Our Team
Michael Phair
Co-Founder | Recruitment Veteran | John Malkovich look-a-like...
With nearly 30 years in tech recruitment, Stuart or Zander as most people call him has seen just about everything — and he’s still one of the calmest, most thoughtful recruiters in the game. He’s built and led high-performing teams, supported transformations, and helped clients of all sizes make smarter hires.
Clients trust Stuart because he doesn’t oversell, doesn’t disappear, and always delivers. He’s all about building long-term partnerships where respect, clarity, and consistency are the norm. Stuart's mantra has always been, "Don't be a Recruitment W***er"
When he’s not working, you’ll find him watching football although he is not daft enough to tell you who, waking his dog whilst listening to an eclectic range of music or spending time with his wife Sharon and the family.
Professional achievements spanning the last thirty years:
- Placed and ran over 100 IT Contractors when Intelligent Finance launched back in the 90's.
- Worked exclusively with Amazon when they opened their first ever, outside U.S Development Centre. Opened a second for them in Chennai and delivered resources to their Kindle project in Seattle and San Francisco.
- Ran multi-million £ managed PMO service to Public Sector Client in Glasgow (contract extended multiple times)
Michael Phair
Co-Founder, Tech Pair
Michael isn’t in recruitment for the placements — he’s in it for the people. Over the last 18 years, he’s built a reputation for delivering with integrity, care, and consistency, maintaining top supplier status across almost every account he’s worked with and never losing a client based on results. His approach is long-term, high-touch, and always rooted in doing the right thing for clients both candidates and companies.
A self-confessed ops nerd, Michael completed his MBA at Edinburgh Business School to deepen his understanding of how businesses truly grow — then followed it up with a Business Analytics module to strengthen his ability to use and interpret data for strategic hiring and decision-making. Whether he’s advising a CTO on shaping a team or helping a candidate break into a new market, he brings commercial depth, calm pragmatism, and a level of care that stands out.
As co-founder of Tech Pair, he’s now on a mission to bring a smarter, more human approach to tech recruitment across Scotland — blending founder-led service, data insight, and a strong belief that recruitment should feel like a partnership, not a transaction.
Outside of work, Michael’s a dad of two little girls, a keen runner (including the David Goggins 4x4x48 challenge, running 4 miles every 4 hours for 48 hours... yes 48 miles!), and a lifelong sci-fi geek. He’ll happily talk tech, Star Wars, or why Red Alert is still the greatest game ever made — just don’t ask him to choose between Picard or Janeway.
