The purpose of this role is to oversee production operations for multi-channel marketing solutions. This role oversees the day to day operations and team supporting the solution and ensures on time and on budget delivery of our production solutions.
Job Description:
The Engagement Lead is one of the ED&D’s primary client-facing owners, who is accountable for bridging delivery execution with strategic advisory, and commercial stewardship. This role owns the ED&D end-to-end client engagement— ensuring delivery excellence, leading the client delivery team (Architects, Data Engineers, Developers, Business Analysts, and Quality Assurance) that supports the solution, deepening relationships (internal and external), identifying (and or leading growth pursuits) growth opportunities, and connecting clients to the broader capabilities of the dentsu organization.
Depending on assignment, this role may have one or more ongoing client engagements, lead project-based work, or do both concurrently. In all engagements the expectation is the same: show up consultatively, own the outcomes, and bring synergy across teams to create genuine value for clients.
Engagement Leads are conversant across modern data and MarTech stacks and can lead value conversations without relying on a technical translator. Data is their lens for every client interaction: understanding how it flows, how it activates, and how it drives measurable customer experience outcomes and business results.
Engagement Leads should be familiar with general capabilities such as:
- Data Platforms: Snowflake, Databricks, Google BigQuery, Amazon Redshift, Microsoft Fabric
- Customer Data Platforms: Adobe Real-Time CDP, Salesforce Data Cloud, Tealium, Segment, Treasure Data, and Hightouch
- Activation & Orchestration: Adobe Journey Optimizer, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Braze, Iterable, Oracle Responsys
- undefined
Whether embedded in a long-term client relationship or leading a defined scope of work, an Engagement Lead is proactive by default, commercially minded, intellectually curious about clients' businesses, and committed to continuous learning, including hands-on engagement with AI tools as a standard part of how they work.
Qualifications
- 5+ years of experience in client delivery (technology services preferred)
- 2+ years of experience in a client-facing role with demonstrated relationship ownership
- Experience supporting or leading technology delivery teams including Business Consultants, Developers, and/or Quality Assurance
- Experience with or working knowledge of customer data technologies (data platforms, Customer Data Platforms (CDPs), identity resolution, or similar)
- Experience in financial services, insurance, or regulated data environments (including credit bureau and third-party data) is a plus·
- Background in financial management: revenue forecasting, margin tracking, resource optimizationBachelor's degree in a related field
Key Responsibilities
Client Ownership & Relationship Development·
- Serve as the one of the primary ED&D point of accountability for your assigned client(s) or engagements: covering scope, delivery quality, commercial health, and strategic direction·
- Build and maintain trusted relationships at all levels who own or influence technology and data investment decisions·
- Drive a structured client communication cadence appropriate to engagement type·
- Communicate and consistently demonstrate the value of ED&D engagement, not just what was delivered, but the business impact it enables
Technical Acumen & Consultative Advisory·
- Maintain working knowledge of data platforms and activation platforms to credibly lead capability and roadmap conversations·
- Translate client business problems into structured data and technology recommendations and bridge business and technical audiences, framing what is possible while grounded in what can realistically be delivered·
- Lead or co-lead discovery workshops, business reviews, and strategic planning sessions with client stakeholders·
- Understand solution architecture well enough to evaluate design trade-offs, challenge assumptions, and pressure-test recommendations, owning the overall solution narrative while leaving build and configuration to delivery subject matter experts·
- Read and interpret technical artifacts, such as architecture diagrams, data flows, integration specs, and data models, to confirm they align with client goals and contracted scope·
- Ask the right questions to surface technical risks, dependencies, and feasibility concerns early, before they become delivery issues·
- Understand the cost and performance drivers of a solution, including compute, licensing, and resourcing, well enough to guide scope and investment decisions
Delivery Accountability & Team Leadership·
- Maintain clear understanding of all contractual commitments for your engagements, including scope, SLAs, deliverables, and financial terms·
- Serve as the internal escalation point and external face of accountability when delivery risks arise, resolving proactively rather than reactively·
- Coach and empower retained teams and/or pod members (Architects, Data Engineers, Business Analysts, and Consultants) to engage directly with clients while retaining overall ownership of the relationship·
- Drive consistent application delivery standards, tooling, and ways of working across your accounts and projects
- Data Governance & Compliance·
- Ensure engagements adhere to applicable privacy regulations and client policies, including CCPA/CPRA, other state privacy laws, and consent requirements·
- Uphold data security and PII handling standards across the delivery team, partnering with security and privacy teams on access controls and data protection·
- Understand the usage restrictions and licensing terms for credit bureau and third-party data (e.g., Experian, Equifax, TransUnion), including FCRA permissible-purpose and prescreen requirements, and ensure data is used only for permitted purposes·
- Ensure direct mail and address-related work complies with USPS requirements, including required forms, certifications, and postal regulations·
- Support or lead client audits and compliance reviews, particularly for clients in regulated industries such as financial services and insurance
Commercial Growth & Account Expansion·
- Partner with the Account Team on commercial health and growth trajectory of your accounts: protect the base through strong renewals and retention, and drive organic expansion into new services, use cases, and platforms·
- Take accountability for measurable commercial outcomes appropriate to assignment: renewal rate, account growth, expansion revenue, and margin·
- Manage financial performance: revenue forecasting and margin oversight for ongoing accounts; budget tracking and change management for project-based work
Efficiency & AI-Enabled Delivery·
- Proactively seek and implement efficiency improvements through people, processes, and technology, including the application of AI tools to accelerate client work and internal delivery·
- Use AI as a productivity multiplier: research synthesis, meeting preparation, status reporting, client narrative development, and pattern-spotting·
- Stay current on AI capabilities embedded in the platforms your clients operate, and bring informed perspectives on where AI can accelerate their goals·
- Pursue continuous learning through hands-on experimentation, not just awareness
At dentsu, we believe great work happens when we’re connected. Our hybrid way of working combines remote flexibility with regular in-person collaboration to spark ideas and strengthen our teams. Many of our employees who live within commuting distance (90 minutes) from one of our Headquarter or Hub Offices (New York, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles) are required to work in the office 2-3 days per week including one Team Day. The minimum number of days may vary by office and role. Dentsu may designate other HQ or Hub offices at any time. Those who do not live near an office may be designated as a remote employee, depending on the role and business needs. Regardless of your work location, we expect you to be flexible to meet the needs of our Company and clients, which may include attendance in an office from time to time.
The annual salary range for this position is $94,000 - $155,000. Placement within the salary range is based on a variety of factors, including relevant experience, knowledge, skills, and other factors permitted by law.
Benefits available with this position include:
- Medical, vision, and dental insurance,
- Life insurance,
- Short-term and long-term disability insurance,
- 401k,
- Flexible paid time off,
- At least 15 paid holidays per year,
- Paid sick and safe leave, and
- Paid parental leave.
Dentsu also complies with applicable state and local laws regarding employee leave benefits, including, but not limited to providing time off pursuant to the Colorado Healthy Families and Workplaces Act, in accordance with its plans and policies. For further details regarding Dentsu benefits, please visit www.dentsubenefitsplus.com.
#LI-hybrid #LI-JH2 #LI-remote
Location:
USA - Remote - New York
Brand:
Merkle
Time Type:
Full time
Contract Type:
Permanent
Dentsu is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees. We do this without regard to race, color, national origin, sex , sexual orientation, gender identity, age, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, ancestry, physical or mental disability, marital status, political affiliation, religious practices and observances, citizenship status, genetic information, veteran status, or any other basis protected under applicable federal, state, or local law.
Dentsu is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to, among others, individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans. If you need an accommodation because of a disability to search and apply for a career opportunity with us, please send an e-mail to ApplicantAccommodations@dentsu.com by clicking on the link to let us know the nature of your accommodation request and your contact information. We are here to support you.
