Lead Software Engineer

WPP
Copenhagen
Workplace: HybridFull timeFunction: Software EngineeringExperience: 6+ yearsSkills: ["Communication","Mentoring","Ownership","Reliability focus","Stakeholder alignment"]

Own backend systems end to end for WPP Open Intelligence’s Activation arm, setting technical direction and leading an engineering squad. Design and run reliable APIs, databases, partner gateways, and orchestration components that support large-scale media spend and classification workloads. Partner with Product to ship versioned contracts, establish production standards (CI/CD, testing, observability, auditability), and drive reliability and technical debt reduction while mentoring engineers.

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FursaFursa
WPP
WPP
16 hours ago

Lead Software Engineer

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Source: Company careers pageValidated by: Fursa AI
Last checked: 47 minutes agoStatus: Live

Job Summary

Own backend systems end to end for WPP Open Intelligence’s Activation arm, setting technical direction and leading an engineering squad. Design and run reliable APIs, databases, partner gateways, and orchestration components that support large-scale media spend and classification workloads. Partner with Product to ship versioned contracts, establish production standards (CI/CD, testing, observability, auditability), and drive reliability and technical debt reduction while mentoring engineers.
Location: Copenhagen
Workplace: Hybrid
Employment Type: Full time
Job Function: Software Engineering
Seniority: Manager level

Key Responsibilities

  • •Lead an engineering squad: set technical direction, prioritize delivery, run design and code reviews, and grow engineers through mentoring and clear ownership.
  • •Own the architecture and health of activation and orchestration services, including APIs, databases, partner gateways, and internal/MCP and agentic integrations.
  • •Partner with Product and sibling teams to turn roadmap phases into shippable, versioned contracts rather than ad hoc integrations.
  • •Drive production API integration engineering—authentication, rate limiting, idempotency, retries, partial-update patterns, and maintain runbooks as partner APIs evolve.
  • •Establish and uphold production standards including CI/CD, testing, observability, auditability, and safe release practices; keep an end-to-end view of data flow and escalate blockers early with options.

Pay and Benefits

Schedule:4-Day Week

Key Requirements

  • •6+ years in software engineering with 2+ years leading engineers or owning a significant technical area (team lead, staff, or equivalent).
  • •Proven delivery of backend and API-centric systems in production at meaningful scale.
  • •Strong software design with REST/HTTP APIs and event- or workflow-driven systems (durable state, async jobs, orchestration).
  • •Experience owning third-party integrations (authentication, errors, versioning, operational monitoring) and partner-driven change.
  • •Proficiency in at least one backend language (Python, Go, or Java/Kotlin) plus CI/CD, Git, and testing (unit, integration, and contract tests).
Experience:6+ yearsAdTechMarTechPlatform engineeringProduction systems
Skills:CommunicationMentoringOwnershipReliability focusStakeholder alignment
Languages:English
Tech Stack:PythonGoJavaKotlinRESTHTTP APIsEvent-drivenDurable workflowsAsync jobsOrchestrationAuthenticationRetriesIdempotencyRate limitingCI/CDGitUnit testingIntegration testingContract testsCloud platforms

Company Brief

WPP
Global marketing and communications services group offering advertising, media investment management, branding, public relations, and digital services to multinational clients across industries.
Industry: Advertising Media Groups
Company Size: Enterprise (1,001+ employees)
Revenue: USD 1B+
Growth: Public Company
Valuation: Public Company (Market Cap in USD)
Funding: IPO / Publicly Listed
Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
Founded: 1971
WebsiteLinkedIn