Get hired for what you can do
Not your CV, not your connections, not luck. Tech Talent Champions connects you with Sussex employers who want junior AI, cyber and digital talent, and we stay with you until the job sticks.
Tell us about yourself
How it works for you
Tell us about yourself
Your skills in your own words, links to things you've made, and what you're actually looking for. The more you give us, the better we can match you.
We get in touch
A real person from the programme team, within a few days. Not an automated rejection, ever.
Show what you can do
Enter the Monthly Challenge or join one of our in-person hackathons: real problems, real observers, no CV sifting.
You get showcased and matched
Your validated profile goes live to Sussex employers, and we put you forward for the placements, roles and paid projects that fit you.
Supported all the way
A success manager stays with you and your employer through the placement, from first day to permanent role.
The Monthly Challenge
Once a month we set a new themed challenge: always an AI or cyber problem, sometimes technical, sometimes user design, sometimes conceptual. Challenges mirror real business problems but never use real data or live scenarios. Solve it your way, then show us how you think.
A new challenge drops
One theme, one brief, a few weeks to work on it. Use whatever tools you like, including AI: we care that you understand what you built.
Pitch to the employer panel
The top four present their solutions live online to a panel of employers who are actively recruiting. Everyone shortlisted gets seen.
Kudos, visibility, validation
Winners are announced and celebrated. It won't hand you a job, but it gets you noticed by the people hiring, and top performers join the talent network as validated candidates.
First challenge lands this autumn. More to come soon.
Tell us about yourself and we'll let you know when it opens
Live opportunities
Real roles, placements and paid projects from Tech Talent Champions. Apply through the network: one application covers everything that fits you.
Junior developer placement
Founding Champion (confidential until launch). 8 weeks, paid, conversion intended.
6 roles behind the AI & Data Challenge
Six employers, six real roles. The hackathon is the interview.
Automate a quoting workflow
Engineering firm, fixed-scope paid project. Great first credit.
How you earn your place
Bootcamp graduates are validated by their bootcamp. Everyone else earns their badge through a route that keeps the network something employers trust, and you never CV-sift your way in.
Apply online
Skills, availability, portfolio links, and the details that unlock employer incentives. Feeds HubSpot; near-zero build cost.
Enter the Monthly Challenge
Or a hackathon, whichever comes first. A themed AI or cyber brief mirroring a real business problem, never real data. Submit your solution with a short walkthrough of how you built it.
Assessed, and maybe the final
Every submission is assessed by the programme team against one consistent rubric. The top four pitch live to the monthly employer panel.
Badged and listed
Top performers from each challenge earn "Skills assessed" and their profile goes live. In-person hackathons remain the premium tier, earning "Hackathon validated".
Tell us about yourself
This is your introduction, not an exam. Honest beats polished.
People like you
From retail ops to running the quality dashboard
"I'd sent out sixty CVs and heard nothing. Here, I got to actually solve a problem in front of the employer. They didn't care what my last job title was, they cared that I fixed it."
The graduate who stopped waiting
"The hackathon was terrifying for about ten minutes. Then it was just... work. Real work, with people watching who could actually hire me. Two of them wanted to."