Last month, Microsoft made its latest round of job cuts, laying off hundreds of staff as part of a broader plan announced last summer to eliminate 2,850 positions from its global workforce. But while some business units within the company have been reduced in size, others are expanding.
Today, Microsoft announced that it is hiring 600 people in Ireland, in a major expansion of its operations there. Indeed, its new recruitment drive will grow its workforce in Ireland by 50%, increasing the total number of full-time employees working there to over 1,800.
Microsoft Ireland is relocating to a new €134 million ($143 million) campus in Leopardstown, Dublin, where the company will establish one of four global Inside Sales Centres. 500 of the new roles have been created within the Inside Sales team, and the company has already opened the recruitment process to fill those vacancies. The Dublin centre will manage sales of Microsofts software and services across the EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) region, with staff serving customers in over 30 languages.
A further 100 positions will be created across Microsofts other operations in Ireland, including its engineering, operations, technical solutions, and data centre teams, among others.
Irelands Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, celebrated Microsofts announcement, saying:
Today’s announcement underlines the strong commitment of Microsoft to its Irish operation and the strength of leadership of its Irish management team. The establishment of their transformational Inside Sales Centre is a testament to the attractiveness of Ireland as a location with our strong commitment to our EU membership, a competitive tax regime, a business-friendly environment and a skilled workforce with high levels of education.
Microsoft also published a video showing "what its like to work on the Microsoft Inside Sales team in Dublin", which you can view below:
Details of the new jobs, and how to apply for them, can be found on the Microsoft Careers website.