Northern Irish Brothers Fulfil Lifelong Dream of Running a Recruitment Business Together: Stephen Kerr Joins Urban Connect as Director and Head of IT Recruitment, Expanding Urban Connect’s Offering
Urban Connect, a leading Construction & Engineering recruitment firm headquartered in Manchester, and backed by James Caan CBE’s recruitment investment firm, Recruitment Entrepreneur, proudly announces the addition of Stephen Kerr as Director & Head of IT Recruitment. Stephen is set to lead the business alongside his brother Andrew Kerr, Founding Director of Urban Connect. This strategic move marks a significant milestone for the company as it expands its service offering in line with market growth in the realm of IT recruitment within professional services.
With a mutual passion for recruitment and commitment to nurturing talent, Andrew and Stephen are enthusiastic about combining their impressive strengths and fulfilling a lifelong dream of building a business together. Stephen's expertise and experience will serve as a valuable asset as Urban Connect ventures into the IT sector, further solidifying its position as a leading recruitment solution provider.
With over a decade of recruitment experience, and an excellent reputation and track record of success, Stephen brings a wealth of industry knowledge across multiple areas of IT recruitment within professional services and consulting across the UK and Ireland. He’s established and grown numerous successful client-facing teams for many of the world’s most recognisable business and IT management consultancies, boutique strategy and advisory firms, digital transformation agencies, and system integrators. He was one of the first hires with his previous employer and played a pivotal role as part of the senior leadership team in helping to scale the business to 53 consultants in just seven years.
Stephen’s specialist knowledge will enable Urban Connect to recruit for highly sought skillsets within Data & AI, Security Clearance, IT Sustainability & ESG, and other specialist niches, giving them a significant edge in the competitive IT professional services market. Stephen and his team will focus on five key areas:
- Strategy & Advisory
- Change & Transformation
- Digital & Tech
- Government & Defence (Security Clearance)
- IT Sales
This latest offering will be welcomed by Urban Connect’s large multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy partners where IT and digital capabilities have become critical to facilitate the innovative services they provide.
Commenting on his decision to join his brother in leading Urban Connect, Stephen said, "This is a dream come true. I’m thrilled to finally be partnering with my brother Andrew, and the Urban Connect team. Together, we’ll expand the business from Construction & Engineering to provide a unique IT recruitment service, leveraging our combined expertise and dedication to driving performance for clients and new opportunities for candidates."
Andrew Kerr, Founding Director of Urban Connect, emphasised the significance of their collaboration. "Having Stephen onboard as Co-Director is a momentous occasion for Urban Connect. I founded the business back in 2018 with the idea of Stephen one day joining me.
His incredible IT experience and strategic insight will develop our service and deliver unparalleled value to our stakeholders. Having known each other all our lives we know we work well together.
I’m looking forward to the incredible journey as we work together to realise our shared vision."
Greg Hollis, CEO of Recruitment Entrepreneur, said “We’ve been working closely with Urban Connect to develop their proposition and we’re excited about the expansion of their service offering. With Stephen working with his brother Andrew, the company is poised to achieve success, and we will continue helping them build a market-leading recruitment business in the Construction & Engineering, and IT sectors.”
For media inquiries, please contact:
Andrew Kerr – Founding Director of Urban Connect
Andrew.Kerr@urban-connect.co.uk
+44 (0) 161 470 7181
+44 (0) 784 631 9189
Stephen Kerr – Director & Head of IT Recruitment at Urban Connect
Stephen.kerr@urban-connect.co.uk
+44 (0) 7432 290136
About Urban Connect:
Urban Connect is a collection of experienced Construction & Engineering and IT recruiters working across a diverse range of sectors that include: the Build Environment, Infrastructure, and Transportation, as well as Management Consultancies, System Integrators, and Tech Startups.
We offer true multi-disciplinary project coverage from conception to project completion. We provide full recruitment solutions for interim/freelance, contingent permanent hires, and strategic executive search. Visit our website for more information urban-connect.co.uk.
