Virtual Chief Information Officer (vCIO) in Newcastle upon Tyne

Reports to: Nationwide (remote, with client travel as required)

• Unlimited annual leave allowance
• Access to Private GP Healthcare, through Doctor Care Anywhere
• Access to Perkbox, giving discounts galore
• A flexible approach to your working day (unless shifted)
• Office-based, fully remote or hybrid workers encouraged
• Quarterly social events, remote workers can travel/stay over (our treat!)
• Regular hiking days out with colleagues
• Quarterly staff awards
• Glassdoor-rated CEO, at the helm for over a decade

About Atlas Cloud

Atlas Cloud is a managed IT and cybersecurity services provider founded in 2010, headquartered in Newcastle upon Tyne and operating nationally. We specialise in secure, compliant IT for professional services firms – particularly law firms, barristers’ chambers and recruitment agencies – built around Microsoft 365 and Azure. We call it Reassuringly Secure.

We’re a Microsoft Solutions Partner (Security and Modern Work), a Cyber Essentials Certification Body and ISO 27001 certified, with a security team that has audited 3,000+ organisations. In 2026 we were ranked #24 globally and #3 in the UK in the MSP 501, the industry’s most rigorous ranking of managed service providers.

We’re now investing in a new Technology Success model – moving beyond reactive IT support to become a proactive strategic partner that helps clients continuously improve their security, resilience, productivity and long-term technology maturity. The vCIO is central to that ambition, and this is a rare opportunity to help shape the model as it scales across our client base.

About The Role

The purpose of this newly‑created role is to own the strategic technology relationship with our portfolio of clients. Acting as their trusted, part‑time Chief Information Officer, you’ll translate technical findings into business impact, help clients prioritise investment and build long‑term technology roadmaps that support their business objectives.

The vCIO is the business‑facing heart of our Technology Success model. Our Technical Alignment Managers (or TAMs) assess each client’s IT environment against a defined set of best‑practice standards and produce an alignment score; you turn that into consequence, priority and roadmap for the client’s decision makers.

Clients should see you as an extension of their own team – as if they’d hired their own strategic technology leader on a part‑time basis. You’re the person who analyses on the client’s behalf and presents it back in language their business understands. It’s a genuinely senior, advisory role: you’re freed from technical delivery, service tickets and proposal writing so you can focus entirely on strategy and relationships.

You will also form a close working relationship with relevant Customer Success Managers (CSMs) to jointly monitor customer health and ensure continuous overall adoption increases.

Does Not Own

To keep roles clear and avoid duplication, this role does not own:

• Technical assessments and alignment reviews (Technical Alignment Manager)
• Proposal writing and commercial documents (Bid Management)
• Service ticket management, project delivery, escalations (Customer Success / Project & Service Delivery)
• Order and renewal administration (Customer Success)

Targets & Success Metrics

• QBRs tracked and completed to cadence, plus any relevant follow up activity
• Improvement in client technology alignment scores over time (i.e. through increased product adoption)
• Client case‑study and reference agreements secured
• Opportunity value identified and passed to Customer Success / Bid Management (contributing to our non‑recurring revenue goals)
• Contribution to the ongoing development of our standards and client‑facing materials

Client Portfolio & Capacity

You’ll own a defined portfolio of clients, delivering their strategic cadence throughout the year. Industry benchmarks for this type of role sit at roughly 35-45 clients per vCIO; we’ll set your portfolio deliberately as the model scales, so you can give each client genuine strategic attention rather than spreading yourself thin.

Sector Context

Our clients are concentrated in professional services, so you’ll need enough sector fluency to make strategy conversations land. For example, understanding how a law firm’s billable‑hour model shapes its technology priorities, or how a recruitment agency’s pace and data‑security needs shape theirs. You won’t be expected to be a sector expert on day one, but you should be curious and quick to build that context.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Deliver Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs)
• Deliver strategic reviews to each client on a defined quarterly cadence, covering: developing a deep understanding of the client’s risk appetite and goals; helping them interpret their technology alignment in their own context; strategic technology planning, budgeting/forecasting and roadmapping; and educating them on upcoming trends, risks and innovations.
• Translate the gap between a client’s current and recommended state into plain business consequences – risk, downtime, productivity, compliance, cost, growth enablement and user experience.
• Build short‑and long‑term technology roadmaps using our dedicated software, ScalePad – based on each client’s goals, budget, risk appetite and operational priorities.
• Build and maintain trusted relationships with senior client stakeholders, acting as their strategic technology advocate.
• Where commercial or project opportunities arise from a client’s agreed roadmap, you surface and frame them, then hand them internally to the right team – Customer Success (minor commercial opportunities), Bid Management (major commercial opportunities) or Projects (where there’s no commercial value).
• As a key client‑facing role, you’ll capture recommendation decisions and common objections and feed them back internally, helping us continuously improve both our standards and how we present them to clients.

Requirements

• 10+ years’ experience in IT, with a strong consulting or advisory background
• Proven ability to translate technology into business impact for senior, non‑technical stakeholders
• Strategic planning, roadmapping and technology budgeting experience
• Excellent executive communication and relationship‑building skills
• Commercially aware, with the judgement to recognise opportunity and hand it over cleanly
• Comfortable working autonomously across a portfolio of clients nationwide
• Background in an MSP or IT strategy/consultancy environment
• Familiarity with professional services sectors (legal, recruitment or similar)
• Experience with a technology alignment / vCIO toolset (e.g. ScalePad)
• Working knowledge of Microsoft 365, Azure and modern security frameworks