About techfolk. How may we help?

techfolk® is an independent Bristol based IT recruitment agency, supporting the South West’s technology scene and beyond.

We work hard to bring you relevant and interesting jobs - mainly with technology providers and forward thinking users of IT - and, having worked in industry ourselves, we can add value throughout your job application process.

We offer you our expert and personable service across permanent and contract vacancies, including;

  • Senior appointments: management | technical directorship | executive
  • Software, Web and mobile: development | QA & testing | DevOps | team leadership | architecture
  • User experience: consultancy | research | strategy | design | information architecture
  • Data | database administration | big data
  • Postgraduates: BSc | MSc | BEng | MEng | BA | MA | MBA | EngD | PhD | DPhil
  • Infrastructure | networking | security
  • Service desk | helpdesk | technical support
  • Hardware | embedded | low level coding
  • Programme & project management | business analysis
  • Service delivery | change, configuration & release management
  • Systems implementation | business intelligence | data warehousing
  • Product management | technical marketing | pre sales | business development | account management

With nationwide reach, our network is currently strongest in the South West, plus we support the tech hubs of Cambridge, London and Manchester. We get entirely home-based vacancies from time to time too.

We’re usually the only agency representing the vacancies that you see and we have long-term relationships with most of our employer customers. Working closely with the line managers, we establish the facts and possibilities to understand which jobs are relevant for your situation and aspirations - so we will hopefully never waste your time. And, if there's something we don't know, we can soon ask.

This genuine understanding of the organisation’s strategy, aspirations, culture and technology roadmap means we can give you the full picture so you can make informed career decisions. We will also know if cross training your skills may be possible and we can share our impartial understanding of the career prospects too.

We're Affiliate members of the British Computer Society and we honour the BCS code of conduct. We adhere to the Data Protection Act (reg. no. ZA084590). Importantly, we're members of the Recruitment and Employers Confederation too (membership no. 00089203), adhering to the REC code of practice.

Whilst we aren’t qualified to offer career advice, we’re always happy to share ideas and to pass on the benefit of our experience. Please do get in touch.

You can also check out our current vacancies, and feel free to apply speculatively to hear about future jobs - we can't always publish every vacancy due to commercial sensitivities, and we don't always advertise beyond contacting known people within our existing network.

We are proud of what other employers are saying about our work. And we’ll be adding new material to the IT jobs search resources page over the coming months - this may be worth saving to favourites. Please feel free to join our social networks too.

We look forward to working together soon. All the best with your job search!

The techfolk team

The team

"I discovered technology in 1997 and by 2000 had established my career in software and product training. I’ve worked with technology driven companies ever since. I’m as comfortable being part of the teams using tech to solve problems as I am leading teams that create new solutions. My more recent roles have included delivering Web and SaaS projects, and managing remote development and commercial teams. Hiring technical and commercial colleagues has been my responsibility in most of these. Working with recruitment agencies as an employer has given me an excellent understanding of what’s needed to support the people we now help. I met Andrew in 2008 whilst we were working to deliver icould.com; we make an effective team and complement each other well. My natural strengths are organisation, project management and communications and I have a lasting passion for technology (obviously) and ancient history (I’m Italian, so no surprises there)."

Vittoria Rubino - Operations Manager

View Vittoria Rubino's profile on LinkedIn
Andrew Gifford | techfolk

"In many ways the role of a recruiter is easy. We're the middle people. We risk very little, besides our professional reputation. We undertake the operational costs of the campaign and our output is high, but the real talent lies within the teams we help build. Our role is to build networks, to guide and orchestrate. We're the sounding board, the impartial facilitators. We remain open minded while weighing the strengths and aspirations of the people we meet with the values and engineering objectives of the employers we support. I consider techfolk fortunate to represent the organisations it does, many of whom placed trust in us following a personal recommendation. This is year eleven for me, plus seven years working inside technology providers such as the ISP UUNET during the early years of the Web and the systems software provider Zeus Technology. Outside of work, I'm into cycling, the outdoors and exploring all that Bristol and the sunny South West offers. "

Andrew Gifford - Founding Director

View Andrew Gifford's profile on LinkedIn

"I've been fascinated by computing since my school bought an Apple computer. As they became more accessible in the eighties my father bought the family a BBC Model B, and I taught myself BBC Basic. The 'Internet' was born whilst I was studying Computing at University and I set myself up as a Web Designer a couple of years later. My first foray into database driven websites led me to learn ASP. Eventually I moved towards open source products and took all development over to OSX and Linux. I taught myself Drupal, rebuilt my websites and nowadays I'd describe myself as a 'Drupal Themer' who dabbles in 'development' - I'm still learning - aren't we all? Andrew and I share a passion for cycling and he's quite happy with me remoting in from the Pyrenees on one of my long summer tours"

Jon Laurence, Web Guy

Ways we can help you

techfolk® is an technology R&D and IT recruitment agency, primarily supporting the ecosystem of technology firms across the South West region, notably Bristol, Bath, Swindon and Cardiff.

We do support organisations with teams based further afield too, for instance the technology hubs of London, Cambridge, and Manchester.

To give you an idea of the vacancies we may bring you, we're currently supporting a growing network of employers in domains as diverse as:

  • Linked Data and Semantic Web: JavaScript, Ruby, Java, Apache Jena, AWS, DevOps
  • Public cloud managed services: building AWS and Google cloud DevOps teams
  • IOT analytics and subscriber management: C++, Web, AI and data science
  • Terminology software and data tools: Java, JavaScript, ontologies, RDF, SPARQL
  • Network management software: C++, AI, Python, SDN, NFV, JavaScript
  • Recommendation engine content serving platform: Go, Node.js, AngularJS, AI, big data
  • High volume RDBMS: C++, database engine, PostgreSQL
  • Learning management application: PHP, Symfony / laravel
  • Image Management Server platform: native JavaScript, Linux, Open Source
  • UX and digital experience agency: UX, JavaScript, front end, Python, PHP, DevOps
  • Global silicon manufacturer: hardware, consumer devices, user tools, .NET
  • Energy provider and trading platforms: Java, .NET, Web, business processes

For an idea of our approach, please do check out what techfolk's hiring managers are saying about our work, many of whom came to us following a personal recommendation.

We’re usually the only agency representing the vacancy you see and we have long-term relationships with many of the organisations we represent, so we can give you a complete picture of their aims, values and engineering objectives.

Please do register with us to hear about current jobs and forthcoming vacancies too, as we can't always advertise each position for confidentiality or commercial reasons.

We aren’t qualified to offer career advice, but we are happy to share ideas and to pass on the benefit of our experience. Please do get in touch.

And we’ll be adding new material to the job search resources page and the techfolk blog over the coming months. Please feel welcome to join our social networks too.

We look forward to working with you.

With thanks,

The techfolk team

Accreditations

We're Affiliate members of the British Computer Society and we honour the BCS code of conduct.

We are registered with the ICO as a member of the Data Protection Act and agree to adhere to its principles; you can read our Data Protection Policy here. We have updated our Privacy Policy and Privacy Notice in line with the GDPR.

Importantly, we're also members of the Recruitment and Employers Confederation (membership no. 00089203), and we adhere to the REC code of practice (our terms of business for employers are REC approved).