The technology sector has some of the fastest-growing organisations in today’s economy, and many are accelerating their funding strategies to remain competitive.

Skills shortages and other challenges linked to talent and structure are major stumbling blocks to this rapid growth, however, according to the 2026 RSM Technology Industry Outlook. In our annual survey of 300 UK tech business leaders, 17% cited the need to upskill non-technical staff as a current workforce challenge. In addition, 16% pointed to the challenge of reskilling for the era of AI, suggesting that even tech companies are not fully reaping the rewards of their investment in these tools.

Momentum in the early years of growth is usually driven by innovation, pace and a small, tightly aligned team. Pursuing private equity investment, international expansion or other exit options requires a different operating model, however – clearer accountability, stronger leadership depth and a more deliberate approach to culture. Legacy organisational structures, which were once sufficient, can quickly show their limitations.

Scaling often requires technology companies to overhaul their systems and processes – as we explore in our companion article. In this article, we focus on how they can evolve their organisational structures and talent strategies to keep pace with the demands of a larger, more complex operation and ensure that investment translates into real performance gains.

Key talent and organisational challenges when scaling operations

These common challenges relating to talent and organisational design can create a significant roadblock to achieving growth ambitions:

Recruiting and skilling at the pace of the business

The technology industry faces intense competition for specialised skills in areas such as AI or cloud engineering. Rapid business growth often means that progression routes and targeted development are overlooked, which allows capability gaps to emerge when the stakes are highest. This challenge, coupled with the fact that 30% of technology businesses report extreme difficulty in recruiting new talent, leaves many organisations unable to fill critical roles internally or externally.

Culture drift with the influx of new joiners

As headcount rises, implicit norms fracture. Unless culture is made explicit and reinforced through day-to-day management routines, misalignment grows and execution slows.

Over-reliance on knowledge gatekeepers

Critical know-how concentrated in a few people creates single points of failure. Without rigorous documentation and structured handovers, the speed of onboarding new people slows and risk increases. This challenge is amplified by workforce reductions, with 74% of the technology businesses surveyed reporting reductions of 5% to 25% in the past year. As a result, departing employees often leave with critical knowledge due to poor documentation practices.

Blurred roles that dilute accountability

People often take on multiple roles in early stages, particularly in areas such as product development and engineering. However, if people are not clear on decision rights, ownership and collaboration touchpoints, they will duplicate efforts and escalate issues unnecessarily. This lack of accountability not only slows progress but can often reduce employee engagement, which 22% of businesses surveyed cited as a significant challenge.

Insufficient leadership and middle-management capability

Founders and senior leaders are often expected to be looped into everything. Without capable managers to translate strategy into action – and a consistent habit of delegating across the business – bottlenecks will appear.

How to build a scalable talent and organisational framework

Avoiding these pitfalls requires a deliberate, evidence-based approach to talent and organisational design, anchored in strategy and reinforced by disciplined management routines.

We recommend starting with four fundamentals:

Scalable talent strategy

• Define the capabilities the business will need over the next 12–24 months, not just the gaps you urgently want to fill.
• Identify mission-critical roles and line up successors with named deputies and clear development plans.
• Implement a straightforward performance approach that links goals to strategy, sets clear behavioural expectations and can be adjusted quickly.
• Strengthen hiring (workforce planning, structured interviews, robust assessments) and support new starters through a consistent onboarding process and role-specific learning that helps them contribute sooner.
• Make internal mobility central to the way you build capacity. Visible progression criteria and transparent career paths keep high performers engaged and reduce reliance on external recruitment.

Deliberate organisation design

• Organise around strategy (products, platforms, markets) rather than personalities.
• Clarify the purpose of each team, define how they work together and where decisions sit, and remove overlapping responsibilities.
• Make sure managers have a manageable number of direct reports, avoiding unnecessary hierarchy.
• Use well-understood decision frameworks, such as a RACI matrix, to make ownership and escalation routes unambiguous.
• Revisit the design at key moments (such as new market entry, product line launch, doubling of headcount) to make sure it remains fit for purpose. The aim is ‘aligned autonomy’: teams empowered to deliver within clear guardrails.

Codified culture and leadership behaviours

• Define the leadership behaviours that sustain culture at scale – clarity of direction, coaching, accountability and cross-functional collaboration – and embed them in hiring, performance reviews and promotions.
• Develop middle-management capability early: managers must plan, prioritise, communicate expectations, run effective routines and manage performance consistently.
• Create simple cultural mechanisms that scale, such as operating principles, decision rules, meeting cadences and feedback rhythms, so that new joiners quickly learn how you work.
• Encourage delegation and focus senior leaders on setting direction, allocating resources and removing obstacles.

Data-driven people management

• Use key indicators to steer decisions and set quarterly measurable goals to enable course-correction without bureaucracy.
• Combine people data with operational and financial metrics to spot growth constraints early – whether it’s a capacity, capability or leadership issue – and to show investors evidence of progress.

Why people are the foundation of scalable growth in technology companies

Technology organisations that scale well get the basics right. They focus on a people approach they can repeat, a culture they can describe and uphold, and managers who know what they’re accountable for. They shape the organisation around the strategy (not the other way round), and use data to direct leadership attention to what matters, evolving their operating model before pressure points become real problems.

The payoff is faster, more reliable execution and a stronger equity story when investors assess organisational strength and capacity to scale.

How we can help your technology organisation scale effectively

We help technology companies establish the strong operational foundations required to scale with confidence. Whether you are looking to redesign your organisational structure to be future-ready, strengthen internal processes and controls, consolidate and implement systems, or prepare for a transaction or exit, we are here to support you throughout your growth journey.

Please get in touch with Max Evans for more information.