We hold the full picture

ScaleAround is a technology consultancy that works with growing businesses at the point where the technology, the operations, and the product direction need to be connected

HOW WE WORK

What you should expect from us

You will get honest answers. If something is not working, we will say so. If we are not the right fit, we will say that too. You are paying for clarity, not comfort.

You will get stronger, not more dependent. Every engagement is designed to leave your team more capable than we found them. We coach, we transfer knowledge, and we work towards making ourselves unnecessary. The best relationships evolve rather than ending.

You will get someone in the room. We do not hand over a report and disappear. Whether the engagement is a review, a fractional role, or an implementation programme, we are there until the work is done.

Origin

Why ScaleAround exists

ScaleAround was founded in 2023 to close a pattern we had seen too many times across two decades of technology leadership. Talented technical teams building good technology that was not quite connected to where the business was going. The CTO deep in delivery. The CEO focused on growth. Nobody standing in the middle asking whether everything was pointing in the same direction.

ScaleAround exists to stand in that middle. We bring senior technology leadership into the room at the moments where the gap between the technical function and the business does the most damage. Reviews, fractional executive roles, and hands-on implementation support.

Delivery Model

How we resource engagements

Every engagement is resourced from a vetted network of senior practitioners. Each member of the network has at least fifteen years of delivery experience at CTO, CIO, VP Engineering, or equivalent level. No junior analysts, no rotating associates, no anonymous bench. You will always know who is doing the work, and they will always be senior enough to do it properly.

Matching is deliberate. When we scope an engagement, we look at the sector, the technology context, the stage of the business, and the specific question on the table. We then place the practitioner whose background fits the shape of the problem. The right person for a fintech re-platform is not the right person for a care technology review, and we do not pretend otherwise.

Oliver leads the firm, sits in every client relationship, holds the quality bar, and stays close enough to the work to step in if something needs recalibrating. ScaleAround is a small firm that stays close, with the depth of a senior network behind it.

AT A GLANCE

Where we work

Cardiff-based, UK-wide in reach, remote-first in delivery but happy to be on-site. Our work cuts across regulated and high-growth environments where technology, operations, and product direction have to move together.

Typical sectors include fintech, SaaS, care technology, professional membership organisations, electric vehicle infrastructure, and food technology. Engagements range from a single review through to a multi-quarter fractional executive role or an implementation programme.

THE COMPANY

Founded

2023, Cardiff, UK

Led by

Oliver Smith FBCS, Founder and CEO

Delivery

Vetted senior network, 15+ years each

Sectors

Fintech, SaaS, CareTech, Professional Membership, Electric Vehicle and Charging, Food Tech, Retail

Coverage

UK-wide

Membership

FinTech Wales

ETHICAL CHARTER

Our commitments

ScaleAround is led by a Fellow of the British Computer Society and works to the BCS Code of Conduct. We therefore share the four commitments which are based on their ethical charter for members.

Public interest first

We have due regard for public health, privacy, security and wellbeing, for the environment, and for the legitimate rights of third parties. We do not treat those as trade-offs against commercial pressure.

Professional competence and integrity

We only take on work we are qualified to do, and we are honest about the limits of our competence. We reject bribery and any conflict of interest that would compromise independent advice.

Duty to the client

We act in the client’s legitimate interests, keep information confidential, and are honest about risk and uncertainty, including telling clients things they may not want to hear.

Duty to the profession

We uphold the reputation of the profession, support colleagues in their professional development, and represent the profession accurately.

On top of that, ScaleAround does not work with oil and gas or fossil fuel companies, weapons or defence contractors, gambling businesses, or any organisation whose core business causes environmental destruction. Every engagement is assessed against this charter before a contract is signed. If a potential engagement is in these areas, we decline.

Founder and CEO

Oliver Smith

Oliver leads ScaleAround. He founded the firm in 2023 after twenty years in technology leadership, in VP Engineering and CTO roles running a global engineering functions of eighty-five people across multiple countries. As CTO of a UK fintech where he grew the technology team from six to twenty-four and led a full re-platform of the core system. He also expanded the quality function of a well known travel .com from 3 people to 60 across the UK and India. He stays hands-on, sits in every client relationship, and holds the quality bar.

“He left us in a stronger position than he found us. By the end of his engagement we had a structure mapped to the organisation’s operational needs, a new engineering partner onboarded, a Salesforce reset underway with a specialist partner, a live CIO scorecard in Power BI, and a clear set of recommendations for what comes next. His handover was thorough and well structured.

Oliver is direct, well organised, and brings a level of clarity that is hard to find.  To add to that he is a pleasure to be around! I would recommend him to any organisation looking for interim technology leadership that actually moves things forward.”

Sharron Gunn
Group CEO, BCS – The Chartered Institute for IT

Credentials

Experience

20+ years in technology leadership across CTO, CIO, and VP Engineering roles

Fellowship

Fellow of the British Computer Society (FBCS)

Professional Membership


Fellow of the British Computer Society (FBCS)

Education

BSc (Hons) Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence, University of Sussexm Master #11,687 (2005), one of the first 12,000 globally

Industry

Three-time judge, European Software Testing Awards; Previously CARE Panel member, Computational Foundry, Swansea University

Get Started

Start a conversation

A 30-minute scoping call. We will ask about your situation, tell you honestly whether we can help, and if it makes sense, outline next steps. No pitch deck. No pressure. No charge.

Get in touch