PwC Scotland to hire 100 in digital tech expansion

PwC said on Thursday it is embarking on a “significant” expansion of its Scottish operations with more than 100 staff expected to be recruited over the next six months — a 15% increase in overall headcount.

The professional services firm, which currently has around 900 staff in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen, said it is launching the recruitment drive to ensure it is able to fully harness technologies being developed in-house — in artificial intelligence, data analytics, virtual reality and drones.

“Sitting within Operate, PwC’s operational delivery and change management business, the majority of the positions will be digital technology roles, including data architects, enterprise architects, business analysts and project managers,” said PwC.

“The move further strengthens PwC’s commitment to technology in Scotland, where it has an alliance with tech incubator Codebase and recently launched a ground-breaking Data Science Graduate Apprenticeship with the Universities of Edinburgh and St Andrews.

“The firm also has growing tech-risk and cyber security teams – and across the UK there are now divisions focused on innovation in areas such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality and drones.

“This further investment in technology and people comes as Scottish businesses transition to operate effectively in a 21st century digital economy.”

Lindsay Gardiner, regional chairman, PwC Scotland said: “We are starting 2019 with the biggest recruitment drive we have ever undertaken in Scotland, a drive which underlines our ambitions to grow the business in step with the digital transformation which is underway across corporate Scotland.

“In a challenging economic and political environment, businesses are going through fundamental changes to the way they operate.

“By continuing to invest in our people and expanding our technology capability, we are well-positioned to help deliver this change.

“Adding more than 100 staff with the skills required of a digital economy will strengthen our service offering and so I look forward to getting the process underway with a series of events in our Edinburgh and Glasgow offices over the coming weeks.”

Ian McConnell, lead partner in Operate, said: “We’re delighted to bring these high-calibre roles to our Scottish operations as part of our continued expansion.  

“Operate equips PwC with the ability to deliver important change programmes and operational solutions for its clients, so is new for PwC.

“While our delivery model draws on our regulatory expertise and a degree of automation, we also invest heavily in our staff.

“Because we operate in a rapidly evolving environment, we make sure that we equip our people with the skills of tomorrow.”

A series of recruitment briefing events for prospective applicants will be held in PwC offices on the following dates: 30 January (Glasgow) and 31 January (Edinburgh), 6 February (Glasgow) and 6 March (Glasgow) and 13 March (Edinburgh).

Further information can be found here.