JOBS: Director of User Services sought by University of Edinburgh

The following position is being advertised by The University of Edinburgh and the recruiter has asked us to spread word through the Girl Geek Scotland Network. Hope it is of interest to some of you. Details below and at the link:

Hudson Technology Change & Digital Transformation are now working with one of Scotland’s most recognised institutes as they seek to recruit a Director of User Services within one of their key Service Groups. This role will form a critical part of the organisation’s Digital and Service Transformation Strategy as they will focus on providing an excellent level of service for the wider organisation.

Find out more about this excellent opportunity here.

 

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JOBS: Deputy CIO Sought by The University Of Edinburgh

The following position is being advertised by The University of Edinburgh and the recruiter has asked us to spread word through the Girl Geek Scotland Network. Hope it is of interest to some of you. Details below and at the link:

Hudson Technology, Change & Digital Transformation are proud to be working with the University of Edinburgh, one of the most globally recognised institutes in the country, as they seek to recruit the Director of their Applications Development and Operations Division within the Information Services Group. With a focus on the University’s Digital Transformation strategy over the next few years, this role is a critical hire for the organisation as they aim to stay at the forefront of technology within higher education.

Find out more about this excellent opportunity here.

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Looking for a Job in the USA? You’re Hired!

I’ve just discovered an interesting new site called Hired. It is very simple. It connects talent in the technology sector with employers in the USA.

At the moment it seems very small, but already has UX and UI Designers, Product Managers, Project Managers, Software Engineers, and Data Scientists. It also claims you will get between 5 and 15 offers in one week from some of the 700+ employers who have already signed up.

While Scotland provides a rich startup ecology it has very few multi-facing software products that have developed scale without US investment. There are a few very exciting products in Scotland that could be described as up and coming… and that nets a few jobs for skilled workers in this field.

Some of my friends have managed to net a US job remotely. However, that is rare and they developed innovative and provoking self-publicising schemes which on one occasion made the front page of Hacker News. It’s true that there is no shortage of Technology roles, and because the sector is so fast moving employers are finding these roles hard to fill… but what happens when you have an idea for an innovative software product and you want to develop a start up business? This will be very hard.

Scottish Enterprise has criteria for High Growth that expects around £400K in 3 years. This pushes some early startups, looking for support, to grasp at unrealistic goals for Exit. Most software startups, and particularly multi-facing products simply take longer to go through the early startup and development phase. Multi-facing products also generally take a large investment to develop their early market foothold.

Heidi Roizen recently told an audience of Girl Geeks, that when she invests in this kind of product, she expects to develop a relationship with her young business over a period of 10 years. So the mindset for investment in this type of product is quite different in the USA. The “£3-5 (million) in 3-5 (years)” mentality of the Scottish investment scene is killing young software companies.

Finding the right investor with the right experience and enough financial clout while fitting within the Scottish Enterprise eligibility guidelines is almost impossible. Scotland simply has not got the track record of supporting this kind of product beyond early start up phase.

I don’t doubt that we will see a number of young Scottish companies hopping over the Atlantic for investment in the near future. In the meantime, I’m quite excited to see how this new multi-facing software product develops and if it can offer some Scottish talent, new work opportunities, that are just too hard to get in Scotland.

http://join.hired.com/x/MundPx

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