Will Squires is a London-based technology and engineering professional best known as the CEO and Co‑Founder of Macrocosmos, a venture founded in April 2024 focused on “decentralized intelligence.” He has also held advisory and product strategy roles at XYZ Reality and maintains a long‑running sideline as a freelance food and travel writer for Flux Magazine. Earlier in his career, Squires held a range of engineering and digital leadership posts at Atkins, contributing to major UK infrastructure projects. He holds an MSc in Smart Cities and Urban Analytics from University College London and an MEng in Civil Engineering with Sustainability from the University of Warwick. ^{[1] [2]}​

Education

Squires earned a Master of Engineering in Civil Engineering with Sustainability from the University of Warwick, a programme that emphasizes engineering fundamentals alongside environmental considerations and systems thinking. He later pursued a Master of Science in Smart Cities and Urban Analytics at University College London (UCL), aligning his training with the data‑driven transformation of urban systems and infrastructure. The postgraduate focus at UCL situated Squires at the intersection of cities, data, and technology—an orientation that is visible in his later work on digitalisation in construction and, subsequently, in his pivot to decentralized AI infrastructure. ^[1]​

Career

Atkins

Squires began his professional career with Atkins, one of the UK’s leading engineering and project management consultancies, where he worked as a civil engineer before transitioning into digital leadership roles. In that capacity he is credited with serving as a digital lead for cities and infrastructure, helping to steer data‑centric approaches within large, multidisciplinary project environments. While at Atkins, he contributed to major UK transport infrastructure programmes, including Crossrail and High Speed 2 (HS2), gaining experience in the integration of engineering delivery with emerging digital practices on nationally significant projects. ^[1]​

During his tenure at Atkins, Squires directed a notable internal digital investment programme that, by his account, led to the creation of an internal AI start‑up within the organization. The initiative formed part of a broader wave of digital transformation in the UK’s construction and infrastructure sectors during the mid‑to‑late 2010s, in which he was involved through authorship and co‑authorship of sectoral publications. These roles and contributions built a foundation of product, data, and organizational strategy experience that later informed his advisory work and entrepreneurial focus. ^[1]​

Freelance writing

Alongside his technical and leadership responsibilities, Squires has maintained a long‑running freelance writing practice. He began writing food and travel features for Flux Magazine in January 2014, contributing to cultural and lifestyle coverage in parallel with his primary professional trajectory. This dual track reflects a broader interest in communication and public engagement, carried through from the built environment into technology topics later in his career. ^[1]​

XYZ Reality (advisory and product strategy)

Squires has served in advisory and product strategy capacities with XYZ Reality, a company operating in augmented reality and construction technology. In this context, he has been associated with rebuilding the software department and with launching a cloud platform aimed at 4D project execution—an approach that couples 3D models with schedule data to coordinate construction sequencing. The role highlights continuity from his Atkins experience: applying digital transformation and product leadership to complex, safety‑ and coordination‑critical environments in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) sector. ^[2]​

Macrocosmos

In April 2024, Squires co‑founded Macrocosmos and assumed the role of chief executive officer. The company’s stated mission is to build “decentralized intelligence,” a phrase used to describe using permissionless, distributed compute to train and serve AI models outside of traditional centralized data centres. Public materials position Macrocosmos squarely within the decentralized AI domain, connecting his earlier engineering and digitalisation experience with an emphasis on orchestration, economics, and systems design for networked AI. ^{[2] [3]}​

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