Blog » Jobs boost as tech firm Kainos to take on 400 new workers

Jobs boost as tech firm Kainos to take on 400 new workers

27th February 2015

Northern Ireland’s tech sector continues to prosper with the news that 400 new jobs are being created at Belfast-based Kainos Software.

The firm, which helps the healthcare industry and the Government digitalise their work, has received £4.7 million from Invest NI to help the expansion.

The jobs will have an average annual salary of £30,000 and be created over the next five years at the firm’s Belfast and Londonderry offices.

First Minister Peter Robinson said: “I welcome today’s significant investment announcement by Kainos, one of Northern Ireland’s most successful indigenous IT Companies.

“This expansion will drive sales and increase annual revenue by 25% year-on-year, to £94m, over the next three years.”

Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said: “I congratulate Kainos for this investment with the new jobs contributing £12.4m annually in salaries to the local economy. These jobs will create opportunities for both highly experienced technical staff as well as graduates entering the world of work.”

Kainos CEO Brendan Mooney said: “This investment in more than 400 new jobs over five years will enable Kainos to accelerate a wide range of global opportunities and achieve our ambitious growth targets.

“The jobs are primarily in Software engineering, around agile software developments, the real thrust of what we do as a business. Alongside those will be some project management and some consulting and business analyst jobs as well.”

Invest NI has pledged £3.2m through an employment grant, and £1.5m for training its Skills Growth Programme. Kainos is an integral part of the growing digital sector in Northern Ireland, which now employs around 32,000 people, with Belfast having the fastest growing ‘knowledge economy’ of any UK city, according to data firm Tech Nation.

The firm, which employs 400 people in Northern Ireland, was set up as a joint venture by Fujitsu and Queen’s University in April 1986 and was one of Northern Ireland’s first university spin-outs.

The growth in the IT sector in Northern Ireland is down to the quality of the talent pool, Mr Mooney said.

“I think we have always had a really good talent pool here in Northern Ireland. It has always been well educated, enthusiastic, hard working,” he added.

Last year, Kainos’s pre-tax profits rose by 131% to £8m, the highest in the company’s history.

View this and more articles on the Belfast Telegraph.

Back to Top