---
title: 'Lead Experience Designer at AKQA'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/lead-experience-designer-akqa-auckland-cdp3t63p09qb'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-07'
---

# Lead Experience Designer at AKQA

- **Company:** AKQA
- **Location:** Auckland, New Zealand
- **Posted:** 2026-07-09
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-07
- **Apply:** https://www.akqa.com/jobs/8045759/?gh_jid=8045759

## Job description

At AKQA (part of WPP), our Experience Design discipline sets the standard for innovation, creativity, and craft. As a Lead Experience Designer, you’ll imagine what’s next and help make what matters. You will lead innovative work for ambitious brands, creating pioneering digital experiences that feel intuitive, engaging, and emotionally resonant for audiences around the world.

In this role, you will conceive and deliver digital experiences that combine imagination, cultural intelligence, and technology to create meaningful products and services. Working alongside a multidisciplinary team of strategists, visual designers, UX architects, and researchers, you will shape online platforms, design systems, mobile applications, and emerging digital experiences. You will lead by example, mentoring designers, inspiring clients, and delivering visionary work.

As part of AKQA, you’ll work in an innovative and inclusive culture, surrounded by some of the brightest minds in their fields. You’ll have the opportunity to learn and grow within a creative and technically advanced team, with access to ongoing personal and professional development. Our hybrid in-studio/WFH model supports balance and flexibility, and we’re committed to your career growth as well as your work/life balance.

## ROLE REQUIREMENTS

- Lead and guide a team of Experience Designers to deliver impactful and engaging digital experiences.
- Maintain a high standard of design craft, ensuring quality and attention to detail across all work.
- Translate brand strategy and user insight into clear, effective design solutions across digital platforms.
- Develop and evolve design systems, component libraries, and guidelines that support scalable experiences.
- Collaborate closely with strategists, technologists, and delivery teams to ensure ideas are practical, effective, and well executed.
- Provide mentorship and constructive feedback to support the growth and development of design talent.
- Present design thinking clearly and confidently to clients and internal stakeholders.

## QUALITIES AND CHARACTERISTICS

- A strong portfolio demonstrating high-quality experience design across digital products and platforms.
- Solid product design experience, from UX architecture through to refined visual interface design.
- Experience leading designers and contributing to the delivery of complex digital projects.
- Strong communication and presentation skills with the ability to influence stakeholders.
- Excellent visual design sensibility across layout, hierarchy, colour, motion, and typography.
- Proficiency in modern design tools such as Figma and other collaborative design platforms.
- Experience working within agile, cross-functional teams in agency or product environments.
- A genuine passion for design culture, creativity, and continuous innovation.

We believe great work happens when we're together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection. That's why we’ve adopted a hybrid approach including required in-office days. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process.

AKQA 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.

## About WPP

WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands. We unite cutting-edge media intelligence and data solutions, world-class creativity, next-generation production, transformative enterprise solutions and expert strategic counsel in a single company – powered by exceptional talent and our agentic marketing platform, WPP Open, to help our clients navigate change, capture opportunity and deliver transformational growth. For more information, visit [WPP.com](http://wpp.com/).

## About AKQA

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: AKQA is a creative agency that combines imagination and technology to design and build transformative products, services, and experiences for the world’s most respected brands.
- **Entity Type**: Private subsidiary (owned by WPP plc)
- **Headquarters**: Not explicitly stated on company site; widely reported as London, UK (global presence across 19 countries and 30 locations)
- **Founded**: 1995
- **Founders**: Not publicly available on company site

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Creative agency, digital agency, innovation consultancy, experience design
- **Target customers**: B2B, enterprise clients (global organisations and institutions)
- **Mission or purpose statement**: “Create a better future” – the company states its primary motivation is to imagine and create what matters next, using imagination, technology, craft and speed to make a positive difference in people’s lives.

## Products & Services
AKQA operates through several specialised companies and practices:
- **Experience Design**: Designing digital products, services, and interfaces that are intuitive, beautiful, and culturally resonant.
- **Brand, Industrial Design and Architecture**: Creating brand identities, physical products, and spatial experiences.
- **App Development (ArcTouch)**: Building mobile and connected applications for clients.
- **Brand Experience and Communications (Made)**: Developing brand storytelling, campaigns, and communications strategies.

In addition, AKQA offers consulting, engineering, and innovation services as part of its core agency offering.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed (private subsidiary of WPP plc, a public company with a market cap of ~£9B as of mid-2025)
- **Key Metric**: Total funding not applicable (subsidiary); revenue not publicly disclosed for AKQA standalone. WPP’s Global Integrated Agencies segment (which includes AKQA) reported £12.3B in revenue for 2024.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Parent company WPP plc; long-term clients include many of the world’s most prestigious organisations (specific names not listed on site).
- **Growth Signals**: 
  - 83 Agency of the Year awards
  - 616 Cannes Lions won in the last decade, including multiple Grand Prix awards (Innovation 2025, Glass 2024, Digital Craft 2023, Design 2021)
  - Ranked 9th Most Loved Workplace in the World by Newsweek
  - Named Campaign’s 2023 Digital Agency Global Network of the Year
  - Winner of Fast Company World Changing Ideas Awards (2021, 2022, 2024)
  - Led Gartner’s independent evaluation of Global Marketing Agencies for four consecutive years

## Competitive Advantages
- **Award-winning creative culture**: Consistently recognised at the highest levels of global creative competitions (Cannes Lions, D&AD, Webby Awards).
- **Global scale with local depth**: 30 studios across 19 countries, enabling seamless cross-border collaboration – over 70% of clients work with teams in multiple regions.
- **Long-term client relationships**: Trusted by many of the world’s most respected organisations, with a focus on enduring partnerships rather than project-based work.
- **Multidisciplinary expertise**: Combines strategy, design, engineering, and communications under one roof, allowing for integrated, end-to-end solutions.
- **Culture of innovation**: Emphasis on disciplined experimentation and “zero-to-one” breakthroughs rather than incremental change.

## Strategic Focus
- **Continuing to lead at the intersection of imagination and technology**, with a strong focus on AI, digital craft, and emerging technologies.
- **Becoming the employer of choice** in the creative and innovation industry, as stated on the company’s careers page.
- **Driving growth for society, clients, people, and values** – the company describes itself as “ambitious, growth-oriented” with a commitment to sustainability and equity.
- **Expanding its global footprint** and deepening capabilities through its specialised companies (ArcTouch, Made, etc.).

## Why Work Here
- **Culture highlights**: Recognised as a Great Place to Work and a Best Workplace for Innovators by Fast Company. Newsweek ranked AKQA the 9th Most Loved Workplace in the World.
- **Employee Resource Groups**: Active communities including WE (Women’s Empowerment), BOLD (LGBTQIA+), MIND (mental health), API (Asian & Pacific Islander), and a DEI Council.
- **Learning and development**: AKQA Insight platform offers talks and courses from internal and external experts; formal training programs and WPP Professional Development are available.
- **Mental health and physical wellbeing**: Resources include yoga, meditation, self-care resources, and a focus on disease prevention and resilience.
- **Remote/hybrid policy**: Not explicitly stated on site; the company has physical studios worldwide and emphasises in-person collaboration, though some flexibility may exist depending on role and location.
- **Purpose-driven work**: The company’s stated goal is to “create a better future,” and it backs this with sustainability initiatives and community engagement (e.g., Future Lions competition, Future Academy internship program).
- **Diverse and inclusive environment**: The company is committed to “fostering a varied and equitable work environment” and takes active steps toward equity and representation.

## Sources
1. [AKQA Careers Overview](https://www.akqa.com/careers/)
2. [Working at AKQA](https://www.akqa.com/careers/working-at-akqa/)
3. [AKQA Companies](https://www.akqa.com/companies/)
4. [AKQA Culture](https://www.akqa.com/culture/)

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