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Next Gen
Capability

Security-cleared engineers are scarce. Contractor costs keep climbing. And AI is reshaping the skills your programmes need faster than the market can supply them.

Our Academy trains the talent that powers our own market-leading teams—and through our Pod model, you get direct access to those same proven engineers, with the option to bring them permanently in-house. We build capability for ourselves. Now we build it for you.

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The Challenge

Our Approach

WHO IT’S FOR

HOW WE DELIVER

OUTCOMES & BENEFITS

PROVEN RESULTS

FAQS

The
Challenge

Critical national infrastructure projects are falling behind schedule due to an exhausted pool of security-cleared engineering talent – and it’s a problem traditional recruitment was never designed to solve.

The
Cleared-Talent
Bottleneck

The mission-critical nature of UK public sector and defence programmes requires high-level security clearance, which creates significant deployment delays that traditional hiring simply cannot absorb

68% of government departments cite recruitment and retention of specialist cleared talent as a primary risk to project delivery (UK Government Digital, Data and Technology Profession Report)

Unsustainable Contractor
Costs

Reliance on short-term, high-day-rate contractors for cleared roles creates massive budgetary pressure, IR35 exposure, and technical debt that compounds over time

Organisations relying heavily on external contractors face up to 30% higher costs compared to those with structured internal or hybrid talent pipelines (McKinsey & Company)

Stagnated
Engineering
Velocity

Programmes are forced to pause or descope because junior-to-mid-level cleared roles remain vacant for over 180 days and every month of vacancy compounds the delay

For every month a critical technical role remains unfilled, project timelines slip by an average of 1.4 months (Gartner)

The cost of inaction

Failure to establish a sustainable cleared talent pipeline leads to compounding delays, increased security risk from unvetted stop-gap hires, and the eventual failure of critical policy objectives.

average time to hire a cleared engineer via traditional recruitment

0 + days

annual UK digital spend at risk due to delivery constraints

£ 0 bn

average attrition rate for high-cost cleared contractors

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Our
APPROACH

We replace contractor dependency with a predictable, high-quality consultancy delivery model backed by an award-winning Academy that develops the next generation of engineers – powering our own practice, and yours.

What Makes Us
Different

Proactive security vetting

We eliminate the waiting gap between offer and deployment by initiating and managing the UK security clearance process while consultants are still in the training academy. Cleared engineers are ready to deploy the moment your programme needs them.

Award-winning Academy Training

Ranked #1 for graduate training by JobCrowd, our 12-week intensive curriculum is designed and delivered by senior consulting practitioners – focusing on practical application in highly regulated environments, not just theoretical knowledge. Every engineer passes a rigorous 7-gate assessment before entering your supply chain.

Practitioner-led Reach-back Support

Deployed consultants are backed by a consulting practice of 100s of staff. They can resolve complex technical challenges independently, drawing on deep expertise across Cloud, Data, QE, and Agentic Automation without escalating to your internal teams.

Pod Delivery Model

Our unique Pod model offers two distinct options: a Next Gen Pod, where next-gen talent operates under your management with reach-back into our practice, and a Delivery Pod, where our senior consultants and next-gen talent work together as a blended delivery team. In both cases, you have the option to bring proven engineers permanently in-house after a typical two-year engagement.

Public Sector Specialisation

Direct access via the PSR framework for simplified procurement. Our training modules are specifically designed around GDS standards, government security protocols, and the delivery demands of complex, multi-year public sector programmes.

Platforms, Tools

METHODOLOGIES

We offer two delivery models:

Our Next Gen Pod deploys next-gen consultants directly under your management and supervision – with reach-back into our wider practice for technical support and expertise when you need it.
Our Delivery Pod provides a blended team of senior consultants and next-gen academy talent, fully managed by us to achieve a specific service outcome.

In both models, you have the option to bring next-gen engineers permanently in-house after a typical engagement period of two years.

What's

included

NEXT GEN
TALENT

Our award-winning Academy puts high-potential engineers through an intensive 12-week practitioner-led curriculum, and deploys them as job-ready, specialist consultants. If you engage next-gen talent directly through our Next Gen Pod model, you can manage and direct that talent yourself, retaining the flexibility of direct supervision while maintaining reach-back into our wider practice for technical support.

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CLEARANCE ASSURED
ENGINEERS

Pre-vetted, SC-cleared engineers ready to deploy without the six-month hiring cycle. By initiating the clearance process during academy training, we eliminate the gap that stalls most cleared programmes – giving you access to security-cleared technologists who can contribute from day one across your most sensitive workloads.

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NEXT GEN
PODS

Direct access to our Academy-trained engineers, deployed under your own management and supervision with full reach-back into our wider consulting practice. Next Gen Pods give you the control and flexibility of directly managing your engineering resource, backed by the assurance that expert support is always available when complex challenges arise.

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DELIVERY
PODS

Immediate cross-functional capability delivered by a blended team of senior consultants and next-gen academy talent – fully managed by us. Delivery Pods accelerate programmes, transfer knowledge, and build internal capability.

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BESPOKE ACADEMY
PROGRAMMES

Custom training academies designed and delivered around your specific tools, methodologies, and security requirements. Whether you need engineers trained on your proprietary stack, your sector’s regulatory environment, or your organisation’s ways of working, we build a tailored curriculum around your programme.

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Who Do We
Work With?

Designed for leaders managing complex delivery programmes within high-security environments, where talent scarcity, clearance requirements and delivery pressure combine to make traditional hiring unworkable.

COMPANY SIZE

Public Sector: Central Government Departments, Arms Length Bodies, Local Authorities

Enterprise: FTSE 250 organisations with sensitive data requirements

Scale-up: High-growth SaaS platforms entering the defence or government markets

Maturity Level

Scaling engineering teams for the first time

Replacing fragmented contractor models

Building sovereign permanent engineering capability

I need to Modernise infrastructure

Optimize our costs

Government Programme Leadership

Government Programme Manager

Programme leaders tasked with delivering multi-year policy initiatives who lack the cleared junior-to-mid-level engineers needed to execute. They need a consultancy partner who understands the unique demands of public sector delivery.

Security compliance

Delivery velocity

Social value alignment

Developer experience

I need to scale reliably

Data & AI Leadership

Public Sector Head of AI/Data

Data and AI leaders who need to scale AI and data engineering capability but cannot find cleared ML or data engineers through traditional channels – and cannot afford to pause AI ambitions while they wait.

Technical competence

Fast ramp-up

Talent continuity

I need to deliver security assurance

Increase productivity

Technology Leadership

CTO - Government
Technology Supplier

Technology leaders building products for central government or similar environments who need an immediate influx of SC-cleared engineers, particularly in organisations with ageing technical workforces that need refreshing.

Security assurance

Scalability

Ease of integration

I need to deliver value faster

Reduce cost

Commercial & Procurement Leadership

Commercial / Procurement Director

Procurement leaders seeking a compliant, cost-effective and sustainable long-term alternative to high-risk, high-cost IR35 contractors – with the governance and social value credentials to satisfy both finance and policy requirements.

IR35 compliance

Cost reduction

Social value and diversity

scaleDELIVERY

Our proven next gen
Talent methodology

NEEDS DISCOVERY & CLEARANCE AUDIT

We map your tech stack, security requirements and programme timeline to our clearance pipeline – defining the role profiles and resource plan that will underpin the engagement.

Deliverables

CANDIDATE SELECTION & VETTING

High-potential candidates are selected and put through intensive technical and security screening with clearance initiated immediately to eliminate the standard vetting delay.

Deliverables

ACADEMY TRAINING & ALIGNMENT

Candidates undergo 8–12 weeks of training tailored to your specific tools, methodologies and regulatory environment. They’re assessed against rigorous KPIs before being certified as ready to perform.

Deliverables

DEPLOYMENT & INTEGRATION

Engineers are embedded into your squads with active mentorship from senior consultants and onboarded with clear performance dashboards and a 30-day review gate to ensure immediate impact.

Deliverables

CAPABILITY TRANSFER & TRANSITION

Ongoing focus on knowledge documentation and permanent transition planning – ensuring the capability we deploy becomes a lasting asset to your organisation. You are get the option to bring proven next-gen engineers permanently in-house after a typical two-year engagement.

Deliverables

INFORM

At every phase, we maintain a consistent thread of transparency and insight. You receive high-quality, actionable data on engineer performance, programme progress and talent pipeline health – because confident workforce decisions require confident information.

Deliverables

Outcomes & Benefits

Measurable impact across data quality, AI readiness, cost and platform performance

reduction in time-to-deploy cleared engineers versus traditional routes

0 %

lower total cost of ownership compared to traditional contractor models

0 %

retention rate of Academy consultants over the first 24 months

0 %

Business Benefits

PROGRAMME ACCELERATION

Eliminate the talent-related paused state that stalls critical programmes. Deploy cleared, job-ready engineers in weeks rather than the months traditional approaches demand.

BUDGET STABILITY

A fixed-cost consultancy model that replaces the volatility and IR35 exposure of the contractor market with a predictable, governed delivery model that finance leaders can plan around.

SOVEREIGN CAPABILITY

Build a permanent, internal engineering workforce through our hire-out model. And transitioning proven next-gen talent into long-term organisational capability rather than perpetual external dependency.

ENHANCED DIVERSITY AND SOCIAL VALUE

Access a talent pool that is significantly more diverse than the industry average, supporting your social value commitments and building an engineering workforce that reflects the communities your programmes serve.

Technical Benefits

STANDARDISED ENGINEERING QUALITY

Every engineer is trained against our industry-leading technical curriculum – entering your programme with consistent, validated skills across Cloud, Data, QE and Agentic Automation rather than the variable quality of the contractor market.

MODERN TOOL PROFICIENCY

Immediate access to skills in cloud-native and AI infrastructure. Engineers are trained on the modern tooling your programmes actually use, not legacy skills that require expensive upskilling on the job.

REDUCED TECHNICAL DEBT

Junior talent mentored by senior consulting practitioners – ensuring clean, maintainable codebases and engineering discipline.

OPERATIONAL CONTINUITY

Stable squads that retain tribal knowledge far longer than short-term contractors to protect programme momentum, reduce onboarding overhead, and build the institutional knowledge your delivery depends on.

Proven Results

Real transformations delivering measurable business impact

fcdo

Building a security cleared AI capability at the FCDO

Challenge

The FCDO partnered with Scale Factory to implement a hybrid consultancy model that builds sovereign AI capability rather than vendor dependency.

Solution

By implementing this model, Scale Factory helped the FCDO move beyond short-term experiments to build a sovereign capability that will serve the department for years to come. This partnership ensures that, as the technology evolves, the FCDO retains a project-hardened, in-house workforce ready to run and scale these services independently.

Read Full Case Study

defence

Solving skill shortages in the UK Defence sector

Challenge

The client faced a significant challenge with an ageing workforce, where over 1,000 employees were expected to retire within the next five years. This impending talent drain risked causing a severe skill shortage in critical technical and project roles.

Solution

To address these challenges, the client partnered with Scale Factory to implement a customised Recruit, Train, Deploy (RTD) solution designed to provide a continuous pipeline of skilled talent.

Read Full Case Study

What Our
Clients Say

Hear from engineering leaders who have transformed
their organisations with Scale Factory.

The Scale Factory Academy engineers’ ability to settle in and quickly become part of the Tunstall team has allayed any concerns we originally had about the onboarding process with this sort of programme. And the positive, proactiveness demonstrated by every one of the Scale Factory engineers is really great to see.

Adam Miller

Tunstall Healthcare Director of Firmware and Testing, Innovation and Development

Frequently Asked
Questions

How long does it take to deploy Academy Engineers into our programme?

From our pre-vetted pool of Academy graduates, we can deploy in as little as four to six weeks. For bespoke programmes requiring custom training, timelines are typically three to four months from brief to deployment.

How does the permanent hire option work in practice?

After a typical two-year engagement – whether through a Next Gen Pod or Delivery Pod – clients have the option to offer proven engineers permanent in-house roles. We facilitate a straightforward transition that protects both the individual and the client relationship.

How do you maintain quality standards across Academy engineers?

Every engineer passes a rigorous 7-gate assessment and 6-month performance review cycle before and during deployment. Our reach-back model means deployed engineers are backed by senior practitioners who maintain quality standards throughout the engagement.

Do your engineers come with security clearance already in place?

We initiate the SC clearance process during academy training – eliminating the standard six-month vetting wait. Engineers from our cleared pool are available for deployment significantly faster than any traditional recruitment or contractor route can achieve.