Building Bohr's Digital Team
The solution
Bohr engaged ISL Talent in Q4 2025 through our Base Down retained partnership.
Rather than operating as a traditional contingency recruiter, ISL became a dedicated recruitment partner with responsibility for proactively identifying, engaging and managing technical talent through the hiring process.
The commercial model was deliberately straightforward.
Each search had a clearly defined fixed launch fee and fixed success fee, with the fee determined by the seniority, complexity and scarcity of the hire. This gave Bohr recruitment cost transparency while allowing ISL to invest the time and resources required to search the market thoroughly.
The partnership was built around several key principles.
Proactive market mapping
Rather than relying on applications, ISL mapped the available talent pool and proactively approached relevant candidates.
The initial market analysis highlighted significant differences in candidate availability and competitiveness across the roles. For example, the estimated candidate pool ranged from around 150 potential GIS candidates to approximately 600 potential UI candidates, while senior Backend and Product roles were identified as particularly competitive.
This allowed the hiring strategy to be based on the reality of the market rather than simply the requirements written in a job description.
Targeted candidate engagement
ISL introduced a co-branded approach to candidate attraction, positioning the opportunity around Bohr's technology, purpose, environmental and net zero impact, team and growth rather than presenting candidates with a generic recruitment advert.
This was particularly important given that Bohr was competing for specialist technical talent against much more established technology employers.
Structured recruitment delivery
ISL managed the process from initial briefing through market mapping, sourcing, qualification, shortlist development, interview management, offer negotiation and preboarding.
The intended process was designed to minimise the time Bohr's hiring team spent reviewing unsuitable candidates, while ensuring the internal team retained ownership of the final hiring decision.
Flexibility as requirements evolved
The initial project was built around six key technical hires. As the digital team developed, the requirement evolved.
Rather than having to restart the recruitment process or engage multiple agencies for different disciplines, Bohr was able to use the existing partnership to support a much broader range of technical and digital appointments.
11 hires | 6 months | Multiple technical disciplines | Retained partnership
The challenge
Bohr is a growing engineering and technology business delivering innovative solutions and services designed to help gas networks decarbonise their networks and reduce methane emissions.
Through its methane emissions management division Tectrac, the business develops technology enabled methane leak detection and emissions monitoring solutions for gas networks and facilities.
As the business continued to grow, Bohr needed to establish and expand its digital and data services capability in Bristol.
The initial requirement was significant. Six permanent hires were needed across the technology team, including two UI Developers, two Backend Software Engineers, a Product Owner and a GIS Analyst.
However, the challenge went beyond simply filling vacancies.
The roles required specialist technical skills in a competitive Bristol market, while Bohr also needed to improve the consistency and effectiveness of its wider hiring approach.
At the outset, Bohr was experiencing several challenges common to growing technology businesses, including inconsistent inbound recruitment, limited employer visibility, reliance on contractors and a lack of structured hiring data and feedback processes.
Bohr needed a recruitment partner that could deliver immediate hires, operate as an extension of the business and support its longer term talent requirements.
The Results
The result
Over a six-month period, ISL placed 11 people into Bohr and Tectrac.
The appointments spanned a broad range of disciplines, including:
- Frontend Engineering
- UX and UI
- Backend Engineering
- GIS
- Product
- DevOps
- IT Support
What began as a six-hire requirement expanded into a broader programme that established capability across the technology stack and the specialist disciplines needed to support Bohr’s products and continued growth.
The result was not simply a collection of individual hires.
Bohr had established a growing Bristol based digital team with capability across the technology stack and the specialist disciplines required to support its products and continued growth.
From six roles to a complete digital capability
One of the key successes of the partnership was the ability to respond as Bohr's evolving requirements.
Within six months, the partnership had supported 11 appointments across a much wider range of functions.
This included both junior and more experienced technical professionals, allowing Bohr to build capability at different levels rather than simply hiring individual senior specialists.
The breadth of appointments also meant the team was being built around the needs of the organisation rather than around a single function or technology.
More than recruitment
The relationship also evolved beyond individual searches.
As Bohr's team grew, ISL worked with the business to identify opportunities to improve the wider hiring infrastructure and employer proposition, which is still a work in progress.
This included recommendations around:
- Employer brand
- Interview excellence
- Candidate experience
- Onboarding
- Talent planning
A true talent partnership
For Bohr, the value of the relationship was the combination of recruitment delivery, market insight and flexibility.
ISL was able to provide a dedicated recruitment capability without Bohr needing to immediately build an equivalent internal talent function.
The fixed fee structure also provided transparency and predictability, while the retained model meant ISL had the commitment to properly understand the business and invest in the market.
For ISL, the partnership demonstrated the value of the Base Down model for businesses going through a period of rapid team building.
The model is particularly effective where there is a defined period of multiple hiring requirements, but where the business does not necessarily need a permanent internal recruitment function.
The outcome
- 11 people hired
- 6 months
- Multiple technical disciplines
- Bristol digital team built
- Initial requirement expanded from 6 to 11 hires
- Retained, fixed fee recruitment model
The partnership continues to provide Bohr with access to specialist recruitment expertise, market intelligence and hiring support as its requirements evolve.
Building the team behind the technology
For Bohr, the objective was never simply to fill vacancies.
It was to build the people and capability required to develop the technology that sits at the heart of the business. In six months, ISL helped turn that requirement into a growing digital team in Bristol.
That is the real outcome of the partnership.
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