Matthew Hutchings
Manchester,Worsley
Summary
Strategic Talent Acquisition Leader experienced in scaling recruitment functions within technology consultancy, defence, retail, and public sectors. Founded and grew a specialist digital recruitment consultancy focused on cyber security and digital transformation, achieving high retention rates and strong client relationships. Developed data driven talent acquisition strategies that optimised recruitment outcomes and reduced reliance on external agencies.
Overview
10
10
years of professional experience
Work History
RESOURCE PARTNER – CONTINGENT WORKFORCE
Transport for Greater Manchester
Manchester
09.2025 - Current
- Lead the transformation of TFGM's contingent workforce strategy and business as usual resourcing, sourcing through LinkedIn Recruiter and managing more than 100 contingent workers across a complex, matrixed organisation spanning ticketing, finance, HR, construction and major programmes.
- Reduced annual contingent spend across contractors, consultants, delivery partners and temporary workers to £16.5 million, including a 7% reduction in daily spend, through stronger supplier management, improved utilisation and tighter governance.
- Led the mobilisation of TFGM's new £60 million, four year Preferred Supplier List (GMCRSF), owning the Talent and Resourcing workstream through to Invitation to Tender with Procurement, Legal, HR Shared Services and Finance.
- Designed and implemented the full GMCRSF KPI and SLA framework within four weeks, ensuring all measures were agreed, published and operational through ProContract from mobilisation.
- Converted 6 long term contractors into permanent employees, reducing contingent dependency while retaining critical organisational knowledge.
- Led implementation of the IR35 Shield programme and IR35 and Procurement Act compliance restructures, and designed workshops for hiring managers on selection, IR35, contingent worker rights and compliant resourcing.
- Authored onboarding and offboarding policies and manager guidance, correcting historic inaccuracies in contingent workforce data to establish a reliable foundation for reporting and utilisation analysis.
- Created a resource management tracker to enhance visibility of demand, utilisation and tenure, establishing an objective to reduce contingent worker tenure to under 2 years.
- Provided strategic workforce planning and recruitment advice across TFGM, partnering with areas such as Ticketing to reduce long term contingent usage and building tiered workforce plans based on delivery risk, IR35 risk and future capability needs.
- Introduced interim agency working practices and SLAs covering spend control, time to hire and IR35 adherence while the new preferred supplier list was established.
- Compliance, governance and workforce planning
RETAIL TALENT ACQUISITION SPECIALIST (FTC)
Footasylum
Manchester, Rochdale
04.2025 - 06.2025
- Led recruitment for major store openings in Leeds and West Bromwich, collaborating with 5 Area Managers through fortnightly calls and delivering data-driven hiring feedback alongside weekly Talent Acquisition reports.
- Managed portfolio of 60+ live vacancies across 65 stores using LinkedIn Recruiter and Teamtailor ATS, filling 20 roles within 3 months to support operational needs.
- Fixed term secondment; role ended on the postholder's return. Reference available from the Head of Talent Acquisition.
FOUNDER, OWNER & DELIVERY CONSULTANT
Honeypot Digital
Manchester
03.2020 - 01.2025
- Founded Honeypot Digital in March 2020 and grew it into a six person consultancy delivering permanent and contract cybersecurity and digital transformation talent across the UK and US.
- Supplied talent to major defence organisations including BAE Systems, and was nominated for a BAE Systems supplier award; expanded internationally by securing Raytheon and supplying staff into North America and the Middle East.
- Achieved 91% retention and secured 22 client wins through permanent placements; implemented data led recruitment, reducing average time to hire for security cleared roles from 16 weeks to 46 days and non security cleared roles from 61 days to 26 days.
- Streamlined security cleared recruitment process, cutting time to hire from 16 weeks to 46 days.
- Optimised recruitment for non-security cleared positions, decreasing time to hire from 61 days to 26 days.
- Recruited, line managed and developed 6 team members; designed onboarding and ongoing training, establishing individual and business targets to enhance team performance.
- Designed Honeypot Digital recruitment process, defining candidate profiles and hiring timelines; introduced LinkedIn Recruiter, Bullhorn ATS automation, video interviewing, and optimised job descriptions to streamline recruitment.
- Led an inclusive recruitment strategy built on skills based hiring, structured interviews, competency based screening and partnerships with organisations supporting under represented groups.
- Ran "meet the manager" and LinkedIn Recruiter campaigns, rewrote job adverts to reflect the employer value proposition and produced bi monthly salary insight and benchmarking reports.
INTERNAL RECRUITMENT LEAD (FTC)
NES Fircroft
Manchester
09.2019 - 11.2019
- Recruited 9 consultants within 2 months during office relocation to Manchester city centre, establishing Tech Division via LinkedIn Recruiter and professional network.
- Conducted in-depth interviews with candidates to assess competencies and cultural fit for specific roles ensuring alignment with organisational values.
- Facilitated negotiation processes between clients and candidates, achieving agreeable terms for both parties.
- Helped transition organisation to Manchester city centre.
HEAD OF INTERNAL RECRUITMENT
Planixs
Manchester
04.2017 - 08.2019
- Developed and delivered recruitment strategies aligned with organisational growth and long term workforce capability requirements, growing headcount from 26 to 60.
- Applied talent market intelligence, recruitment analytics and stakeholder feedback to align recruitment data with strategic workforce plan and achieve time to hire of 44 days while scaling the team.
- Reduced agency placements from 80% to 7% through a streamlined hiring policy, saving over £100,000 in agency fees; managed search partners, recruitment budgets and supplier performance to deliver quality and value.
- Acted as a trusted adviser to senior stakeholders, providing market insight to inform hiring decisions, and led salary benchmarking to support retention through an office move.
- Built sustainable talent pipelines and introduced the "No For Now" feedback approach to strengthen candidate experience and reduce bias.
- Created neuro inclusive job descriptions, skills first specifications, and diverse interview panels to enhance candidate experience and support Employee Engagement initiative centred on wellbeing.
- Managed a portfolio of 20 live vacancies at any one time, using LinkedIn Recruiter to deliver niche requirements including Python developers, fintech focused business analysts and specialist testing capability.
- Coordinated careers events, networking sessions and targeted attraction activities for hard to fill roles, leveraging partnerships with Barclays Eagle Labs to attract talent.
- Held concurrently with the BrightBox Group role (BrightBox is a Planixs subsidiary).
HEAD OF TALENT ACQUISITION
Brightbox Group (formerly AgilITe Services)
Manchester
06.2016 - 08.2019
- Developed and delivered a talent acquisition strategy aligned with business priorities, growth plans and workforce needs, keeping pace with competitors in the rapidly evolving intraday liquidity technology market.
- Transitioned business from reliance on preferred supplier list to a 3 part model for permanent recruitment, public sector contract supply, and account management, developing Squad Model framework for business development and resource allocation.
- Created and managed RPO for HMRC's Making Tax Digital contract, building procurement compliant agency supplier list, KPIs, SLAs, and operating model while managing recruitment budgets and supplier performance.
- Retained HMRC Making Tax Digital preferred supplier list while managing over 80 contractors across 6 HMRC sites, including Newcastle and Leeds, maintaining a contractor run rate of £60,000 per month.
- Delivered £285,775 from 38 permanent placements in 2019, averaging 3.1 placements per month, while facilitating the securing and expansion of public sector contracts with HMRC, DWP, GMP, and DEFRA through competitive tenders.
- Enhanced direct sourcing, talent mapping, market intelligence, and employer branding using LinkedIn Recruiter and leveraging a strong network within Manchester technology community.
- Designed one week onboarding and training course for new resource consultants, supporting employer branding and candidate attraction through job adverts, recruitment events, and careers content.
Education
BA (Hons) - English Literature
University of Central Lancashire
Preston09-2012
BCS Foundation Certificate - Business Analysis
ITonlinelearning
06-2025
Skills
- Contingent management
- IR35 compliance
- Supplier management
- RPO management
- Workforce planning
- Recruitment Analytics
- Direct sourcing
- LinkedIn Recruiter
- Bullhorn & Teamtailor ATS
- Employer Branding
- Salary Benchmarking
- Talent strategy
- Stakeholder Influence
- Team Leadership & Coaching
Accomplishments
- Built Honeypot Digital, leading a business for 5 years.
- Reduced annual contingent workforce spend at Transport for Greater Manchester to £16.5 million.
- Designed and delivered an RPO for HMRC's Making Tax Digital programme, including a procurement compliant supplier list, KPIs, SLAs, operating model and budget ownership.
Websites, Portfolios, Profiles
linkedin.com/in/matthew hutchings 418252b0
REFERENCES
Available on request.
INTERESTS
Father, husband, aspiring home cook, nature lover and keen reader. Long suffering Bolton Wanderers supporter.
Timeline
RESOURCE PARTNER – CONTINGENT WORKFORCE
Transport for Greater Manchester
09.2025 - Current
RETAIL TALENT ACQUISITION SPECIALIST (FTC)
Footasylum
04.2025 - 06.2025
FOUNDER, OWNER & DELIVERY CONSULTANT
Honeypot Digital
03.2020 - 01.2025
INTERNAL RECRUITMENT LEAD (FTC)
NES Fircroft
09.2019 - 11.2019
HEAD OF INTERNAL RECRUITMENT
Planixs
04.2017 - 08.2019
HEAD OF TALENT ACQUISITION
Brightbox Group (formerly AgilITe Services)
06.2016 - 08.2019
BA (Hons) - English Literature
University of Central Lancashire
BCS Foundation Certificate - Business Analysis
ITonlinelearning