Digital consultancy Hippo has announced the opening of its new office in Liverpool.
Located in the heart of the region’s vibrant digital ecosystem at Baltic Creative CIC, the new space marks Hippo’s continued investment in the North West and strengthens its mission to design and deliver digital services that improve people’s lives.
Celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2026, Hippo has grown from a Leeds start-up into a 900-person consultancy operating across the UK, including hubs in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol and Glasgow. The addition of a Liverpool base reinforces Hippo’s Northern heritage with a Leeds HQ and Manchester office, as well as aligning directly with government devolution priorities and the rise of Combined Regional Authorities.
Hippo is committed to boosting regional capacity through its Northern SME Alliance by collaborating with specialist regional partners like Parallax, Fuzzy Labs and Citrus Suite. Having grown out of its own SME status, Hippo is “looking to bring other local SMEs into its delivery ecosystems,” coach them on public sector tenders and advise on growth strategies, ultimately supporting SMEs in accessing large-scale government contracts via Hippo’s procurement wins and other supplier partnerships.
“We are excited to be opening our new Hippo office in Liverpool, alongside our other offices in Leeds, Manchester, Glasgow, Birmingham, London and Bristol,” said Lara Longhurst, COO.
“Following significant demand for our services we have chosen to expand into Liverpool, thereby creating new digital job opportunities in the region and capitalising on all the great things that Liverpool can offer digital businesses. We will therefore also be expanding our Social Value and Impact initiatives to Liverpool and look forward to engaging with local communities and businesses as we continue towards our Social Value aspirations of £100m value by 2030.”
Liverpool City Region is a fast-growing hub for creative and digital innovation which, combined with Liverpool’s impressive graduate retention – over 75% of graduates remain in the city after study – ensures a lively tech scene. Hippo’s expansion aims to support the continued growth of this digital community by creating high-value regional roles for local professionals. This will offer key support to higher and further education centres and as well as working schemes from other regions.
Hippo also intends to expand its specialised Digital Academies into the area. The academies will offer hands-on training and career pathways in user research, business analysis, software engineering, and data engineering.
Meanwhile, Hippo will also be joining the Liverpool City Region AI Summit, taking place on the 27th October at Liverpool Experience Campus (LEX), where the team will be leading a session on adopting AI in public services. With the acceleration of AI, Hippo has invested in embedding intelligence into service delivery from the start: grounded in strong data foundations, responsible design and measurable outcomes. For Hippo the aim is practical – helping its clients use AI where it creates genuine value for users, not as an afterthought or a headline.
“I was born in Liverpool, I live in Liverpool, but I’ve never actually worked in Liverpool – so this one means a lot to me. I’m really excited that Hippo is putting down roots here and creating digital jobs for local people. Liverpool has brilliant talent; we want to give it even more of a reason to stay,” said Elisse Jones, government sector director.
