The Design Director is responsible for AKQA’s Experience Design team in Melbourne, and is a trusted advisor to our senior-most clients. You will lead, mentor, and inspire our team of pioneers to deliver remarkable stories, experiences, and products for many of Australia’s most ambitious brands.

You have a demonstrated mastery of visual design with a strategic, customer-centric core that drives real world outcomes. You have exquisite hands-on design craft, and extensive leadership experience that amplifies the potential of everyone in your orbit. You believe that each brief is an opportunity to break new ground, and can effortlessly unite teams and client stakeholders to execute bold work with industry-leading impact.

Based in Melbourne as part of AKQA Australia, you’ll work alongside peers in Sydney, Auckland and Wellington – surrounded by some of the brightest minds in their fields – to deliver world-class experiences as part of our connected, global network. You’ll also have the opportunity to learn and grow within a creative and technically advanced team, and have access to ongoing personal and professional development. We work in a hybrid WFH model, with Monday, Tuesday and Thursday in the studio each week.

Role Requirements

• Lead new business efforts from a design and experience perspective
• Lead key client relationships and engagements
• Embed visual storytelling and design brilliance throughout all internal processes
• Champion creativity and ideas in the work, and integrate new methods, tools, ideas, and processes wherever possible
• Scale intelligent design systems to meet the needs of businesses large and small
• Identify our most valuable briefs and champion solutions that are much more than the sum of their parts
• Lead teams to deliver end-to-end experience design projects through discovery, definition, solution and build phases. Going deep and broad to ensure success
• Collaborate with peers in Client Service, Strategy, Technology, Brand, and Data to seize opportunities that unlock transformative impact in business and culture
• Demonstrate thought leadership in visual design and user experience, with our clients and the industry at large
• Develop case studies for experience design outcomes, innovations and processes
• Mentor and grow our team, managing them to their full individual and collective potential
• Embody a culture of continuous improvement, embracing diversity and inclusion

AKQA is an Equal Opportunities Employer, we believe that diversity is vital to AKQA’s ability to provide our clients with the best recommendations and are committed to fostering a varied and inclusive work environment. Your race, colour, ancestry, religion, gender, gender identity, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability or veteran status have no bearing on our hiring decisions. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know. Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Indigenous people are encouraged to apply for this role.