Technical Lead

Overview

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.

WPP Production is part of WPP. WPP is the creative transformation company. We use the power of creativity to build better futures for our people, planet, clients, and communities. For more information, visit wpp.com

Drupal Technical Lead

Key Role Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor a team of developers, providing technical guidance, support, and expertise.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including product managers, designers, and QA engineers, to define technical requirements and project milestones.
• Drive the technical direction, architecture, and implementation strategies for decoupled CMS projects.
• Ensure adherence to best practices, coding standards, and quality guidelines throughout the development process.
• Develop and maintain robust, scalable, and high-performance web applications using modern web technologies.
• Implement decoupled CMS solutions, integrating front-end frameworks with back-end CMS platforms.
• Design and develop APIs, Microservices, and other server-side components to support decoupled architectures.
• Collaborate with front-end developers to ensure seamless integration between the presentation layer and the decoupled CMS.
• Demonstrate strong proficiency in decoupled CMS platforms, specifically Drupal, Sitecore, or Umbraco.
• Stay up to date with the latest industry trends and advancements in web development, decoupled architectures, and CMS technologies.
• Provide technical guidance and recommendations for selecting the most appropriate CMS platform based on project requirements.
• Work closely with project managers to define project scope, timelines, and resource allocation.
• Participate in sprint planning, backlog grooming, and other Agile development processes.
• Identify and mitigate technical risks and challenges, ensuring timely delivery of high-quality software solutions.
  
  

• Oversee and execute complex cloud migration projects, such as package management migrations, ensuring seamless transitions, minimal downtime, and alignment with organizational goals and infrastructure requirements.
• Actively participate in the Architecture Review Board (ARB) and Change Advisory Board (CAB), contributing technical expertise and strategic insights to inform decision-making and ensure compliance with enterprise standards.
• Formulate insightful questions and accurate effort estimates for Requests for Proposals (RFPs), leveraging technical expertise to address ambiguities and align solutions with client needs and organizational capabilities.
• Provide mentorship and technical guidance to development teams, fostering skill development, promoting best practices, and cultivating a collaborative environment to enhance team performance and project outcomes.
• Provide architectural oversight for non-Drupal technologies, ensuring cohesive integration, scalability, and performance across diverse systems and platforms within the organization's ecosystem.
• Develop and document comprehensive system architectures that integrate Drupal with other technologies, ensuring scalability, performance, and alignment with business objectives.
• Assess and propose tools, frameworks, and platforms (both Drupal and non-Drupal) to optimize project outcomes, balancing technical feasibility with organizational goals.
• Oversee the implementation of security best practices and compliance requirements across Drupal and related systems, mitigating risks such as data breaches or regulatory violations.
• Coordinate with product managers, developers, and business stakeholders to align technical solutions with project requirements, ensuring seamless integration across teams and technologies.
• Establish processes to monitor system performance metrics and implement optimizations across Drupal and non-Drupal components to meet service-level agreements (SLAs).
• Promote the strategic adoption of Drupal by advocating its benefits, educating stakeholders on its capabilities, and driving best practices to maximize its impact across projects and teams.
  
  

• Proven experience as a Tech lead, with a focus on both monolith and decoupled CMS solutions.
• Strong background in developing web applications using modern front-end and back-end technologies.
  
  

• Proficiency in decoupled CMS platforms, ideally Drupal, Sitecore, or Umbraco.
• Strong expertise in front-end technologies such as JavaScript (ES6+), HTML5, CSS3, and front-end frameworks like React, Angular, or Vue.js.
• Experience with server-side technologies such as Node.js, PHP, .NET, or Java.
• Solid understanding of RESTful APIs, GraphQL, and other API integration techniques.
• Knowledge of database systems (e.g., MySQL, PostgreSQL) and proficiency in SQL.
• Proven experience in leading and mentoring a team of developers.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams.
• Ability to provide technical guidance, conduct code reviews, and promote best practices.
• Excellent problem-solving and decision-making abilities.
• Familiarity with cloud platforms and services (e.g., AWS, Azure, Google Cloud).
• Experience with containerization technologies like Docker and orchestration tools like Kubernetes.
• Knowledge of DevOps practices and CI/CD pipelines.
• Understanding of agile software development methodologies.
  
  

• Drupal Development Expertise:
• Extensive experience in building and maintaining Drupal-based web applications, with proficiency in Drupal 9+
• Strong understanding of Drupal's core API, hooks, and custom module development.
• Proven ability to develop reusable Drupal modules and themes to meet specific project requirements.
• Expertise in leveraging Drupal's theming layer and creating responsive, adaptive themes that integrate seamlessly with modern front-end frameworks.
• Experience implementing decoupled (headless) Drupal architectures, including building and consuming APIs to deliver content to front-end applications.
• Familiarity with GraphQL or JSON for integrating Drupal as a content repository with front-end JavaScript frameworks.
• Drupal Configuration experience:
• Strong understanding of Drupal's Configuration Management system to manage site configurations effectively across different environments and large multisite deployments.
• Experience in designing complex content workflows using Drupal's Workbench or other content moderation tools.
• Proficiency in setting up and managing user roles, permissions, and access control to enforce security best practices.
• Familiarity with Drupal's multilingual capabilities to manage content across different languages.
• Experience with multisite configurations for managing multiple websites from a single Drupal instance.
• Expertise in optimizing Drupal performance, including caching strategies using tools like Drupal Cache API, Varnish, and Memcached.
• Experience with database tuning and performance analysis to ensure Drupal applications run efficiently.
• Ability to identify and select contributed modules based on project needs and familiarity with evaluating module stability and support.
• Bonus
• Experience contributing to the Drupal community, including writing patches or supporting contributed modules, is a plus.
  

At WPP Production, you'll help shape the future of content production at a truly global scale. We bring together world-class talent, cutting-edge studios, and advanced technology to solve some of the most complex creative and production challenges in the industry. You'll work in a collaborative, borderless environment where craft excellence is valued, innovation is encouraged, and AI and next-generation tools are used to amplify not replace human creativity. With access to diverse projects, global career opportunities, and the backing of WPP's unmatched network, this is a place where you can grow your skills, make real impact, and create work that performs for every audience, across every channel, at every moment.

Inclusion and Impact

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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