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We are delighted to share the full recording of the panel discussion hosted at Manchester Digital Skills Feast as part of their Festival. The evening event which was sponsored by Slalom, celebrated the region’s technology landscape and features a brilliant panel who explored the current state of the digital skills market. David Savage, Technology Evangelist and podcast host was joined on stage by Caroline Grant, Managing Director at Slalom Manchester, Rob Sugden, Managing Director, ECOM and Alison Ross MBE Chief People and Operations Officer at Auto Trader. You can read the full event write up here. Tech Talks Podcast Tech Talks is a podcast that probes the minds of tech leaders, hosted by Technology Evangelist David Savage. Each week, the show releases three episodes with new guests, covering the latest tech news, exploring new products and cultural transformations that drive the tech industry. Founded in 2015 Tech Talks has published over 650 episodes and attracts over 25,000 streams a month from a global audience. The podcast offers insights and ideas from leading technologists on culture, innovation, finance, growth, sustainability, and more, providing a platform for the c-suite, founders, and senior figures to hear from others facing similar challenges and tap into a wider community. Find out more about Tech Talks podcast here.

The cloud and it’s offering is vast, with its main aim to give organisations the ability to deliver resources and services publicly, privately or in an hybrid environment. Whether it’s hosting your data, sharing resources internally with different teams, or streaming your favourite series, these clouds are maintained by a variety of technical professionals. Cloud professionals have developed their skillset over many years working in infrastructure and development, demonstrating highly technical skills and certifications. With 70% of digital leaders reporting Cloud generated the most ROI over the last 3 years,due to the ability it gives them to be more agile and responsive- more organisations are recognising the efficiencies cloud can offer, the demand for this specialised skillset will only increase. What is a public, private or hybrid cloud? Public Cloud– This can be services or resources that can be accessed by anyone in the public domain and across the internet. You use many public clouds every single day, think - Netflix, Google Mail, Amazon. In the cloud world, these public clouds are usually referred to as Cloud Service Providers, like Amazon Web Services(AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform(GCP). Private Cloud– You might already be using a private cloud in your daily work routine without even realising it. A private cloud is an environment dedicated solely to one organisation. It can be hosted either on-premises or in a data centre, it is accessible exclusively within the organisation. Unlike public clouds that are available to the general public across the internet, a private cloud gives organisations greater control and security, as well as retaining full authority over the resources and infrastructure.Examples of private cloud solutions include: Microsoft Azure Stack, VMWare vSphere, OpenStack. Hybrid Cloud– Hybrid is as it sounds – a mix of them both, but it would be easier to imagine that these clouds are like different personal storage solutions.You keep some of the services that are easy to access in the storage space you rent from a storage space company (public cloud) because of convenience, ease of access, available to a range of users. For your most sensitive data/resources, you will have these in your own storage space that you own like a safe in your wardrobe (private cloud) because it’s dedicated to you and safe, as a result, you will have more security and control over these resources. Types of jobs in cloud computing The most common roles within this space include: Cloud Engineers Site Reliability Engineers Cloud Architects Platform Engineers DevOps Engineers Infrastructure Engineers Cloud key skills and technologies Some of the technologies and key skills employers typically look for in cloud professionals: Experience with Cloud Platforms (Amazon Web Service, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform) Experience managing traditional infrastructure (Virtualisation, Servers, Networking, Firewall, Security, Storage, Databases, Identity Access Management) Configuration management tools (Ansible, Chef, Puppet, PowerShell) Containerisation tools (Docker, Kubernetes, AWS ECS, Google Kubernetes Engine) Container Orchestration tools (Rancher, Docker Swarm, Kubernetes) Source control management tools (Git, GitHub) Deployment tools (Elastic Cloud Compute (EC2), Ansible, CodeDeploy, Helm) Infrastructure as code (Terraform, Kubernetes, CloudFormation) Continuous improvement/Continuous Deployment tools (Jenkins, Argo, GitLab, Harness) Programming languages (Python, Bash, PowerShell, YAML, Java, Javascript, C#, Ruby, Golang etc.) Cloud salary ranges Salaries within Cloud roles have fluctuated, while there has been considerable growth in professionals in this space over the last few years, there is still a shortage compared to the demand for top talent. The increase in cloud professionals was mainly due to the Covid-19 pandemic giving individuals the ability to work fully-remote for organisations in higher-paying regions of the UK and internationally. However, as more businesses look to implement and take advantage of the cloud we expect a growing demand for individuals in this space, which will inevitably influence salaries. For the roles below, the ranges provided are from junior to senior level – when looking into ‘head of’ roles and management roles, the salaries tends to vary between £95k-£135k depending on scale and industry. Cloud Engineer: £50k - £85k Site Reliability Engineer: £60k - £90k Cloud Architect: £65k - £115k Platform Engineer: £50k - £100k DevOps Engineer: £65k - £100k Infrastructure Engineer: £40k - £80k Please bear in mind salaries vary considerably based on experience level and your location, we recommend speaking to one of our Cloud consultants for the latest salary information. Reach out to one of the team here. Work environment Working from home/hybrid models are very important within this specialism, these roles were usually remote and hybrid pre-pandemic and although we have seen a shift to more hybrid functions. The senior architects/engineers are more likely to want a fully remote role. This is due to the nature of the role requiring little collaboration that can otherwise be done through video call solutions, long working hours and very focused tasks. Many candidates we have spoken to see little need to be in an environment with others especially if the commute is long. There are of course exceptions, including infrastructure engineers which need to deal with physical equipment and some candidates who enjoy the more social aspects of working in an office, but most are committed to working fully remote and expect this. Clients need to be aware that exceptional talent are acclimated to working in remote environments and need to consider this within hiring requirements, from my experience the best compromise is once a month or fortnight for some senior cloud professionals. As working practices cloud professionals typically work within Scrum/Agile environments, with Cloud Architects getting involved earlier in the process to shape the project and avoid tricky hurdles in the later stages of the implementation. This is becoming an increasingly diverse field of work, with a lot of organisations pushing for more representation in the space from underrepresented groups, though this is still an area that has some way to go. We are already seeing a more diverse pool of candidates coming through at entry level but may need to be addressed for more senior roles. There is a fantastic group for Women in Cloud to help promote gender equity within this space. Here is a link to their website:https://womenincloud.com/ Benefits Most benefits offered are as standard, other benefits within this industry include: Discretionary performance based bonus (10-20%) Pension contribution (matched/non-contributory) Uncapped annual leave (Purchase/sell additional days/growing trend in big tech for unlimited holidays for senior staff) Share save/Equity Personal development/training/certifications/courses Gym membership EV Car Scheme Career Progression in Cloud roles There are multiple opportunities for career progression within the cloud discipline and really depends on what aspect you’re most interested in. A typical progression from an infrastructure route could look like this: 1st/2nd Line support 3rd Line support Infrastructure Engineer/specialist Junior Cloud Engineer/Cloud Engineer Senior Cloud Engineer Lead Cloud Engineer/Cloud Manager Head of Cloud While this is a very barebones and a typical scenario, as mentioned before there are many ways into the cloud and this is what the typical journey to the stratosphere of cloud could look like. To discuss more career progression and routes into Cloud pleasereach out to one of the team. Summary Overall, the demand for talent in the cloud market, far exceeds the available supply, particularly at a senior level. Given the intricate nature of cloud technologies, and the vast array of disciplines involved, organisations will need to continually adapt to the evolving cloud landscape to maintain efficiency and competitive advantage. Organisations will need to consider and review the expectations of candidates in this discipline, to retain and attract the talent they need to be able to implement their strategic ambitions within this business area. We’re experiencing a surge in organisations looking for expertise within this space, exploring salary, working from home policies as well as benefit packages to ensure exceptional cloud talent are attracted and retained. About the author Kyle Gauntlettis the Cloud Specialist consultant based in Harvey Nash Leeds office covering both contract and permanent roles. With an IT background in system administration and support for nearly a decade, Kyle sources leading cloud professionals of all levels. He manages vacancies across the North working with both public and private sector clients. If you’d like to speak further about the cloud and current rolesplease get in touch here.

Last night, Harvey Nash were delighted to attend the Digital Skills Feast as part of Manchester Digital’s Festival, which was sponsored and co-hosted by Slalom. The evening event hosted at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester city centre, invited tech leaders, key decision makers and education partners to celebrate and discuss the region’s tech landscape. Katie Gallagher OBE, Managing Director of Manchester Digital welcomed everyone and reflected on the Manchester Digital Festival as a whole. This was then followed by Councillor Nick Peel, leader of Bolton Council and portfolio holder for digital and tech for GMCA. He gave a speech celebrating the region’s success and focus on digital innovation and education highlighting AI growth and high graduate retention for those studying computer science. Baroness Jones of Whitchurch, the Parliamentary Undersecretary for the Future Digital Economy and Online Safety, shared a video message for the event. The speech emphasised Manchester's role as a tech hub and the government's commitment to fostering tech ecosystems across the UK. It highlighted the importance of digital skills, the creation of Skills England, and reforms to apprenticeship programs to support the tech sector. Tech leader panel David Savage, Technology Evangelist and host of our podcast Tech Talks then hosted a panel discussion. The panel included; Caroline Grant, Managing Director at Slalom Manchester; Rob Sugden, Managing Director, ECOM, our Sector Insights Partner and Alison Ross, Chief People and Operations Officer at Auto Trader. The panel discussed some of the key challenges facing digital leaders currently including: economic uncertainty; regulatory hurdles; funding constraints; infrastructure limitations and talent shortage. We recorded this brilliant discussion as a Tech Talks podcast episode which you can listen to here. David Savage, who hosted the panel commented ‘Manchester is a vibrant hub for business and technology, with strong, passionate local leadership. One message was clear from our panel; we are living through a period of instability that makes business challenging. With that in mind, it is clear that Manchester can be a model for regional growth across the UK to ensure fragile confidence does not evaporate.’ Overall, we were thrilled to be part of Manchester Digital Skills Feast which concluded an excellent week of events as part of the festival. We’d like to thank Manchester Digital for organising the festival week and Slalom for sponsoring this specific event. Panel L-R: David Savage, Caroline Grant, Alison Ross MBE and Rob Sugden. Manchester Digital Manchester Digital is the driving force behind Greater Manchester's thriving tech and digital sector.As a dynamic membership organisation, we unite a powerful community of over 400 members - including large corporations, innovative SMEs, cutting-edge startups, freelancers and leading agencies across all tech verticals. Find more about Manchester Digital here.

Is AI distorting and transforming the principals of company building? The latest Tech Flix documentary hosted by Technology Evangelist David Savage delves into the challenges and opportunities faced by first-time founders, seasoned entrepreneurs, investors and enterprise tech experts. Technology is acting as a competitive accelerator with faster development cycles created and a global outlook from day one, investors are shifting their horizons with profitability an increasing consideration despite the top-line industry figures, and the need for specialist expert talent acquisition is underscored by the narrowing margins of success. Discover the full film which includes clips from tech bbq conference hosted in Copenhagen. Tech Flix Tech Flix is an innovative and thought-provoking docuseries hosted by Nash Squared Tech Evangelist,David Savage, that delves deep into the dynamic world of technology, where cutting-edge innovation meets human ingenuity. In this captivating exploration, David embarks on a journey to unravel various aspects of the tech universe, from the pioneers shaping our digital future to the ethical dilemmas that arise in an ever-connected world.

Last week Harvey Nash and Nash Tech had the pleasure of hosting 30 digital and technology leaders from across the Midlands at the Bank restaurant in central Birmingham. It was the first leadership dinner of 2025 and the evening didn’t disappoint. Upon arrival the attendees spent an hour networking, catching up with old friends and making new acquaintances. Our guests came from a variety of backgrounds and industries, some working for globally recognised corporate brands, others employed by mid-size organisations and start up enterprises. However, similar challenges effect all delegates including driving successful digital transformations, the ongoing need for strong cyber credentials as well as maximising a company’s data to deliver business and customer value return. Once seated we enjoyed a lovely meal with breaks for keynote speeches. The first was from Bridgette Bigmore, the CTO for the UK Telecoms Lab at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL). Bridgette delivered fascinating insight into the organisation with it being recognised as a world leading centre of excellence in telecoms security. We learnt that they provide best in class test and evaluation capabilities to safeguard the UKs critical national telecoms infrastructure from external threats. Later Jon Woodforth, CTO from Totalmobile talked about their AI focused Unified Data Platform which powers their business and supports the work and lives of over 500,000 field-based workers. Both talks were very well received and were the catalyst for further debate as we enjoyed our main courses and deserts. The evening was a great success, with all the digital and technology leaders sharing valuable ideas, challenging one another’s thinking and having peers who understood many of the challenges they’re facing in today’s market. If you’re interested in finding out more about our events, please reach out to our team here. And to find out more about our services at Harvey Nash, please contact our teamhere. About the author: Peter Birch Peter is a Director with over 20 years of experience specialising in hiring C-suite level individuals across the globe. Working across various companies, Peter’s experience extends from large corporations through to start-up enterprises. If you’re interested in speaking with Peter, please get in touch at peter.birch@harveynash.com.

Reinventing dating apps for genuine human connection In this Tech Talks podcast episode David Savage speaks to Zaahirah Adam, the founder of hati. Zaahirah discusses her innovative solution, designed to combat the disconnected nature of modern dating platforms and actually deliver that one meaningful connection. Driven by personal experiences familiar to so many people, hati aims to prioritise genuine human connection over algorithmic matching and superficial interactions. Tech Talks Podcast Tech Talks is a podcast that probes the minds of tech leaders, hosted by Technology Evangelist David Savage. Each week, the show releases three episodes with new guests, covering the latest tech news, exploring new products and cultural transformations that drive the tech industry. Founded in 2015 Tech Talks has published over 650 episodes and attracts over 18,500 streams a month from a global audience. The podcast offers insights and ideas from leading technologists on culture, innovation, finance, growth, sustainability, and more, providing a platform for the c-suite, founders, and senior figures to hear from others facing similar challenges and tap into a wider community. Find out more about Tech Talks here.

We recently hosted an exclusive event in New York in partnership with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre in the USA, where we premiered our latest Tech Flix Documentary, "AI and Robotics: Exploring the Next Frontier with AI."

In the ever-evolving tech industry, staying relevant and competitive is crucial. Whether you’re returning after a career break or looking to pivot within the industry, here are our top 4 essential tips to help you reposition yourself and land your next role, with insights and expert advice from Sandra Erickson, Director of our team in Newcastle. With over 15 years of experience in recruiting for senior level positions, Sandra has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to helping jobseekers rejoin the workforce and providing insights into navigating the ever-changing technology landscape. 1. Refresh your CV with the latest trends Your CV is your first impression, so make it count. Highlight your most recent experiences and skills, particularly those relevant to the rolesyou’re actively targeting. Use keywords like “cloud computing,” “AI,” “cybersecurity,” or “data analytics” to align with current industry demands. Consider adding a section for certifications and courses to showcase your commitment to continuous learning. “When applying for roles, your cv may be viewed by multiple stakeholders,” says Sandra. “My advice would be to always tailor your cv to the role that you are applying for, rather than having a one size fits all approach. Ensure you have a summary profile that speaks directly to the reader in terms of how your skills, experience and transferable skills are relevant to the role.” 2. Leverage your network Networkingremains a powerful tool in job hunting. Reconnect with former colleagues, attend industry events, and engage in online tech communities. Platforms like LinkedIn are invaluable for making connections and staying updated on job opportunities. Don’t be afraid to reach out for informational interviews or referrals from mutual connections or past colleagues. “Networking is often overlooked in today's increasingly connected world, but it’s essential to start making connections in your field of interest,” adds Sandra. “Using platforms such as Eventbrite will inform you of events in your area that match your interests. Our teams at Harvey Nash are well placed to support you, hosting many events that you’d be welcomed to, in most major locations across the UK and Ireland.” 3. Prepare for technical interviews Technical interviews can be daunting, but preparation is key. Brush up on core concepts and practice coding problems on platforms likeLeetCode or HackerRank. You should always be ready to discuss your past projects and how you’ve solved complex problems. And remember, interviewers are looking for problem-solving skills and a collaborative mindset. "In my experience, technical interviews are an opportunity for you to showcase how you think through technical challenges. It allows you to demonstrate how you navigate through complexity and builds the interviewers confidence in you and your abilities.” For more tips on preparing for your technical interview, Indeed have published an article here: How To Prepare for a Technical Interview in 6 Steps 4.Showcase soft skills While technical prowess is essential,don’t underestimate the value of soft skills. Communication, teamwork, and adaptability are highly sought after in tech roles. Don’t hesitate to highlight these skills in your CV and be prepared to discuss them during your interviews. Prepare examples that you can provide during your interview of how you’ve successfully worked in teams or managed projects. "Effectively, technology roles are business focused roles and being able to demonstrate softer skills on how you engage with business stakeholders is essential. This is also an opportunity to demonstrate any transferable skills that you have gained whilst being out of the workforce.” Discover why soft skills matter in tech with a detailed article by Indeed here: 10 Reasons Why Soft Skills Are Important For Your Career Summary Although the emphasis is often put onto the technical interviewportion of the hiring process, it’s important to remember that it’s not the only requirement for a role. Organisations are becoming increasingly interested in hiring people that can fit into their business and become a part of the wider team. It’s a careful balancing act, but if you are able to focus your time and efforts on all the areas above, you are bound to see improvements. Stay proactive, keep learning, and leverage your network to navigate your career journey successfully. And by following these tips, you’ll be well on your way to securing your next role in the tech industry. If you are looking to rejoin the workforce, don’t hesitate to reach out to Sandra at Sandra.Erickson@harveynash.com And discover our latest roles here.

What do digital leaders think of the current technology landscape? On the 28th of November we hosted our 25th annual Digital Leadership Report dinner at the Scotsman Hotel, which gathered digital leaders from across Edinburgh to discuss the key topics shaping the technology sector. The evening was enlightening, with insights from a cross section of Technology organisations across financial services, public and private sectors, all from corporate scale to SME and start-ups. Our diverse guests provided a truly varied range of opinions and experiences on the current state of the technology industry, allowing us to consider many different perspectives on some of the biggest questions currently in the industry. AI adoption One of the most fascinating discussions of the evening was regarding the adoption of AI within the workplace and the vast differences in utilisation between the smaller technology companies and the larger corporate environments. Interestingly enough, many of the leaders in the room perceived a need for a ‘Chief AI Officer’ type role, as organisation's grapple with the governance of the pace of change within this realm. We are beginning to see a trend towards appointment of, at the very least, AI “SME’s” with one client already committing to an AI board, overseeing best practice, areas of application and hypothetical integration in future. Turning our focus to NetZero One area that stood out as needing attention, is sustainability. According to our Digital Leadership Report, a staggering 58% of tech companies currently have no plans for achieving Net Zero. This presents both a challenge and an opportunity for the sector to innovate and lead in environmental responsibility. Thinking towards the future As we head into the new year, leaders are beginning to plan towards 2025, and discussions around the dinner table revealed that a quarter oforganisations in Scotland are engaged in large-scale projects involving AI, data, and the Metaverse. This revelation is a clear indication of the forward-thinking approach many digital leaders and organisations are adopting, to position themselves in the most efficient way to manage emerging, cutting-edge technological advancements.It should come as no surprise that a notable discussion point throughout the evening was the role of AI in the workforce. Tech leaders in Edinburgh support the sentiment that AI is not replacing jobs but rather supporting and enhancing organisational operations. This positive perspective is further evidenced by the emergence of AI boards and the role of the Chief AI Officer within companies. Summary The evening provided all those who attended with the opportunity to connect with like-minded digital leaders across Edinburgh and explore the largest topics affecting the tech industry. Thank you to everyone that joined us and to our Harvey Nash team who supported in bringing this group together. It was truly fabulous to connect, network, and have insightful discussions with such a dynamic group of individuals. If you’re interested in finding out more about the evening, please reach out to our Director in Scotland, Cameron MacGrain. And to find out more about our services at Harvey Nash, please contact our team here. If you would like to connect with the rest of our Harvey Nash team, you can find more information here: Andy Heyes, Kirsteen Bell, Kevin Robson, Bethany McKenzie and Craig Ross.