WPP Production | Interactive Project Director, Japan

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. 
 
We work with the world's most valuable brands and have global reach across 100+ markets, with deep local expertise.
 
Our people are the key to our success. We're committed to fostering a culture of creativity, belonging and continuous learning, attracting and developing the brightest talent, and providing exciting career opportunities that help our people grow. 
 
For more information, visit WPP.com.
 

The Company:

About WPP Production

We are WPP Production - the unified global production company that brings together all of WPP's content producers, studios and craft experts into one connected organisation. We combine world-class human craft with next generation technology to originate, design, and deliver multi-channel content systems at scale. Built for borderless collaboration and powered by deep craft expertise, we are the production engine designed for today's always on, AI driven marketing world.

 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.

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The Role:

We are looking for a passionate leader and technical champion for the creation of rich front-end experiences.
You will manage a team of HTML5, Javascript, CSS developers and be ultimately responsible for the clients’ technical delivery.
You have an in-depth knowledge of current and emerging front-end technologies and can work with server-side technical leads to create and integrate complex client-side applications. You will have a clear idea of what ‘good’ looks like, and be able to communicate best practice to your colleagues and fellow project members. You will work with WPP Production and partner organisations to define the optimum technical approach for client projects and ceaselessly promote best practice, quality and craft in your code and the code of those you lead.

Strong communication skills, including the ability to listen, understand, advocate, and persuade are essential as you will represent your practice in client and internal senior stakeholder meetings.
You will Provide technical thought leadership and promote the vision, strategy and services of the digital department to both educate our teams within WPP Production and to be seen as a leading figure in the industry.
Define our distributed development strategy and processes across our onshore, offshore and remote teams, including identifying and developing key strategic technology partnerships.
You will manage a team of highly skilled developers ranging from Graduate to Senior level, implementing and maintaining development practices, running meetings and workshops that ensure the growth, motivation and continued development of the team, and ultimately take responsibility for the quality of your team’s output.
The team needs to build/modify responsive web pages using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc. based on the visual briefs.
You will work closely with other discipline leads (QA/PM) to ensure scoping, estimates, and requirements are estimated correctly and delivered with minimal errors.
You must be enthusiastic about technology and constantly be looking at the next innovation. On top of possessing strong oral, interpersonal, and organizational abilities, you must be able to work in a fast paced environment. Flexibility and tolerance is a necessity.

 

Key Responsibilities:

• Co-ordinating with leads across key delivery teams (Tech, Project Management, QA, and Resource Management)
• Ensure compliance with Hogarth production processes
• Acting as the point of escalation for project issues raised by team leads, resolving problems quickly and communicating effectively
• Coaching and developing the team in their roles with regular performance reviews to ensure success in their personal development
• Manage the team hiring and keeping briefs clear and consistently updated
• Interviewing candidates for the team and taking responsibility for the approval of freelancers to work in a fast paced and reactive environment
• Set and manage client expectations while coordinating and ensuring all parties follow the agreed workflows
• Build strong, trusting relationships with all key stakeholders, function leads, cross-functional project managers, senior managers, and third-party vendors that are directly involved with the work
• Manage the approval of quarterly budgets, flagging important budget fluctuations to the client and line manager
• Draft, prepare and present timelines, documents, and presentations and reports both to the client and to the team
• Ensure that the line manager is always aware of all client issues and proposed solutions (including potential delays) to ensure swift resolution and avoid further escalation
• Ensure your account consistently delivers against all contractual obligations including SLAs and KPIs
• Act as a brand QC/Guardian – always ensure brand guidelines, QC checklists and procedures are followed
• Keep GAD and FD informed of any circumstances which would positively or negatively affect forecasts
• teamwork, create balanced work schedule and ensure people are able to deliver results
• Identify training requirements for team members to ensure their adherence to processes and workflow
• Plan resources for overseas projects and inform talent manager and line manager of new recruitment needs
• Plan, prepare and implement the induction of new starters

 

Requirements:

• A minimum of 12 years Project Management experience background, of which 2 years are leading a team
• Experience of leading innovation, leveraging emerging platforms and quickly facilitating new ideas and platforms to market
• Excellent communication, negotiation and influencing skills
• Know-how in working cross-functionally to build relationships between business units, technology, product, media, agency, and design teams
• Experience working on international initiatives - ideally with exposure to emerging markets
• Self-motivated and a self-starter
• Very high competence in project management software such as Microsoft Project and Omniplan
• Extensive experience in costing, quotations and project scope definition
• Excellent communication skills to different target groups within the project team, management and clients
• Ensure understanding of the contractual obligations, commercial arrangements and SLAs of the accounts and ensure specific details are understood by the wider team where relevant
• Analytical and detailed in project documentation, accountability, and tracking
• Pragmatic, team player with excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Understanding of brands and brand challenges
• The ability to function productively in a fast-paced, high-pressure environment
• High level of IT literacy, including use of spreadsheets
• Strong numeracy skills
• Support GAD/CSD and FD in revenue forecasting on an ongoing basis
• Keep GAD/CSD and FD informed of any circumstances which would positively or negatively affect forecasts
• Ensure full compliance with all financial procedure and policies
• Prioritization, time management and attention to detail
• Resilience and ability to work under pressure
• Excellent communication skills, written and verbal, in both Japanese and English
• Strong interpersonal skills
• Highly organised, detail oriented, customer focused, and proactive
• Possess technical understanding of mobile and web technologies necessary to run projects and convey details.
  
  Examples would be:
• iOS and Android development
• Cloud computing
• HTML5/CSS/JavaScript
• ecommerce/Shopping Carts
• Social Media Strategies/Platforms
• Familiarity with creative production and development tools is always an advantage. Such software includes Adobe Creative Suite, BBEdit, SVN, GitHub, Eclipse, Dreamweaver, Final Cut Pro and others. In addition, familiarity with mobile and web platforms and ecosystems would also be advantageous
• Must be able to travel as required, sometimes for several weeks at a time

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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.

WPP 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.

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