27 May 2025

Rolls Royce: How Counter Helped Build a High-Impact Software Team and Scale at Pace

Client

Languages/Frameworks

TypeScript
Vue
Python
FastAPI
Flask

Rolls Royce

A Partnership For Progress

Collaborating at the cutting edge of data and engineering innovation

Counter partnered with a new department within Rolls Royce consisting of a team of engineers, data scientists, innovators, academics and coders who collaborate with major global corporate members across a number of sectors by combining advanced data analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning with engineering expertise.

Engagement Overview

Client
- Rolls Royce
Location
- Portland Place, London
Engagement Duration
- 2 x 12 month contracts
Counter Team Size
- Year 1: 2 Software Engineers + 1 Tech Lead
- Year 2: 4 Software Engineers + 1 Tech Lead
Languages & Frameworks
TypeScript, Vue, Python, FastAPI, Flask,
Tools Used
- Gitlab, Vite, Cypress, Vitest, PyTest, Docker, Kubernetes, Pub/Sub

The Problem to Solve

Breaking recruitment barriers to fast-track software innovation

The new department within Rolls Royce was rapidly expanding its team and needed to bring on software engineers quickly to scale at pace. They were facing difficulties recruiting in-house due to the competitive market as well as the time and resources required. As a new solution, Rolls Royce partnered with Counter to bring in a team of Counter Associate Consultants led by a Counter Tech Lead. The teams were embedded within Rolls Royce for an initial 12 month contract, working on a confidential project which involved the development and creation of brand new software.

Approach

The Counter Consultancy Approach

The Counter team was handpicked from the best of the Counter Talent Pool and mentored into Rolls Royce by an experienced Tech Lead, enabling them to swiftly start working on the platform that formed the foundation of the new department’s value proposition.

Onboarding & Planning
Our Tech Lead comes in early to start the immersion period – embedding themself in the client’s organisation, understanding their different ceremonies, ways of working and tech stack. This helps to bring value quickly, enabling them to provide guidance and support to Counter Associate Consultants. This enabled the team to start working on solutions from day one whilst crucially not placing any pressure on the client’s existing seniors.
Initial Engagement
A 12-month project focusing on creating and developing brand-new software for the client.
Renewal
Following the success of the initial project, Rolls Royce renewed the contract for four Associate Consultants and one Tech Lead, giving us another 12 months of continued and successful collaboration.

We wanted to build a capable software team quickly and have them grow with the business. With the demands on our senior people, we couldn’t realistically get that done in-house as recruitment in a competitive market is incredibly time-and resource-intensive. Counter handled all that for us, and the technical mentorship they’re providing to the junior developers has made a huge difference to their trajectory. We were impressed with Counter’s speed and responsiveness.

Ian Whitford, Ex-Chief Technical Officer at R2 Factory, Rolls-Royce

Successes Delivered

This collaboration brought many benefits to Rolls Royce, including:

Rapid Team Building

Counter enabled Rolls Royce to swiftly assemble a capable technology team, addressing their urgent need for developers to scale their operations.

Cost-Effectiveness

The Counter teams replaced more expensive contractors initially working on the project.

Technical Mentorship

Counter provided valuable technical mentorship to the Associate Consultants, which significantly contributed to their development and trajectory whilst at Rolls Royce.

Talent Retention

Rolls Royce retained 75% of the Associate Consultants as full-time employees at the end of the engagement, demonstrating the effectiveness of the Counter "try before you buy" model.

Navigating Challenges

Embracing unknowns to drive innovation

The teams worked in a highly interdisciplinary environment, which required lots of context switching and up-skilling in totally new domains. Many of the fields being researched and worked in were experimental and proof-of-concept focus, meaning that the ground was constantly shifting. This meant that the teams fostered a strong sense of resilience and an attitude of “we don’t currently have the technical skills to do that, but we can definitely learn them”.

Some specific projects were challenging for non-technical reasons, for example, an AI ethics research project where the problem space was simply massive and often felt like it was growing quicker than any engineer could keep up with.

Collaboration That Brings Impact

A partnership which allowed us to unlock growth together

Partnering with Counter allowed the client to overcome their staffing challenges in a cost-efficient way, accelerate software development and build long-term technical capability. By retaining a significant portion of the Counter team, Rolls Royce ensured the knowledge and skills gained during the engagement remained within the organisation, driving continued growth and innovation.

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