Executive Technical Director

About the Role

At AKQA, we believe in the imaginative application of art and science to create beautiful ideas, products, and services. We design connected experiences that transform brands and businesses through the integration of creativity, technology, and data. We are seeking an Executive Technical Director to lead and shape technology‑driven transformation for our clients. This role combines deep technical expertise with strategic thinking, client leadership, and a strong point of view on how AI is redefining customer experience, commerce, and business operations.

• Define and drive end‑to‑end technical strategy and architecture across complex ecosystems.
• Lead design of scalable, secure, cloud‑native systems.
• Champion MACH architectures.
• Establish engineering standards and best practices.
• Oversee architecture, integrations, and data flows.
• Drive modern development practices (CI/CD, Dev Ops, etc.).
• Partner with Data teams on data architecture, personalisation strategies, and real‑time decisioning systems.

• Act as a senior technology partner to clients, leading strategic conversations at C‑level across AI, platforms, and digital transformation.
• Translate business ambition and customer experience goals into clear, actionable technology strategies and roadmaps.
• Shape and originate new opportunities, from early‑stage thinking through to solution definition and proposal.
• Lead technical discovery, solution design, and estimation for new business and pitches.
• Drive the conversion of innovation initiatives (POCs, pilots) into scaled programmes and long‑term partnerships.
• Navigate complex enterprise environments, influencing stakeholders across business, technology, and experience functions.
• Proactively identify whitespace opportunities and define new AI‑led use cases, propositions, and engagement models for clients.

• Define how AI transforms client business models, customer experience, and operational efficiency.
• Identify and shape AI‑driven opportunities, products, and services that create tangible business value.
• Apply generative AI, LLMs, and agent‑based systems to real‑world use cases across commerce, marketing, and service.
• Contribute to the development of AI‑led propositions, accelerators, and repeatable offerings.
• Lead the integration of AI into end‑to‑end solutions, from use case definition to architecture and deployment.
• Ensure responsible AI implementation, including governance, scalability, and compliance.

• Strong understanding of customer journeys, digital ecosystems, and experience design principles.
• Ability to connect technology decisions to customer experience quality, brand impact, and business outcomes.
• Experience working within large, complex organisations, understanding governance, stakeholders, and decision‑making dynamics.
• Ability to bridge strategy, design, data, and technology into cohesive solutions.

• Oversee delivery across multiple programmes, ensuring technical quality, performance, and scalability.
• Lead and mentor senior engineers and technical leaders, building high‑performing, distributed teams.
• Contribute to AKQA’s technical roadmap, capability development, and thought leadership.
• Help scale technology leadership across the region by elevating senior talent and acting as a proxy for CTO‑level thinking when required.
• Act as a senior representative of AKQA’s technology leadership in key client engagements, operating with autonomy and authority.

• Strong strategic thinker, able to connect business ambition, customer experience, and technology into clear, differentiated propositions.
• A client‑first technology…