The Manchester based digital agency has recruited Lisa Jones as talent acquisition and development director.

Lisa brings an impressive track record of growing agency teams to the newly created role within Access, joining from 21GRAMS and previously McCann Manchester and HAVAS LYNX where she held similar positions.

She will be responsible for recruitment, retention and growth at the agency, with a key part of her remit implementing a new leadership mentoring programme. Access’ current head count stands at 45 including contractors but it is looking to reach 55 people by the end of the year. 

This latest senior level appointment comes alongside four other new digital hires within the agency this month.

Craig Perks has joined the team as a senior developer, to lead a squad within Access’ burgeoning delivery teams. Craig joins from CTi Digital where he was head of drupal development. He has more than 15 years of industry experience.

The agency has also taken on Alexander Gada, as a junior developer, as well as another two degree apprentices from MMU. Eleanor Johnson and Isabella Vaughan have both signed up with Access for this coming academic year to take part in the popular scheme. Offering the opportunity to marry academic learning and the wider student experience with paid on the job training, apprenticeship developer degrees offer a win-win for businesses, apprentices and universities alike. Access has previously taken two other students as part of the scheme.

Commenting on the appointments Simon Landi, managing director at Access, says, “In the past 16 months our agency has developed in both our cultural approach and size, as new clients joined us and we all adapted to working from home. We’re in a period of fast growth and bringing in a full-time dedicated professional to implement our development strategy will be of huge benefit. As well as a hands-on approach to our recruitment, Lisa will support employees at all levels to achieve their career goals with us."

“We’re similarly delighted to be welcoming Craig, Alexander, Eleanor and Isabella into the agency. Craig will be a huge asset, bringing experience and leadership skills to our development teams. And we’re nurturing important talent entering the industry with our apprenticeships too. We’ve been so impressed with our previous degree apprentices Ben Ryder and Jon Studders that we decided to offer two places this year, as opposed to one. What’s even better is that we have attracted two female developers to take the roles, which we hope will inspire others to follow in their footsteps," adds Landi.