Mackender will start at ­Inferno in January as part of a high-level restructure at the tech agency. He will take up a senior board position, ­although the exact nature of his role has yet to be decided.

‘There will be more developments here before his ­arrival,’ said Inferno MD Grant Currie. ‘There will be some new hires and some promotions.’ He added that Mackender will have a ‘broad role’, working across the agency.

Tech veteran Mackender is one of three directors ­reporting directly to Bite MD David Hargreaves. He has been tasked with ­attracting new business for the agency (PRWeek, 21 September).

Bite recently scored two sought-after ­consumer tech accounts with social networks Linked-In and Facebook (PRWeek, 19 ­October).

Mackender said he did not initially intend to move to another Next Fifteen agency. ‘I had interviewed with a bunch of unaffiliated agencies,’ he said. ‘I had worked with Grant Currie at Bite in 1997 so knew him well. Then I got a call from Grant and [Next Fifteen CEO] Tim Dyson. Part of me is going there looking to continue to grow Inferno’s business. It is growing really fast.’

Inferno has 35 employees in its London office and will be announcing new hires over the next few months. Its client roster includes computer giant Microsoft and handheld brand Palm.

The tech firm recently won a brief to run a press office and organise events for IT consultancy Capgemini, one of the sponsors of this year’s Rugby World Cup (PRWeek, 6 September).