About Us
From start-ups to unicorns, growth starts with great people. That’s why we do recruitment differently.
JM
JM
Joe Merefield
Head of Permanent
LD
LD
Lauren Dunn
Operations Lead
RK
RK
Ross Katz
Director
PP
PP
Prene Patti
Head of Contracts
TW
PP
Toby Wyatt
Head of Permanent
Leadership Team
Transforming Companies, Connecting Values.
At VirtueTech, we believe companies are defined by their people. That’s why we connect clients and candidates through shared values, not just skills. Jobs aren’t just a salary – they are impactful on your daily life. In a digital world craving real connection, we bring the personal touch, handpicking talent that truly aligns with your brand.
Ross Katz
Director
Ross has been in technology recruitment since 2009, placing candidates across the full IT delivery cycle, from hands-on engineers to Heads of Technology and CTOs.
Ross has over 16 years technology recruitment experience, placing candidates across the whole IT delivery cycle, from hands-on engineers, to Heads of Technology & CTO’s. Prior to starting VirtueTech he was a global winning consultant at a publicly listed company called S Three and manager for a company called Gravitas, where he was employee number 30, which grew to 350+ globally. Specifically helping to scale the London office to over 75 Sales staff, before resigning post Private Equity investment.
In March 2022 he founded VirtueTech Recruitment Group, with an unwavering passion for recruitment and its ability to change lives. Not just the lives of our candidates and clients, but also those internally whose careers and progression the VirtueTech leadership team are responsible for. He truly believes that what makes recruitment so unique is that it is one of the few careers that holds a linear correlation to your own desire, work ethic and ambition.
Ross’s favourite things about VirtueTech are coming into work everyday and working with exceptionally motived, driven, hardworking & talented individuals. There are levels to this game and without doubt, this is the most talented group he’s worked with.
Ross’s top tips for anyone new to recruitment:
Work hard, clock up your 10,000 hours at each part of the recruitment lifecycle.
Take notes & lots of them.
Always show up and give 100%, every single day, you’ll enjoy the ride a lot more!
Joe Merefield
Head of Permanent - Development
Joe Merefield has been in tech recruitment since 2018, specialising in software development. He has worked with engineering talent at all levels—from junior developers to senior tech leaders—helping them find roles where they can grow, thrive, and make an impact. Before joining VirtueTech, Joe spent four years at Gravitas and Investigo, building a development desk from scratch and contributing to established teams. That hands-on experience taught him not just about the tech market, but what it takes to build something meaningful from the ground up.
In March 2022, Joe became the first hire at VirtueTech, joining founder Ross Katz at the very start of the journey. He was excited by the chance to build a business with real purpose, culture, and ambition. Today, Joe leads the Permanent Software Development team and was proud to be named Top New Business Biller in 2024—a recognition of both the relationships he’s built and the results he’s delivered.
What Joe loves most about VirtueTech is the team culture: no egos, no silos, just shared ambition and support. Everyone genuinely wants each other to succeed, and the environment pushes them to be the best version of themselves. That kind of collaborative, driven culture is rare, and it’s what makes coming into work every day so rewarding for him.
Joe’s advice for anyone in recruitment:
Face-to-face meetings are gold dust. Nothing builds trust and connection like sitting down with someone in person — they’ll always beat a phone call.
Treat candidates and clients with genuine respect. Being a good person matters. People remember how you made them feel, and in this industry, reputation is everything.
A strong CV is powerful. No matter how good the conversation, a well-crafted CV still opens the most doors. Invest the time to get it right.
Prene Patti
Head of Contract Recruitment
Prene has been in recruitment since 2017, specialising in contract recruitment in the software development space, before joining VirtueTech he worked at Gravitas where, he started on a cold desk and built his desk hands on billing at Gravitas he broke a few records such as:
From there Prene pivoted to Team Lead at Gravitas and managed three teams Client Solutions, DevOps Contract and .NET Contract, which he built up to them being top teams three months in a row. After 18 months of speaking to Ross, Prene finally joined VirtueTech in January 2024 as the Head of Contract Recruitment, the reason for the move was based on the chance to grow a company from the ground up with a set of people with the same values and shared vision!
Since joining Prene he grew the runner book from Circa £5k WGP to £15K WGP. Before then hiring some familiar faces in his old team and they have continued to grow the runner book to Circa £24k WGP.
What Prene loves about the team at VirtueTech is the people, it is a real set of people that actually want each other to succeed and care about each other inside work and outside! As well as this it is a set of people who are unbelievably skilled against the competition out there, so we are constantly driving each other to do better and develop and grow which you don’t come across often!
Prene’s top tips for anyone new to recruitment:
Listen and learn from everyone – seniors, juniors, any team! Make sure your always learning!
Patience - focus on the skill level getting better and the rest will come!
Work ethic – you can’t expect an exceptional career while only putting in an average performance. To have a exceptional career you must show up expectational day in and out!
Toby Wyatt
Head of Permanent – Product, Testing & Support
Toby has been in recruitment since 2017, covering both contract and permanent hiring. Much like Ross, he has worked across multiple technology verticals, successfully placing candidates across the full spectrum of tech roles. His experience also extends across a variety of industries, having partnered with a number of notable companies to deliver tailored recruitment solutions.
Before joining VirtueTech, Toby spent 6.5 years at the global recruitment firm Gravitas, where he earned a global award and progressed to Team Lead. Under his leadership, the team thrived and delivered strong results. After a long and successful tenure, a shift in company culture and ethos prompted him to seek new challenges. He went on to join another firm as Associate Vice President, focusing on contract recruitment across three financial markets. Despite the role being relatively brief, it led to a new opportunity for Toby when his former manager at Gravitas approached him about joining VirtueTech.
Toby believes VirtueTech is a truly unique business within the recruitment landscape. What sets it apart is the hands-on leadership and senior consultants who remain actively involved in day-to-day recruitment. In an industry where stepping back from recruiting is often seen as a status symbol, VirtueTech maintains a culture of continued engagement and knowledge-sharing, which helps develop and elevate new talent within the business. Toby is also passionate about the company’s values—genuinely caring about clients, candidates, and consultants alike. At VirtueTech, the goal is mutual success and satisfaction for everyone involved.
Toby’s advice for anyone in recruitment:
Listen and learn - you are not an expert (yet) and you are working closely with an experienced team. Advice is not a critique so try your best to take it onboard as it’ll help in the long run!
Hard work beats talent… this is not an industry where you need any real skills to enter, this is an industry which rewards the hardest workers. That person that does 1% more every day and continues to, will always outperform the “natural salesmen” of the world.
Don’t be scared to ask for help - we don’t bite!
Lauren Dunn
Operations Lead
Lauren has been in business support roles since 2009, gaining experience across a range of sectors — from starting as an Admin Assistant at Aon to roles as a Buyers Assistant at Arcadia Group and Executive Assistant at a leading architecture firm
Joining VirtueTech marked an exciting new chapter for Lauren. While recruitment is a new industry for her, stepping into the Operations Lead role felt like a natural fit, like it was meant to be. From day one, she has experienced nothing but support, warmth, and genuine teamwork — qualities that make VirtueTech truly special.
In her role, Lauren focuses on developing and refining the behind-the-scenes processes that keep operations running smoothly and enable the wider team to succeed. She thrives in VirtueTech’s fast-paced, collaborative environment, where everyone is eager to share knowledge, contribute ideas, and grow together.
Lauren believes that no one at VirtueTech ever has to navigate their journey alone, it’s a place where questions are welcomed, ideas are encouraged, and collaboration is at the heart of everything they do.
Amanda-Jayne
Senior Recruitment Consultant
Alfie Mapp
Senior Recruitment Consultant
Jack Brett
Senior Recruitment Consultant
Sam Bradford
Senior Recruitment Consultant
Oscar Gange
Senior Recruitment Consultant
Tomasz Wojtyczko
Senior Recruitment Consultant
Amanda-Jayne
Senior Recruitment Consultant
Alfie Mapp
Senior Recruitment Consultant
Jack Brett
Senior Recruitment Consultant
Sam Bradford
Senior Recruitment Consultant
Oscar Gange
Senior Recruitment Consultant
Tomasz Wojtyczko
Senior Recruitment Consultant
Shabana Amin
Associate Consultant
Veljko Zekovic
Associate Consultant
Sam Ward
Associate Consultant
Matt Jury
Associate Consultant
Jack Brett
Senior Recruitment Consultant
Alfie Mapp
Senior Recruitment Consultant
Shabana Amin
Associate Consultant
Veljko Zekovic
Associate Consultant
Sam Ward
Associate Consultant
Matt Jury
Associate Consultant
Jack Brett
Senior Recruitment Consultant
Alfie Mapp
Senior Recruitment Consultant
Connecting exceptional talent with companies built on shared values.