Three men standing next to each other with the Belfast skyline visible behind them.
From left: Invest NI interim CEO Mel Chittock, Harness CEO and co-founder Jyoti Bansal and NI economy minister Gordon Lyons. Image: Harness

US tech firm Harness creates 80 jobs with new Belfast engineering office

11 Aug 2022

With 30 positions already in place, the hybrid roles include graduate to senior-level jobs in engineering, UX, management and customer success.

San Francisco-based software developer platform Harness is expanding its European operations in Northern Ireland with a new engineering office in Belfast and 80 new jobs.

Founded in 2017, the start-up has developed software delivery technology that helps engineering and DevOps teams to release applications into production quickly and securely.

Harness first announced plans to open an engineering base in Belfast last May as part of an international expansion to boost its engineering presence in Europe and complement its commercial base in London.

At the time, the company said in a statement it chose Belfast because the city “has been recognised as one of the hottest tech hubs in Europe and will provide Harness with the talent needed to build our next-generation platform for software delivery”.

Recruitment for the roles, which are to be filled over the next three years, is currently underway with 30 jobs already in place. Roles include graduate to senior-level positions in engineering, UX, management and customer success.

“It is cutting-edge, entrepreneurial companies like Harness that will help to shape Northern Ireland’s economic future and support my department’s 10X vision where innovation will be the engine for growth in this decade,” said Northern Ireland economy minister Gordon Lyons.

“The positions on offer will attract interest across the experience spectrum – from graduates through to those considering returning and relocating to Northern Ireland to further their career.”

Harness raised $85m in a Series C round in early 2021 that valued the company at $1.7bn, with backers including Alkeon Capital and Citi Ventures.

In August 2020, the start-up announced that it had acquired continuous integration firm Drone.io, which helps automate software building and testing.

Invest NI helped secure the 80 hybrid roles, which can be filled by people from anywhere in Northern Ireland either remotely or based out of Urban HQ in Belfast.

“Our team here will play an important role in expanding the Harness platform for our customers that rely on it to build and deploy their most important software,” said Harness CEO and co-founder Jyoti Bansal.

“With many of our customers already located in the city, investing in our Belfast presence puts Harness in the centre of one of Europe’s strongest technology hubs.”

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Vish Gain
By Vish Gain

Vish Gain is a journalist with Silicon Republic since July 2021. He has previously worked as a freelance journalist, writing about business and climate change in Europe. When he’s not writing and editing articles, he’s usually going on long walks around the city, learning Irish or thinking about puns to include in his next headline.

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