Scottish data centre operator launches 'first-of-its-kind' recruitment contest

DataVita, Scotland’s fastest-growing technology company and home to one of the UK Government’s designated AI Growth Zones, has opened entries for its OpenClaw Challenge, a competition that replaces the traditional job application with building a working AI product.

Entrants are asked to create an AI tool with OpenClaw, the open-source AI agent that has amassed more than 310,000 GitHub users and become one of the fastest-growing open-source projects of 2026.

The strongest submission wins a full-time, permanent position on DataVita’s AI Solutions team, with a £35,000 starting salary and a full benefits package.

There is no traditional application form, no CV, no cover letter, and no prior experience required. Recruiters will look at what applicants have built, how they built it, and why it matters.

Submissions are judged on originality, technical thinking, business value, security, and communication. The Challenge is explicitly aimed at people at the start of their career: students, self-taught builders, career changers, or anyone with an idea they can make work.

Danny Quinn, managing director of DataVita, said: “For certain roles, AI has fundamentally changed what we’re looking for in new employees. Critical thinking, self-learning, and a fundamental understanding of how technology interacts are more important than ever.

“We’re seeing it inside our own business – young, supposedly inexperienced people coming in and taking new approaches to age-old problems. It’s a completely different way of thinking and those capabilities are showing up in places traditional hiring has not always looked. What someone can build on their own often tells us more than their background alone. 

“We picked OpenClaw because it brings together a range of different approaches and technologies, so getting anywhere with it means you can think across domains. And because it’s so new, there’s no textbook, no course, and no short cut. The only way to learn it is to experiment, test, and figure it out yourself. If someone has built something real with OpenClaw, we already know they think differently and they can teach themselves.

“There are people out there right now, often building as hobbyists in their own time, creating genuinely brilliant products with OpenClaw. Most of them have no idea how valuable their skill set actually is. A CV will not tell us who they are, but a working product will.

“For this role, we don’t care about your experience. If you’re straight out of school, have never worked, or are in a job with no connection to IT but are passionate about this technology, submit an idea. Anyone with the right attitude will get an unbelievable opportunity to work on the deployment of AI as part of one of the most exciting teams in the country.”

Key details:

Submissions open: Tuesday 5 May 2026

Submissions close: Tuesday 26 May 2026

Shortlist announced: Saturday 8 June 2026

In-person finals: date to be confirmed

Prize: full-time permanent role, £35,000 salary, 33 days annual leave, private healthcare, EV salary sacrifice, 5 percent matched pension

Entry is open to anyone aged 18 or over with the right to work in the UK, living within commuting distance of DataVita’s central Scotland offices

Find out more and apply here: https://jobs.datavita.co.uk/openclaw-challenge