Director, Data and Technology

REF, digital agency of Groupe LG2, is looking for a Director of Data and Technology to join its team.

Reporting to the Vice President, Product, this team member acts as the conductor of engineering, architecture, QA, and data intelligence expertise within the agency. Their mission is to ensure REF's technical strength and data maturity by instilling a clear technological vision perfectly suited to clients' ambitions and our teams' strengths. An exceptional collaborator, this person navigates daily between creation and advice to transform complex concepts into fluid and high-performing solutions. Their leadership ensures total coherence between technological innovation, the quality of the creative product, and the agency's growth objectives.

Does this sound like you? We would love to talk to you!

Responsibilities

• Directly supervise the managers of the development, solution architecture, quality assurance, and data & AI teams, ensuring their strategic alignment and professional development.

• Act as a point of convergence between these expertise areas: foster collaboration, resolve priority tensions, and ensure decision coherence across teams.

• Establish a clear framework of responsibilities and accountability for each Lead, while giving them space to exercise their operational leadership.

• Participate in team recruitment and structuring, anticipating capacity needs based on the agency's directions.

• Develop and maintain the agency's technological roadmap, integrating platform evolutions, frameworks, AI tools, and data practices.

• Identify technological and data differentiation opportunities to enrich REF Digital's offering.

• Lead technological monitoring and ensure knowledge transfer to creative and advisory teams.

• Evaluate and qualify strategic technological partners and suppliers.

• Collaborate with project management leadership to ensure technical resource alignment with mandate priorities.

• Actively contribute to estimation, architecture, and proposal phases in business development processes.

• Work closely with the Vice President, Product, the creative leadership, and advisory teams to ensure a consistent and ambitious product vision.

Ideal Profile

Skills and Experience

• Minimum of 10 years of experience in development or architecture, including at least 3 years in a leadership or technical team management position.

• Experience in a digital agency or service company, with an understanding of client mandate constraints and rhythms.

• Strong knowledge of web development (front-end & back-end), solution architecture, and QA practices.

• Concrete experience with data, analytics, and artificial intelligence technologies applied to digital products.

• Ability to read and assess complex technical issues and translate them into clear decisions for non-technical stakeholders.

• Mastery of R&D principles.

Desired Qualities

• Inspirational leadership: ability to grow multidisciplinary teams while maintaining a high level of excellence.

• Systemic vision: ability to connect technical, data, and product issues in a coherent strategic perspective.

• Clear communication: comfortable with simplifying technical issues for management, clients, and creative teams.

• Agility and pragmatism: able to balance methodological rigor and responsiveness in an agency context.

• Curiosity and continuous commitment to technological innovation and new industry practices.

• Strong professional network, ability to attract top talent to REF.