You bridge the gap between high-level business transformation and rigorous execution, owning the total integrity of the strategic output while actively mentoring the next generation of strategic talent to ensure every provocation is both bold and commercially grounded.

Responsibilities

• Individual
• Strategic Product
• Strategic Contribution:
• Set the strategic agenda for your client portfolio, identifying the long-term levers for brand growth and business transformation.
• Act as the senior strategic advisor to clients, providing a provocative and consultative perspective that challenges their business models and identifies untapped commerce opportunities.
• Storytelling & Narrative:
• Translate complex insights into compelling strategic narratives and actionable "jobs to be done" for brands, retailers and key channels that inspire both clients and creative teams.
• Strategic Craft:
• Set and uphold the standard for strategic rigor, ensuring that every brief, roadmap, and narrative produced by the team is of the highest quality and driven by a clear, defensible point of view.
• Direct the synthesis of complex business challenges into elegant strategic frameworks that provide clarity for both internal teams and senior client stakeholders.
• Research Tools & Strategic Intelligence:
• Conduct thorough market research and competitive audits using database tools such as MRI Simmons, Mintel, Infegy, and YPulse to identify trends, potential threats and white-space opportunities.
• Leverage sales and shopper panel data to uncover core business problems and size market opportunities.
• Strategic Activation & Omnichannel Planning Support:
• Develop comprehensive retail and engagement strategies that translate brand objectives into actionable plans across in-store, online, social, and email platforms.
• Awards & Recognition:
• Identify and draft compelling case studies for industry awards (e.g., Effies, WARC, Cannes Lions) to showcase the agency's best-in-class commerce work and the impact and effectiveness for our clients.
• Measurement & Optimization :
• Partner with Media and Growth Strategy teams to review performance reports and translate analytical findings into insights that drive strategic and actionable recommendations.
• AI Engineering & Prompting:
• Integrate VML and WPP Open's proprietary AI tools and emerging technologies into the strategic workflow to increase speed-to-insight and creative innovation.
• Strategic Process
• Business Development Contribution :
• Identify and communicate opportunities to grow client business, contributing to the overall success of the agency. Supports new business pitches by developing strategic insights, contributing to pitch presentations, and providing strategic inputs for RFIs/RFPs.
• Briefing & Ideation:
• Own the briefing process for major workstreams, bridging the gap between strategy and creative to ensure ideas are grounded in shopper reality.
• Knowledge Sharing & Thought Leadership:
• Contribute to the agency's collective "Retail IQ" by developing and sharing points of view on emerging commerce trends and retailer innovations.
• Time Management Support:
• Oversee and effectively manage timelines and deliverables for multiple projects simultaneously, following up on outstanding issues to remove blockers and obstacles

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