Search Lead, Media Management and delivery

<div class="content-intro"><p><strong>About WPP Media</strong></p> <p>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. </p> <p>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.</p> <p>For more information, visit <a href="wppmedia.com">wppmedia.com</a>.</p></div><p><strong>Job Specification: Global Search Lead</strong></p> <p><strong>Reports to:</strong> Global Digital Lead</p> <p><strong>The Role</strong></p> <p>The Global Search Lead is a senior client and capability-focused role that sits at the intersection of our performance, channels, and solutions functions within WPP. This role will have direct responsibility for evolving our clients' search growth plans — spanning paid search, SEO, and the rapidly emerging landscape of AI-driven and generative search — blending deep technical expertise with carefully articulated development plans that advance client maturity and deliver against growth objectives.</p> <p>We operate to the principle that <strong>'performance is everything'</strong>, and it is the lead role to dissect client goals into both the core search capabilities required (paid, organic, visual/voice, generative AI surfaces) and the solutions WPP has to support those ambitions — from technology and automation, to project-based analysis, to consulting on how and where organisational change is the solution. The role will be pivotal to thinking laterally across problems where search is both a discipline and a signal layer that informs the wider media ecosystem.</p> <p>The successful candidate will work horizontally across search platforms (Google, Microsoft, Amazon, TikTok, Meta, emerging AI search engines such as ChatGPT, Anthropic and Gemini) and vertically in integrating supporting capabilities from analytics, feed and tech development, consumer and data strategy, and the broader worlds of commerce, content, and influencer-led discovery. The role will partner with strategists, activation teams, and the wider agency and WPP functions to bring an integrated search view to our clients, aligning plans back into the overarching direction of the business.</p> <p>You will be a senior member of the leadership team and expected to inspire, guide, and develop search knowledge across the business to fully leverage team s