Australia – AKQA has promoted Luciano Di Leonardo to Executive Technology Director, Australia, as the agency moves its engineering practice towards AI-native development.
In the expanded role, Di Leonardo will lead AKQA Australia’s technology practice, engineering organisation and technology strategy for clients. He will also oversee technical programme delivery across the agency’s Australian client portfolio.
His team spans solution architects, technical leads, delivery leads and principal engineers.
A key focus will be embedding agentic AI tools, modern engineering workflows and new capability frameworks into the practice, according to AKQA.
Di Leonardo will report to Eric Orton, Chief Technology Officer, AKQA APAC. He will also work closely with Managing Director, AKQA Australia, Justine Leong and the wider Australian executive leadership team across creative, strategy, experience design and client services.
AKQA says the collaboration is intended to bring technology into the heart of the agency’s innovation offering.
Di Leonardo described the rapid development of AI as 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,” said Di Leonardo.
“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,” Di Leonardo added.
Di Leonardo has spent more than 15 years with AKQA, where he has led technical strategy, enterprise architecture and the evolution of engineering practices. Before joining the agency, he held technology roles across Australia and the United Kingdom in the insurance, digital, product development and IT sectors.
At AKQA, he has worked across commerce and retail, insurance, superannuation, travel, government and entertainment. His clients have included AustralianSuper, Foodstuffs NZ, Inland Revenue NZ, Visit Victoria, HESTA, RACWA, Australian Ethical Super and Country Road Group.
Among his major technology initiatives, Di Leonardo spearheaded Country Road Group’s digital transformation, according to AKQA. The project coordinated more than 30 stakeholders across three locations and offshore teams.
The work delivered a serverless, edge-based headless architecture capable of deploying 24 websites in 240 seconds across four retail brands.
Di Leonardo 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.
Orton commented on this appointment. “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,” Orton said
“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,” Orton continued.
While AI dominates the agenda, Di Leonardo said his focus remains on the team. “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,” Luciano concluded.
