CLIENT STORY · TECHNOLOGY CENTRES
Helping global banks build their next technology hub.
How relationships that started in London followed our clients into new technology centres across the Baltics and Central and Eastern Europe.
2025 TIARA AWARDS·SPECIALIST RECRUITMENT COMPANY OF THE YEAR
LEAD CONSULTANT
Will Hacking · Managing Director
GEOGRAPHY
London · Baltics · Central and Eastern Europe
MANDATE
Technology centre build out
OVERVIEW
When a client builds somewhere new, the hardest part isn't the office. It's the people.
Many of the world’s biggest banks are moving technology work to lower cost locations with strong talent. Radley James has worked with several of them in London first, and when they decided to build new technology centres, they asked us to help.
We have done it multiple times, for a Nordic bank in the Baltics and for two global banks in Central and Eastern Europe. In one case we opened our own office in the region specifically to support the client’s build out.
01 THE CHALLENGE
Building a team from scratch in a new market.
A new technology centre needs to hire a lot of good engineers quickly, in a market where the bank has no brand, no network and no track record. The strongest candidates are usually already working at big technology firms in the same city, and they are not looking.
These centres also run on project cycles. They need to ramp up for major programmes and scale back down afterwards, which means they need access to both permanent and contract talent.
Ultimately you want to build somewhere with good talent. Good universities with strong
computer science programmes, and other big organisations around that you can hire people
from.
WILL HACKING · MANAGING DIRECTOR · RADLEY JAMES
02 APPROACH
Three principles behind every build out.
Follow the client. Every one of these relationships started in London. Because we already understood the client’s standards, teams and culture, we could hit the ground running in each new location.
Commit locally. When one client began building its technology centre in the Baltics, we opened an office there to support it. Being on the ground meant local networks, local knowledge, and candidates the client’s own team could not reach.
Adapt the model. When IR35 changed the UK contract market, we moved early into permanent hiring across Europe. Many European markets do not have the same restrictions, so we can support these centres with both permanent and contract hiring as projects ramp up and down.
These principles have been proven time and again, in different countries and for different clients.
03 COVERAGE
Delivery across three technology centres.
CLIENT 1
Nordic Bank · Baltics
Supporting a brand new technology centre from the ground up, with a dedicated local office.
CLIENT 2
Global Investment Bank ·
Central Europe
Technology hiring for a growing delivery centre.
CLIENT 3
Global Bank · Eastern Europe
Volume permanent hiring and project based contract delivery.
04 EXPANSION
How the relationship expanded over time.
London relationships. European technology centres. One consistent partner.
3
TECHNOLOGY CENTRES SUPPORTED
3
COUNTRIES
1
OFFICE OPENED FOR A CLIENT
2
HIRING MODELS
Our partnership with a global RPO provider, formed just before COVID, opened doors to technology centres in Central and Eastern Europe. That was the start of our expansion beyond the UK.
When we met the Nordic bank’s internal recruitment team in the Baltics, they were full of praise for our local team and the calibre of candidates they were finding. They could not work out how we were reaching people nobody else could. That feedback is the best measure of what being on the ground makes possible.
05 THE CONSULTANT
The relationship was led by
Will Hacking, Managing Director.
As Managing Director, Will has built and managed some of Radley James’ longest standing banking relationships, working alongside our Director, Paul, to take the business from London into new markets across Europe and the Baltics.
He works closely with our local teams in the region, who manage day to day resourcing and candidate relationships in each market.
06 OUTCOME
Proven, repeatable, and still growing.
Each client chose to bring Radley James with them because the work in London held up. Each new centre then gave us the chance to prove it again in a new market.
The outcomes: three technology centres supported across three countries, a dedicated office opened to serve a client’s build out, strong feedback from a client’s own internal recruiters, and the ability to support both permanent and contract hiring as each centre grows.
I.
Commitment
Going where our clients go, including opening an office to support them.
II.
Local knowledge
Networks built on the ground, not from a distance.
III.
Delivery
Candidates of a calibre that surprises even the client’s own team.
Partner with Us
Speak to Will and the Radley James team if you are planning or growing a technology centre in Europe. We have done it before, and we can help you do it too.
radleyjames.com · +44 (0) 207 332 9820 · 2025 Tiara Awards Winner
