A US workforce management company is to create over 150 jobs at a new base in Northern Ireland.
Workrise, founded in Austin, Texas, said it made the decision to set up in the region because of the high level of skilled software engineers and flow of graduates from the two universities.
The roles - 153 in total - will be created over the next four years, initially building out an engineering team. Overall, the project will contribute £6.8 million a year in wages to the local economy once all the roles are in place.
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At present Workrise is looking for software engineers with roles focused on backend, frontend and devops and has already filled 30 roles, all working remotely across Northern Ireland.
Recruitment will then turn to product and programme management roles with the company ultimately planning to establish a central office Belfast, although it is understood all roles will be hybrid, with a mix of home and office working.
Founded in Austin, Texas, Workrise provides a full-service workforce solution, matching skilled labour contractors to companies that require staff for time bound projects.
“To achieve our growth plans we are expanding and centralising our software engineering function,” Workrise CEO, and co-founder, Xuan Yong, said. “We selected Northern Ireland as the location for this new centre based on the high-quality software engineers with industry skills, along with a strong pipeline of graduates from your excellent universities.
“This, along with the practical and financial support from Invest NI, made Northern Ireland a very attractive location.”
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Invest Northern Ireland has offered the company £994,500 of support towards the creation of the new technology jobs.
Northern Ireland Economy Minister Gordon Lyons welcomed the investment by Workrise.
“It is a pleasure to welcome this leading technology company from Austin, Texas to Northern Ireland, an investment which will make an important contribution to our economy,” he said. ““We want post-COVID Northern Ireland to be stronger than before. We want our people to develop the skills of the future and our businesses to be resilient, innovative, sustainable and competitive.
“One of the ways we can achieve this is to attract new investment and create high-value employment.”
Xuan Yong explained how the company has evolved in just seven years.
“We started out in 2014 as a platform to match skilled laborers with companies in the oil and gas industry,” he said. “Over the last couple of years, we’ve broadened our reach to companies and trade workers in the solar, wind, commercial construction and defense industries.
“We now plan to continue our expansion into new markets over the coming years. “By automating the process of matching workers to companies, we bring technology-backed efficiencies across recruiting, logistics, operations and payments which ultimately reduce the operational costs for the business.”