hedgehog lab is to create hundreds of jobs in the North of England and Scotland under new CEO Malcom Seagrave.
The Newcastle tech consultancy’s co-founder Sarat Pediredla recently said he would step aside after leading it as CEO since it was founded in 2007.
Seagrave was appointed UK managing director in September 2024 alongside CTO Joe Thompson.
hedgehog lab, which took investment from BGF in 2023, has operations in London, Leeds, Edinburgh and Sofia. It has engineering support teams in Romania and Bulgaria, with Manchester and Glasgow in its sights.
The consultancy counts Deliveroo, Under Armour, Aviva and AJ Bell among its clients. In December it acquired Edinburgh-based global innovation network Label Sessions.
Seagrave has a strong track record of scaling digital businesses, having led BJSS from 140 to 1,400 people before its sale to CGI and helping AND Digital grow from 170 to 1,500 by heading up its Northern function. He also previously held innovation roles at Vodafone and Morrisons.
Turnover rose 30% this year and growth accelerated in the second half of 2025. The consultancy plans to reach £50 million, creating hundreds of new jobs in the North of England and Scotland in the process.
“I’m hugely excited to be taking on the CEO role at hedgehog lab,” said Seagrave. “I’ve scaled digital consultancies before, but this is genuinely unique – the company has built an impeccable culture, a great team, and the integrated offering is a real differentiator.
“We have all the foundations in place to take this business to another level and now it’s about executing our strategy as a tech company that puts people first.
“AI is a huge strength for us – it’s built into everything we work on, but pure-play AI technologies represent around 40% of our business, and that is growing. Embedding it in sales, products, and design research is allowing us to make rapid prototypes and dialling up our ability to innovate.
“We invested heavily in the technology a few years ago, and that decision is beginning to pay off.
“I’m a big advocate for the North of England and Scotland, helping to grow their economies. Job creation has been a big part of my career and something I really enjoy – the businesses I have scaled have gone on to create hundreds of jobs.
“I want to do that again with hedgehog lab in the years ahead, giving back to the regions we’re part of through our community initiatives at the same time.”
Last month, hedgehog lab announced it had achieved B Corp accreditation and is committing a percentage of its revenue to impact initiatives through volunteering, pro-bono and discounted work, and collaboration with impact-focused clients.