Who We Are
Martin and Joe, childhood friends for 34 years, have built an unshakeable bond. They studied at the same college in Bristol, travelled around Europe, lived as flat mates, and worked side by side in IT recruitment for the last 20 years. Their incredible friendship and implicit trust make them a formidable recruitment duo. They’ve worked in both large and small agencies, offering clients a partnership with a proven delivery capability across the entire UK IT market.
Recognising their unique synergy in 2009, they founded Southern Lights during the recession. Their vision was to create an agency that cares, delivers, and partners with scale-ups, SMEs, and global brands, all while being director-led with a difference.
To complete their team, they brought on Ben Phillips, a software engineering guru they had previously worked with. Ben’s exceptional ability to deliver top-tier software engineers in volume to rapidly scaling businesses was the missing piece of their puzzle.
Our Directors
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Ben
Ben is a silver-haired, heavily-bearded, gin-drinking, Lego-playing, food-loving, rugby-worshipping Welshman in Bristol. When he’s not renovating houses or buying vintage trainers, he’ll be exploring the South West with his wife and two children. IT recruitment? Oh yeah…
Ben’s our Director and Principal Recruiter. A specialist in software development (including all flavours of Microsoft, JavaScript and PHP technologies), he’s spent ten years pairing perfectly suited professionals to start-ups, SMEs and FTSE 100 companies. And he does it with scary determination, human understanding and complete commitment.
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Martin
Martin supports Liverpool FC but is Scottish. You can tell because he loves haggis with his Sunday roast. When he’s not living up to national stereotypes, you’ll find him lost in the countryside on his bike, doting on his young boy or indulging in his bottomless love of ‘90s hip-hop. He actually DJ’ed back in the day (when ‘90s hip-hop was just called hip-hop).
As his wonderful new beard attests, Martin has vast experience in senior IT recruitment in the South West. Seventeen years, to be precise – nine of which have been as a Director. This expertise shows in his ability to build strong, fruitful relationships at all levels, and in his productive contract negotiations. He’s a good guy to have on your side.
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Joe
Joe used to make his own martial arts DVDs. They were not good. Thankfully for the IT market, he found a new passion: bending over backwards to help candidates and clients find each other. When he’s not doing that, he’s busy singing the praises of his hometown (Bristol), cheering on his rugby team (Bristol) or dragging his family along to explore his favourite food scene (Bristol).
Joe’s now been specialising in the software and business analyst markets for over 18 years. And though he works in the cutting-edge world of IT, it’s his old-school people skills – he forges strong, honest and open relationships with everyone he encounters – that keep clients and candidates coming back for more.
