Edinburgh and Glasgow in focus as digital tech consultancy adds 100 roles

Initially, up to 15 of the 100 positions being created throughout the UK will be based at AND Digital’s offices - or “clubs”, as the firm dubs them - in Edinburgh and Glasgow. The company will be training around 75 existing staff, or “ANDis”, to increase its existing data capabilities, as well as hiring several senior members of staff to help lead its new data business unit. AND Digital aims to treble the turnover from its data work in 2024.

The firm, which was founded in 2014 by its chief executive, Paramjit Uppal, operates an innovative “club” model, represented across the UK in Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, London and Manchester. Annual turnover last year topped £150 million.

Tim Hatton, the company’s newly appointed head of data, said: “Scotland is a major focus for our new data business unit, and so we’ll be creating up to 15 data roles in two of our clubs north of the Border. The expansion of our data team will be driven by demand from our new and existing clients, and so we may end up with even more staff working on data projects in Scotland.

“Our dedicated data staff will be supported by other ‘ANDis’ from our team with a wide set of skills, from front- and back-end developers through to software engineers and product analysts. Our data projects draw on expertise from across our business, rather than treating data on its own in an exotic silo.”

The firm has created an operational data platform for BA-owner International Airlines Group, which helps the company to react more quickly to changes to schedules, such as crew shortages or aircraft maintenance, by making real-time adjustments to help passengers to reach their destinations. Meanwhile, Google Digital Garage - which provides digital skills training to small businesses and organisations throughout the UK - brought in the consultancy to develop a series of training modules on topics surrounding data.

Hatton, who joined the business in 2016 and moved into his new role in January this year, added: “Ten years ago, AND Digital disrupted the market for building digital products by introducing our agile way of working - and we’re now doing the same with data. We use iterative steps, so that our clients can start using the core part of a project straightaway to help their customers, while we then add on extra features.

“We’re also helping to change the culture that surrounds our clients’ use of data - training is one part of the process, yet it also goes deeper than that. We help our clients to develop openness and transparency around their data, making sure the data is accessible to the people who need to use it, and giving those people trust in the security of the data, so that they can use it to experiment with new ways of helping their customers.”

The Big Interview: Paramjit Uppal, founder and CEO of AND Digital