AKQA promotes Luciano Di Leonardo to Executive Technology Director, Australia

AKQA has promoted Luciano Di Leonardo to Executive Technology Director, Australia, expanding his leadership remit as the agency accelerates the evolution of its technology and engineering practice.

In the role, Luciano will lead AKQA Australia’s technology practice and engineering organisation, as well as its technology strategy for clients. He will oversee technical program delivery across the agency’s Australian client portfolio and lead a team spanning solution architects, technical leads, delivery leads and principal engineers.

A key focus of his expanded remit will be advancing AKQA’s shift towards AI-native development, embedding agentic AI tools, modern engineering workflows and new capability frameworks into the practice. Luciano will report to Eric Orton, Chief Technology Officer, APAC, while working closely with AKQA Australia’s Managing Director Justine Leong and the wider Australian executive leadership team across creative, strategy, experience design and client services, to bring technology into the heart of the agency’s innovation offering.

Luciano said the rapid development of AI represented a defining opportunity for both the agency and its people: “AI is a once-in-a-generation inflection point. In much the same way the internet reshaped our industry 25 years ago, AI is changing how we create, engineer and deliver experiences.

“My ambition is to move technology beyond being a delivery partner to becoming an invention partner. That means being people-led and AI-amplified – using AI to extend the ingenuity, craftsmanship and creativity of our teams, rather than replace what makes them exceptional.”

Luciano has spent more than 15 years with AKQA, leading technical strategy, enterprise architecture and the evolution of engineering practices. Before joining the agency, he held technology roles across Australia and the United Kingdom working in various industries such as insurance, digital, product development and IT sectors.

During his time at AKQA, Luciano has worked across commerce and retail, insurance, superannuation, travel, government and entertainment, partnering with clients including AustralianSuper, Foodstuffs NZ, Inland Revenue NZ, Visit Victoria, HESTA, RACWA, Australian Ethical Super and Country Road Group.

Among his major technology initiatives, Luciano spearheaded Country Road Group’s digital transformation, coordinating more than 30 stakeholders across three locations and offshore teams to deliver a serverless, edge-based headless architecture capable of deploying 24 websites in 240 seconds across four retail brands.

He also established and managed AKQA’s 24/7 Managed Services support operation, introducing enterprise tooling and modern operational SLA frameworks. Across his career, he has recruited, mentored and developed more than 100 technology specialists.

Says Orton: “Luciano has been at the heart of every major transformation in our business over the last 15 years, leading some of our highest-impact work across Australia and New Zealand. His leadership, technical depth and commitment to our teams and clients have helped shape so much of what we’ve achieved together.

“AI is bringing one of the biggest shifts our industry has seen, fundamentally changing the way ideas are conceived, built and experienced. I’m thrilled to have Luciano guiding our team and clients in Australia through this next chapter, and I look forward to what we’ll achieve together.”

Adds Luciano: “I care deeply about this team and the future we can build together. I want to create a clear vision, elevate the people who are already pushing boundaries and make AKQA’s technology practice a place where exceptional technologists are proud to do the best work of their careers.”

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