Cloud Operations Lead

Sword achieves Splunk Advise Motion Elite status. Elizabeth Greenberg 24 July 2026, 10.55am "Being the first regional Splunk partner in the UK and Ireland to achieve Elite status is a fantastic achievement for Sword," Kevin Moreton, CEO of Sword UK, said. Sword has become the first regional Splunk partner in the UK and Ireland to achieve Elite status within the Splunk Advise Motion programme, recognising the company's proven consulting expertise, technical capability and track record of delivering successful customer outcomes. The achievement represents the highest level of accreditation within Splunk's Advise Motion programme and places Sword among a select group of partners recognised for their ability to help organisations maximise value from their data through advisory, consulting and professional services. Elite status is awarded to partners that can demonstrate deep technical expertise, accredited skills, established consulting practices and verified industry experience. The recognition reflects Sword's continued investment in developing specialist capabilities, supporting professional development and accreditations, and building a mature consulting practice that delivers measurable outcomes for customers. Sword works with organisations in highly regulated operations across critical national infrastructure including major energy and financial services providers. Through its partnership with Splunk, the company helps customers improve operational resilience, strengthen security, increase visibility across IT and operational technology environments, and make informed, risk-based decisions. Kevin Moreton, CEO of Sword UK, said: "Being the first regional Splunk partner in the UK and Ireland to achieve Elite status is a fantastic achievement for Sword. "It reflects the expertise of our people, the strength of our partnership with Splunk, and our commitment to delivering meaningful outcomes for customers operating in some of the most demanding and highly regulated environments." Recommended reading. Alexandra Turbitt, GVP, Partner Organisation and Digital Sales, EMEA, Splunk, shared: "Achieving Elite status further strengthens Sword's partnership with Splunk, a Cisco Company, and reinforces the company's commitment to helping organisations address complex operational, security and data challenges through a combination of technical expertise, industry experience and advisory-led services." Those interested in exploring these challenges further can register for Sword's upcoming webinar, Building Resilience Through Observability, taking place on 29 July at 1pm, where experts will discuss how real-time observability can help organisations strengthen resilience, support regulatory compliance and improve decision-making across complex IT and OT environments. Registration is available at Register for the webinar.

Sword Group swoops on Edinburgh AWS specialist CirrusHQ in £6m-a-year deal - French-listed group now employs 650-plus across Scotland. Sword Group, the Luxembourg-headquartered Euronext-listed IT services group, has acquired Edinburgh-based Amazon Web Services specialist CirrusHQ in a deal that Why? Free to subscribe, no paywall, daily business news digest. Sword Group, the Luxembourg-headquartered Euronext-listed IT services group, has acquired Edinburgh-based Amazon Web Services specialist CirrusHQ in a deal that will be consolidated into the group's accounts from 1 May 2026 - adding £6m of annual revenue and reinforcing one of the largest international tech employer footprints in Scotland. The acquisition was confirmed in a regulatory announcement to the market on 12 May 2026. According to Sword's filing, CirrusHQ is being acquired at an annual revenue trend of £6.0m with an EBIT margin above 12%. Sword has budgeted the business to grow organically at 20% per year once integrated. What CirrusHQ brings. CirrusHQ is an Amazon Web Services Premier Consulting and Solution Provider partner - one of the highest tiers in AWS's global partner programme - delivering cloud infrastructure, transformation strategies and migration services for enterprise-scale IT estates. The Edinburgh firm supports clients across the UK, with particular strength in helping organisations balance the security, performance and cost trade-offs of large-scale AWS deployments. Sword's filing flagged that the deal will have a particular focus on education and public sector clients - sectors where regulatory compliance and resilience requirements raise the technical bar for cloud transformation work. Kevin Moreton, CEO of Sword UK, framed the deal as a strategic move tied to Sword's stated 2028 corporate vision. "We are delighted to welcome CirrusHQ to the Sword family," Moreton said. "Their deep expertise and ability to deliver innovation at pace will be a great asset as we continue to grow and evolve to meet the demands of a fast-changing landscape shaped by digital and AI technologies." In separate comments carried by ScotlandIS, Moreton added: "This acquisition reaffirms Sword's commitment to enhance our multi-cloud and hybrid capabilities, particularly in Public Sector organisations. CirrusHQ joining Sword is a significant step in strengthening Sword's AI and multi-cloud strategy and aligns with our strategic vision 2028." What it means for the Scottish footprint. Sword UK already employs more than 650 people across Aberdeen, Glasgow, Teesside and London - a footprint built up substantially through Scottish acquisitions over recent years. The group has now made at least three Edinburgh- or Scotland-related deals in the past 18 months, with iDelta acquired in April 2025 to extend cybersecurity and fintech capabilities. CirrusHQ said it will continue to operate as before, with the same team, leadership and AWS practice - and that there will be no change to customer contracts, points of contact or day-to-day ways of working. "We're thrilled to be joining Sword, who share our commitment to excellence and to our people," said James Lucas of CirrusHQ. "We're confident that together we will achieve even more than we could alone." The Edinburgh firm framed the move as access to greater scale rather than absorption - citing Sword's stated model of preserving acquired businesses' specialisms and identities. The wider Sword picture. Globally, Sword Group employs more than 3,600 IT and digital specialists across 50-plus countries. The group is listed on Euronext under ticker SWP (ISIN FR0004180578) and announced its next investor calendar event - a Q2 2026 revenue publication - for 23 July 2026, with H1 2026 results to follow on 10 September 2026. In case you missed it: For Scotland specifically, Sword's continued M&A activity points to two things worth tracking. First: the AWS-led cloud transformation market in the UK is consolidating, with specialist partners increasingly attractive bolt-on targets for international IT service groups. Second: Edinburgh continues to produce AWS-tier expertise that international acquirers find commercially attractive. If CirrusHQ delivers Sword's budgeted 20% organic growth in year one, it will be one of the more efficient bolt-on acquisitions in Scotland's IT services landscape this year - and a clear data point in favour of Scotland's continued positioning as an inward-investment-friendly tech market.