An Edinburgh-headquartered tech and analytics enabled consulting firm says it’s on course to double its headcount in the next 12 months, bringing its workforce to more than 100 across its UK bases. Optima Partners, who support a range of high-profile businesses to develop customer-centric transformation plans, has witnessed rapid 55% year on year growth since 2020 and is now executing an aggressive recruitment strategy to bolster its team.
Having secured a £2.3 million investment from capital investor BGF, and appointed new non-executive directors, Karen Thomas-Bland and Richard Pugh in 2022, Optima Partners says it’s looking to strengthen all parts of its operations and develop further in the next 12 months. The rapid growth has seen the business post turnover in excess of £5.7m for their Financial Year 2022.
Optima Partners consulting division already supports a range of the UK’s top brands, including OVO and Lloyds Banking Group, and starts 2023 with several new senior leaders, including customer strategy and engagement director, Murray Allan, John Ramdenee as Director of Telecoms, Energy & Media and Ed Knight as Director of Banking and Financial Services.
Under the leadership of Chief Data Scientist Dr Chris Foley, Optima’s data practice grew four-fold in 2022, delivering advanced data science and engineering solutions internationally, to global organisations. The practice welcomed two new leaders, Andrew Donald as Head of Engineering and Dr Zhana Kuncheva as Head of Health Data Sciences.
Drs Foley and Kuncheva, and the growing health sciences team published influential research in leading academic journals, including the journal Nature, in partnership with scientists from a renowned global biotech company. With customer focused software development as part of a new R&D program and scientific collaborations at the University of Edinburgh, Harvard and MIT’s the Broad Institute and Kings College London, it’s truly an exciting time for the team.
Commenting on the company’s plans for expansion, CEO Alan Crawley stated, “We have received a tremendous response to our unique data and insight-led approach to customer understanding and behaviour. We are now striving to fill a number of vacancies within the company to meet growing demand, bringing new SME’s, consultants, technologists and data experts into the business to support our clients in navigating complex customer transformation agendas”.
As well as key strategic hires and securing investment to fuel its growth in 2022, Optima Partners also opened its third office, in Bristol, adding to its Scottish HQ and its site in Central London with expansion plans into Europe underway.
