Working at AntWorks

Jake Lock

Jake Lock is AntWorks’ design & brand manager. Born in the early 90s, he grew up near London and discovered his love of art and design early. “It’s always been my goal from school to be involved in art like from when I can remember being in primary school, I just loved drawing.”
Having decided that university wasn’t going to be for him he started work as a designer for a photographic distributor. “At school I learned the basics of Photoshop, but when I started work I jumped into Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver and so on. I’d create artwork for products and promotional materials, emails and the like. It gave me an opportunity to explore.”

A couple of years later a friend passed Jake’s resumé to a design agency. Within weeks he was at work on conceptual projects and winning new business. When the creative director moved on Jake took over his work and effectively became studio manager. At his next agency, Jake again took on responsibilities above and beyond his role as a designer and shadowed the creative director.

In December 2019 Jake joined AntWorks as the company’s senior creative lead. It was the largest company he’d worked for and he was part of a substantial marketing operation. Despite the rest of his marketing colleagues being based elsewhere they always made the effort to ensure he felt part of the team.

“It was a nice place to work because we had a community within London, as well as a community across the globe. And I didn’t feel detached. My boss, Coco, took care to see that I was made to feel at home.”

When the pandemic struck Jake was placed on furlough and the marketing operation was wound down. However he soon asked to return to work and found himself part of a much smaller team. Though that meant a lot more work he feels the changes that AntWorks went through left it a much better place to be.

“There’s more communication now. Mike the CEO will come direct to me with ideas or feedback on things I’m creating. I’m speaking with the sales team in the UK, US and India a lot more. Everyone chimes in with ideas. They’re always emailing me and sending me inspiration.”

In 2021 Jake was promoted to design and brand manager. He was more than ready for the role. AntWorks is somewhere he feels he has space to develop and work towards his goal of being a creative director.

“I have become much more self-motivated. I’m always busy trying to spot what my colleagues need so I don’t have to wait for them to ask. And there’s lots to learn, such as designing materials for events, building assets from scratch.”

Is there anything he’d say to people thinking of applying for a role at AntWorks?

“Yes. Go for it! My colleagues here have got my back. There’s a lot of trust. You’re given the freedom to get it wrong because trying new things inevitably means you get it wrong sometimes. The thing is we all work together to get it right in the end and that’s a really good environment to be in. I have space to grow and develop and that’s worth a lot.”

When not working Jake takes time out to walk his dog and play golf.