VP - LLMs, Discovery & Intent

Job Description:

The Marketplace & Partnerships division is responsible for all elements of strategic partnerships for the dentsu Media practice in the US. The team sits at the intersection of dentsu’s media agencies (Carat, iProspect and dentsuX), clients, investment and activation communities, and Amplifi, the commercial innovation arm for dentsu. The team is responsible for translating the business needs of dentsu’s clients, the strategic and commercial imperatives of dentsu itself, as well as emergent and established trends across the industry and society into strategic, value-driven, and beneficial partnerships. They also set the strategic agenda for partnerships at dentsu in the marketplace, how that pertains to new business and in product/solution design within dentsu.

This VP role focuses on the rapidly evolving landscape of Large Language Models (LLMs), generative AI platforms, and model infrastructure. Sitting at the intersection of enterprise AI strategy, product innovation, engineering, and commercial operations, this role ensures that the organization has the right LLM partners, capabilities, and commercial agreements to accelerate growth and deliver differentiated value for clients.

The VP will operate as an enterprise subject matter expert in LLMs—including foundation models, finetuning partners, vector database vendors, model ops platforms, and safety/guardrail technologies. They will define our LLM partnership strategy, negotiate and structure commercial and technical agreements, and ensure that these partnerships align with the strategic, innovative, and value driven objectives of the organization. The VP will contribute meaningfully to the broader AI partnership vision across all channels and business units. Reporting into the SVP, Commerce & Intent Partnerships Lead, this role will be tasked with contributing their core objectives towards the overall partnership strategy and vision across all channels.‑matter expert in LLMs—including foundation models, fine‑tuning partners, vector database vendors, model‑ops platforms, and safety/guardrail technologies. They will define our LLM partnership strategy, negotiate and structure commercial and technical agreements, and ensure that these partnerships align with the strategic, innovative, and value‑driven objectives of the organization. The VP will contribute meaningfully to the broader AI partnership vision across all channels and business units.

Given the cross‑functional nature of AI transformation, this role will collaborate with product, engineering, data science, legal, security, media, and commercial teams to create mutually beneficial outcomes. The VP will also provide senior leadership with insights on market evolution, emerging risks, competitive differentiation, and partnership performance.

Key Responsibilities

• Own and lead a portfolio of LLM focused partnerships, including model providers, infrastructure platforms, safety/guardrail vendors, and model ops technologies.‑focused partnerships, including model providers, infrastructure platforms, safety/guardrail vendors, and model‑ops technologies.
• Translate market intelligence, client needs, and internal priorities into a comprehensive annual LLM partnership strategy.
• Identify, vet, and cultivate new LLM and gen‑AI partnership opportunities that enhance product innovation and enterprise capabilities.
• Serve as a senior subject‑matter expert on LLM technologies, while representing adjacent AI domains in partnership conversations.
• Collaborate with Product, Engineering, and Data Science to ensure LLM partnerships align with capability roadmaps, model requirements, and value‑creation goals.
• Work cross‑functionally across AI, media, creative, and commercial teams to design integrated go-to-market strategies leveraging LLM partners.
• Evaluate commercial viability and technical compatibility of LLM opportunities; ensure each partnership is optimized for performance, safety, and cost efficiency.
• Act as a problem solver and integrator, coordinating multiple stakeholders and maintaining forward momentum across complex partnership initiatives.
• Drive excellence in LLM partnership governance, reporting, compliance, and enablement across the organization.
• Represent the organization as an AI thought leader in market‑facing opportunities (panels, PR, partner events) within the LLM domain.
• Provide communication, documentation, and knowledge management for all LLM partnerships, ensuring transparency, alignment, and adoption across teams.
• Support client conversations and new‑business pitches as the LLM expert and AI partnership lead.
• Liaise and partner with Product and Solutions organizations to facilitate partnership development and capability creation within dentsu.
• Consult on client business to build custom partnership plans and subject-matter expertise of partner landscape.

We are looking for candidates who can deliver sustainable change, think strategically, and retain focus in a fast-changing environment. The ideal candidate brings rigor to a multi-disciplinary business with many stakeholders. Here are some key characteristics of a successful candidate:

• You possess strategic thinking and the ability to make critical business decisions aligned with organizational goals.
• You challenge status quo and inspire new ideas and approaches.
• You have experience in organizational transformation and leading large-scale change management programs.
• You are comfortable working with multiple senior peers and stakeholders, taking initiative and ownership.
• Business acumen, client-centricity, and a commercial mindset are essential, along with a genuine passion for people.
• Balance, prioritize and properly assign work associated with multiple, concurrent projects and stakeholders

Qualifications:

• 10-12 years’ experience within the digital industry as a partnership or investment lead at a reputable agency or partner.
• 5+ years’ experience management of a team – with the ability to lead a highly successful team.
• Consistent exceptional project management, ability to prioritize and meet deadlines.
• Excellent verbal and written communications, presentation, and analytical skills; must be comfortable working with and presenting sophisticated metrics to C-level.
• Ability to retain professionalism in all situations.
• Passion for problem-solving and collaboration across teams.
• Ability to translate complex ideas into actionable solutions.

At dentsu, we believe great work happens when we’re connected. Our way of working combines flexibility with in-person collaboration to spark ideas and strengthen our teams. Employees who live within a commutable distance of one of our hub offices, currently located in Chicago, metro Detroit, Los Angeles, and New York City, are required and expected to work from the office three days per week (two days per week for employees based in Los Angeles). Dentsu may designate other Hub offices at any time. Those who live outside a commutable range may be designated as remote, depending on the role and business needs. Regardless of your work location, we expect our employees to be flexible to meet the needs of our Company and clients, which may include attendance in an office.

The annual salary range for this position is $113,000 - $182,562. 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.

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