--- title: 'Senior Art Director at AKQA' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-art-director-akqa-paris-6chy0ayp6qxv' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-10-19' --- # Senior Art Director at AKQA - **Company:** AKQA - **Location:** Paris, France - **Posted:** 2026-10-15 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-19 - **Apply:** https://www.akqa.com/jobs/8276168/?gh_jid=8276168 ## Job description At AKQA (part of WPP), we believe in the imaginative application of art and science to create beautiful ideas, products and services. With an entrepreneurial and collaborative approach, we design adaptive digital services and experiences that capture the imagination, delivering impressive returns for our clients. Creatives at AKQA apply artistry and craftsmanship to strategic insight, to create and bring to life beautiful ideas that move the world. As skilled storytellers and conceptors, they work in a multidisciplinary environment to develop labours of love that delight customers and deliver results for clients. Senior Art directors play essential roles in the strategy, conception and design of beautiful ideas, products and services. They bring exceptional creative thought and they craft output, developing and delivering projects from the brief to end user. As a Senior Art Director, you will provide leadership for the brands you work on, create innovative concepts and push the idea through to the final outputs You will bring a strong point of view on social-first creativity, conceiving ideas designed to live and travel natively across social platforms. ## ROLE REQUIREMENTS - Possess not just exceptional art direction skills, but the ability to implement strategic and conceptual thinking as well. - Create and manage original, persuasive and conceptually compelling work for campaigns, content and experiences, across a variety of clients. - Conceive and art direct social-first concepts and campaigns, with a deep understanding of platform culture, formats, creators and what drives engagement and conversation, not just reach. - Leads by example to inspire colleagues to originate pioneering ideas that deliver successful solutions. - Listen to and respond to briefs, and question where there are gaps. - Collaborate with the client and with various teams within AKQA. - Embrace challenges and inspire new ways of thinking. - Have expertise with AI and know how to use or divert it. - Responsible for driving projects with some supervision, along with and mentoring junior members of the team. - Be accountable for the project design deliverables and manage the quality of all design deliverables to ensure they meet AKQA standards for creative excellence. ## QUALITIES AND CHARACTERISTICS - You have a compelling portfolio of work that demonstrates high-quality art direction and concepting across a variety of projects. - Your portfolio includes campaigns built for social media, showing that you can turn a strategic insight into ideas that are native, culturally relevant and shareable. - Proven creative success working in collaborative, multi-functional teams. - Strong information presentation skills, visual and written. - You have a breadth of cultural reference points. - You have a drive to break boundaries and craft the best ideas of their kind in the world. - You are passionate, driven and obsessed about your craft and stay on top of best practice in your field. - Experience in leading a team and working directly with clients is advantageous. - Extensive experience using the most common software. - Experience of nurturing client relationships. AKQA is committed to developing wellbeing and supporting life choices for our team. We provide an extensive range of benefits. To find out more click [here](https://www.akqa.com/studios/paris/benefits/). 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. 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