International Cyber and Information Security Consultancy (Cheltenham)

Sourcing an IT Governance, Risk and Compliance Consultant After Relocating Operations from London to Cheltenham

The Challenge

Our client was an international cyber and information security consultancy that had recently relocated their operations from London to Cheltenham. Almost immediately, they needed to hire an IT Governance, Risk and Compliance Consultant, a specialist role requiring a rare combination of technical GRC expertise, financial sector experience, and the willingness to travel regularly across the UK and Europe.

The relocation created a specific problem. The client knew the London market. They had no knowledge of Cheltenham or the wider South West. They did not know where the relevant talent sat, what the role should pay outside of London, or whether the profile they needed even existed in sufficient numbers locally. The candidate also needed to be South West based, which ruled out the passive London talent pool they might otherwise have accessed. They had never recruited for this role in this location and had no local networks to draw on.

They needed a recruitment partner with genuine knowledge of the regional market and the reach to find a niche profile in an area the client was still finding its feet in.

The Solution

Xist4 started with a visit to the client’s new Cheltenham office before any search activity began. Understanding the operation, the culture, and the practical realities of the role in its new location was necessary groundwork, not a courtesy call.

• Mapped the GRC talent landscape across Cheltenham, the wider South West, and adjacent regions, building a clear picture of candidate availability, salary expectations, and how the London compensation benchmarks the client was used to compared to the regional market.
• Conducted a targeted search focused on professionals with IT GRC expertise and financial sector experience, combining direct outreach with referral networks within the finance and cyber security communities.
• Identified candidates with the right combination of technical depth and the practical flexibility the role required, specifically the willingness to travel regularly across the UK and Europe from a South West base.
• Supplemented direct outreach with optimised advertising through relevant professional networks and specialist channels to maximise reach in a constrained geographic market.
• Assessed candidates on GRC technical depth, financial sector understanding, cultural fit for a consultancy environment, and genuine comfort with the travel demands the role involved.

The Result

Within eleven weeks, Xist4 presented a shortlist of qualified IT GRC professionals with the right technical background, financial sector experience, and South West base.

The client hired a candidate who met the technical requirements, brought relevant financial sector experience, and had the adaptability the role demanded across high-profile client engagements in the UK and Europe. For a business that had just relocated and had no local hiring knowledge to draw on, getting the right person in place in eleven weeks required someone who already knew the market they were walking into.