Multiverse opens Edinburgh tech hub, appoints former Amazon leader Colin Mackenzie as first VP AI Engineering

Multiverse, the upskilling platform for AI and tech adoption, today announced the opening of a new technology hub in Edinburgh. Following its recent $70m funding round, the hub marks an expansion of Multiverse's engineering footprint, placing an additional centre of technical excellence outside of London. Former Amazon leader Colin Mackenzie has been appointed as the company’s first VP AI Engineering to lead it, and will focus on developing agentic products.

Mackenzie brings more than a decade of engineering leadership experience to the role, most recently spending six years at Amazon. For the last three years he has built the generative AI platform that powers Amazon’s AI advertising products. Prior to this he held senior engineering roles at Virgin Money and Clydesdale Bank, saw a startup through to a successful exit, and founded his own business. Throughout his career he has had a focus on developing high-performing, high-agency teams that innovate around the latest technologies. He will oversee the Edinburgh hub's growth and bring his expertise to Multiverse’s AI talent development programme.

As part of its broader expansion, Multiverse will create 200 jobs in the next year across the new office and its London HQ, while continuing to grow revenue per employee. This will fuel its mission to translate AI’s potential into practical outcomes for employers across the UK and Europe. 

Colin Mackenzie, VP AI Engineering, Multiverse, said: "AI is changing how people work faster than they can retrain for it, and without equitable access to AI skills a lot of people get displaced and left behind. We need to innovate at pace to solve this problem, and thankfully Scotland has the world-class AI talent required to help us do it. When we get it right, we change lives at a national scale."

For incoming and existing tech talent, Multiverse is also launching an internal upskilling model, pairing high-agency junior AI engineers with senior engineering leaders. This approach treats mentorship as a core engineering function, accelerating the development of practical AI skills through on-the-job learning alongside experienced practitioners. 

Paired with delivering its AI product and data engineering apprenticeships, this reinforces the company’s commitment to equipping the whole workforce to win in the AI era, from frontline workers to frontend engineers.

Jay Richman, Chief Product & Technology Officer, Multiverse, said: "We're building the AI adoption layer for UK and European employers. That requires depth in the product, and in the team building it. The market problem is significant: AI capability is advancing faster than workforces can absorb it, and employers are under real pressure to close that gap. Edinburgh gives us access to additional world-class engineering talent, Colin brings the track record to lead it, and our model of pairing high-agency junior engineers with senior practitioners means we're building capability as well as headcount."

The announcements come as governments and employers intensify their focus on AI adoption as a driver of productivity and economic growth. Multiverse's model, combining employer partnerships with structured, outcome-focused learning, is directly aligned with that agenda.

Across the UK economy, businesses, public sector organisations and universities are driving ahead with AI adoption, supported by the skills delivered through Multiverse programmes. In the past six months, employers like BT, Capita and Keltbray have launched significant upskilling efforts, rolling out hundreds of AI, data and engineering apprenticeships between them.