Senior Technical Architect

VML
London

Who We Are

VML is a global creative company that combines brand experience, customer experience, and commerce to create connected brands that drive growth. Guided by a Human First philosophy, VML is known for its innovative work for brands and consistently ranks among the world’s leading creative companies, including the WARC Creative 100. VML’s global network spans 55+ markets with principal offices in Buenos Aires, Kansas City, London, New York, São Paulo, Shanghai and Singapore.

VML is part of WPP, the trusted growth partner for the world's leading brands. Powered by exceptional talent and our agentic marketing platform WPP Open, WPP unites cutting-edge media intelligence and data solutions, creativity, production, enterprise solutions and expert strategic counsel.

For more information, please visit and follow along on   LinkedIn #WeAreVML.

We are looking for a permanent Principal Technical Architect.

Our Commerce & Technology division helps leading global brands deliver digital experiences. As clients transition from AI experimentation to production-grade, autonomous agentic platforms (systems that plan, reason, act, and transact), we are seeking a Principal Technical Architect. Serving as the senior technical authority on our AWS and cloud engagements, you will own the design and quality of robust, scalable applications.

In this outward-facing, energetic leadership role, you will architect enterprise-grade cloud applications with a strong focus on agentic AI platform components—including orchestration, memory, tool integration, identity, guardrails, and observability—as well as emerging Agentic Commerce. Alongside driving technical strategy, you will actively partner with clients, lead dynamic workshops, participate in governance, and collaborate with commercial teams to identify and shape new growth opportunities. Balancing strategic vision with hands-on delivery, you will stay close to the code, prove technical solutions through rigorous code reviews, and mentor engineering teams to establish a high bar for quality, automation, and operational best practices.

What you’ll be doing

  • Technical Leadership & Governance: Act as the account's senior authority on complex cloud architectures (esp. AWS serverless). Establish technical governance, design standards, and manage risk, non-functional requirements (NFRs), and technical debt.
  • Agentic AI & Commerce Innovation: Design AWS-based agentic AI platforms (orchestration, RAG, memory, guardrails, and MCP). Establish reusable patterns and advise clients on emerging Agentic Commerce standards (ACP, AP2, A2A, and secure payment models).
  • Client Engagement & Account Growth: Build trusted relationships with senior stakeholders, translate complex concepts, and facilitate technical discovery workshops. Proactively identify, shape, and pitch technical solutions to drive account growth.
  • Hands-on Engineering & Delivery: Provide hands-on technical ownership by proving solutions, reviewing code, and designing robust API/integration patterns. Champion a quality-first mindset using Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC), CI/CD, and automation.
  • Capability Building: Mentor engineers and architects, share knowledge on emerging technologies, and raise the overall technical bar across the account and practice.

What we want from you

  • Leadership & Consulting: Senior/Principal architect with experience in digital agencies or consultancies, skilled at leading development teams, guiding clients through workshops, and identifying business growth opportunities.
  • AWS & Serverless Architecture: Deep hands-on expertise in designing, documenting, and delivering resilient, high-availability enterprise applications on AWS (including serverless patterns and appropriate integration components).
  • Agentic AI & Commerce: Strong understanding of building agentic AI platforms on AWS (e.g., Bedrock, orchestrations, RAG, gateways/MCP) and awareness of emerging Agentic Commerce concepts and standards (ACP, AP2, A2A).
  • Software Engineering & API Design: Strong development background (ideally TypeScript/JavaScript) coupled with robust API design, documentation, and versioning experience.
  • DevOps & Quality Automation: Infrastructure-as-Code (Terraform/CDK/CloudFormation), CI/CD pipelines, and a strict quality-first mindset (unit testing, automated tooling).
  • Communication & Collaboration: Proactive, energetic collaborator with excellent written, verbal, and diagrammatic skills capable of translating complex technical concepts for senior stakeholders.

If you know some of this, even better

  • AWS Solutions Architect Professional (or Associate as a minimum)
  • AWS Specialty certifications (e.g., Security, Data/ML)
  • Familiarity with:
  • The C4 model
  • Diagrams-as-code
  • DevOps practices
  • Headless architectures
  • Practical application of LLMs within enterprises

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.

 

How we use AI in the recruitment process:

To ensure more focused and engaging conversations, we leverage AI in our recruitment process exclusively for secure, objective note-taking , never for evaluative judgments. This allows our team to be fully present with you. You are always welcome to request a transcript of these notes or opt out of this feature at any time. Opting out will not impact the outcome of the interview process "

 

At WPP Enterprise Solutions

WPP Enterprise Solutions designs, builds, and operates the growth systems that competitive businesses rely on. In a world where Al is reshaping how companies drive growth, we lead clients in business transformation and marketing modernisation, connecting strategy directly to execution.

Our 12,000 experts in engineering and platforms, commerce, consulting, content transformation, CRM, and CX, work within a unified global operating unit across 40+ markets. WPP Enterprise Solutions works alongside best-in-class partners including Adobe, AWS, Braze, Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, and Shopify, as well as innovators in AI, to deliver growth solutions tailored to the needs of our clients’ businesses. We have received distinction as a leader in Commerce Services and CX Strategy Consulting by the Forrester Wave™

To find out more , visit enterprisesolutions.wpp.com and follow us on LinkedIn .

 

WPP Enterprise Solutions is part of WPP , the trusted growth partner for the world's leading brands. Powered by exceptional talent and our agentic marketing platform WPP Open, WPP unites cutting-edge media intelligence and data solutions, creativity, production, enterprise solutions and expert strategic counsel.

#LI-EMEA #LI-HYBRID

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 an average of four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process.

WPP (VML) 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.

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 . This explains what we do with your personal data when you apply for a role with us, and, how you can update the information you have provided us with or how to remove it.

Posted 2026-08-18

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