Data, Technology & AI Recruitment

The Challenge: A long-established bricks and mortar retailer was making its first significant move into e-commerce, with a transformation programme that depended on technology skills the business did not yet have.

The Solution: Rather than recruiting against job titles, we took the time to understand the wider programme, the capability it required and how each hire would underpin the business strategy. Working in partnership with the client we built out the technology team, delivering Project Managers, QA Testers and Infrastructure professionals with proven retail and e-commerce experience.

The Outcome: A technology function with people who had already delivered transformations of this kind, giving the business the capability to move into digital trading and taking the risk out of a significant change programme.

The Challenge: A wholesale distribution client with 300+ branches lost a product specialist of 20+ years to a competitor, and watched that branch's sales drop by half. The business wanted an AI assistant in every branch to hold the technical product knowledge it had been relying on people to remember, which first meant cleansing the product data behind it.

The Solution: We designed the recruitment campaign and delivered a 10-person Master Data Management team from scratch, running 15 back-to-back interviews across two days so the client only had to show up and choose, then coordinated onboarding for the whole team.

The Outcome: All 10 hires started within a week and the three-month proof of concept succeeded, with 5 retained permanently. The AI tool is now deployed across every branch in the UK.

The Challenge: A financial services client engaged us at the outset of an organisation-wide AI implementation aimed at improving operational efficiency. Talking to the CTO, it became clear there were two obstacles rather than one: no internal capacity to lead the implementation while keeping day-to-day operations running, and no guarantee the wider business would actually adopt it.

The Solution: Instead of recruiting against a predefined job title, we explored the delivery models with them. A technical Project Manager to lead implementation, a training and change professional to drive adoption, or a hybrid role bridging both. We challenged assumptions and helped the client define the outcomes they wanted before turning those into a brief.

The Outcome: A role designed around the business rather than a generic job title, scoped to deliver both the technical implementation and the organisational change the AI programme needed to succeed.

The Challenge: A manufacturing client approached us to recruit an IT Support professional to work alongside their standalone IT Manager, ahead of a CRM implementation over the following 12 to 18 months.

The Solution: After consulting the IT Manager and the wider business, it was clear the real challenge was not day-to-day support. The critical gap was project delivery and data ownership. Without someone dedicated to managing the implementation and improving data quality, the CRM project was unlikely to deliver its intended value. We challenged the original brief and redesigned the role as a Project Manager with a strong data focus.

The Outcome: The successful candidate took ownership of the CRM implementation while improving the quality and governance of business data. Twelve months on they have become the organisation's de facto Head of Data, freeing up the IT Manager and delivering far more commercial value than the original brief would have.

The Challenge: A growing fintech engaged us through their CFO to recruit a Data Scientist.

The Solution: Rather than going straight to market, we worked with the leadership team on their commercial objectives, technical roadmap and growth plans. Through that discovery process we identified that the immediate priority was not data capability but commercial leadership: the business needed to drive revenue growth before expanding the technical team. Drawing on the wider expertise across Macildowie, we partnered with our specialist sales division to appoint a Head of Sales with a strong technology and AI background.

The Outcome: With the commercial function established, we revisited the technology roadmap and delivered the Data Scientist, then were retained to support further growth with a software developer carrying a highly niche technical skill set.

The Challenge: A utilities client was approaching a critical cyber security audit. Talking to the Head of Cyber Security, it was clear the technical expertise existed internally but the capacity did not. The volume of documentation required threatened to consume the team, pull the Head of Cyber away from operational priorities and put a non-negotiable deadline at risk.

The Solution: Rather than recommending a permanent hire, we identified this as a capacity problem needing specialist interim expertise, and proposed an experienced cyber security contractor on a day rate to own the documentation and governance work. Using our established contractor network we presented a shortlist of immediately available professionals within 48 hours of taking the brief. After short Teams interviews, the client's chosen candidate joined within a week.

The Outcome: The audit documentation was completed ahead of schedule, the client met its compliance deadline, and the Head of Cyber Security stayed focused on leading the function instead of administrative delivery.

The Challenge: A national not-for-profit needed a Full Stack Developer for a major programme to re-platform its membership platform. The role required regular onsite attendance, which limited the talent pool, and the salary reflected the budget constraints typical of the sector.

The Solution: Working alongside our Managed Recruitment Services team, we worked with the client to establish where flexibility existed, separate the essential requirements from the desirable ones, and identify what would genuinely attract the right people. We then ran a targeted search focused on developers motivated by purpose-driven work and meaningful social impact rather than salary alone.

The Outcome: A high-quality shortlist, a fully managed interview process and the appointment of a Full Stack Developer with both the technical capability and the personal motivation to deliver the platform transformation.

The Challenge: A healthcare client's five-person data team lost two people to resignation and one to maternity leave in the same week, with a small window before notice periods made the gap critical.

The Solution: Rather than compete with the client's internal recruitment team, we partnered with them, splitting three roles between us and agreeing a fast, diary-protected interview process upfront.

The Outcome: All three offers were out within two weeks, two from Macildowie and one from the internal team, with both Macildowie hires starting within days of each other.

The Challenge: A client needed a Director of Analytics and had already briefed another agency, where the process had stalled with a strong candidate left in limbo.

The Solution: We identified and re-engaged a candidate we had placed previously, then moved quickly to get him formally submitted and interviewed once it was clear the other process had broken down.

The Outcome: He was placed as Director of Analytics and is still with the business today. The relationship led to two further placements with the same client: a Head of Pricing and an interim data platform specialist.

The Challenge: A data science function faced three resignations at once, with people leaving for household-name employers. The client's pay had fallen behind the market and the rest of the team was at risk of following.

The Solution: Rather than recruit replacements, we benchmarked the team against current market rates and helped the client realign salaries for the people who were still there.

The Outcome: The team stayed together and went on to deliver the client's agentic AI and Copilot rollout, a programme still returning millions in value six years later. The cheapest hire we ever made for them was the one we advised them not to make.

The Challenge: A client needed a secure infrastructure and security specialist in a rural location with a very small local talent pool. The role had been open a while with nothing viable coming through.

The Solution: We took it on as a retained search, benchmarked the salary nationally, advised the client to lift the package by £10,000 to £15,000 and widened the geographic search well beyond the local area.

The Outcome: We placed a candidate who relocated for the role.