A black desktop keyboard with the US flag superimposed onto it.
Image: © Karen Roach/Stock.adobe.com

Ireland is home to these 18 US tech titans – and they’re hiring

4 Jul 2022

Dublin and Cork are two of Ireland’s major hubs favoured by US tech giants from Apple to ServiceNow. But there are lots of jobs on offer all over the country this 4 July.

Towards the end of last month, the 2022 edition of the Most Attractive Employers Index Ireland found that Irish Gen Z and millennial students had their sights set on working for big tech multinationals.

The index revealed that IT and engineering students rated Google and Intel as their most attractive employers, respectively, with Microsoft, Apple and Amazon close behind.

Why did the students surveyed pick these US-headquartered tech giants? Perhaps it has something to do with the prestige of working for a big name, international company. Or, the index suggested that students may associate these companies with market success, a willingness to embrace new technologies and innovation.

So, if you’re interested in working with a major US tech player, here’s a list of 18 companies currently growing their Irish teams.

Adobe

California-headquartered software company Adobe has had a presence in Ireland for two decades. It currently employs almost 4,000 people here, having grown from less than 100 Ireland-based employees in 2005. Its base is in Dublin’s Citywest.

The company makes well-known software such as Adobe Reader and Photoshop. It is currently recruiting for a number of tech and engineering roles in Dublin, such as tech support engineers and tech support consultants.

Airbnb

The online accommodation rental platform has its European headquarters in Dublin. Founded in the US in 2008, it began hiring in Ireland in 2013.

In 2016, Airbnb unveiled a new office at Hanover Quay in Dublin, along with 200 new jobs. It currently has around 500 workers in Ireland, and it’s still hiring.

The company’s CEO, Brian Chesky, said in April that all Airbnb employees would be allowed to “live and work anywhere” to fully take advantage of flexible working practices.

Alphabet

Alphabet is the parent company of tech giant Google. While Google recently featured across the board in the top 10 most attractive employers to Irish students, Alphabet ranked in third place in LinkedIn’s list of the best places to work in Ireland in 2022.

Google has several offices in Dublin. While it rowed back on a previous decision to lease an office in Dublin’s Docklands in 2020, it was granted permission earlier this year to establish a new campus in the city centre, which could accommodate up to 1,700 employees.

The company is still hiring here and no doubt will continue making use of Ireland’s tech and engineering graduates. Recently, its head of engineering in Dublin, Dr Jessica McCarthy, told SiliconRepublic.com that Ireland is crying out for talent.

Analog Devices

Analog Devices has been in Ireland since the 1970s and currently employs around 1,300 staff here. The US semiconductor company announced earlier this year that it plans to create 250 new jobs in Ireland by 2025.

It is looking to add new recruits with software and AI skills to work in areas such as industry 4.0, sustainable energy and next-generation connectivity.

The company’s recent €100m investment in Co Limerick will be key to its continued European expansion. It is planning to build a new facility for innovation, called ADI Catalyst, at its Irish base in Raheen Business Park in Limerick.

Amazon

Amazon has several sites in Ireland, with offices in Dublin and Cork as well as data centres. After first opening an office in Ireland in 2004, Amazon extended its presence in the country and Amazon Web Services (AWS) came to Ireland in 2007.

Over the past few years, Amazon has consistently announced big hiring plans for its Irish operations. In 2018, it said it was creating 1,000 new tech jobs at a new facility in Dublin 4.

In 2020, Amazon pledged to bring its Irish workforce up to 5,000 with a hiring announcement for Cork and Dublin, and last year it said it was hiring 500 people for its new fulfilment centre in Dublin.

Apple

The tech giant was recently named the biggest company in Ireland by The Irish Times as part of its Top 1000 list. Apple first came to Cork in 1980 and has grown its operations in Ireland significantly since then.

To mark Apple’s 40th anniversary in Ireland, SiliconRepublic.com editor Elaine Burke described its humble origins in Cork with just 60 employees. These days, Apple employs more than 6,000 people and its Cork campus is vast.

In April of this year, the company opened a new multimillion-euro engineering and test facility at its Cork site, and revealed plans for further expansion.

Apple, which recently became the first company in the world to surpass a $3trn valuation, is hiring for several roles in Ireland currently.

Cisco

Cisco may have just announced it is exiting Russia and Belarus, but it is still going strong – and hiring – in Ireland.

The Silicon Valley-based manufacturer and designer of networking tech equipment has two facilities in Ireland. It employs more than 300 staff across its product design and development, marketing, manufacturing, HR and software engineering divisions.

In 2018, Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins visited Ireland to announce the creation of 100 new jobs to help further the company’s capabilities in AI, machine learning and the internet of things, in Galway and Dublin.

In March of this year, Cisco scooped the top spot in Ireland’s best large workplaces list for the second year running.

HP Inc

The Californian tech giant’s portfolio spans personal computers, printers, software, services and other IT infrastructure.

HP first set up operations in Ireland in the early 1970s and since then it has grown steadily, with locations in Kildare, Galway, Belfast and Dublin.

In May, HP appointed Val Gabriel as its new managing director for Ireland. Gabriel said he hopes to build on the company’s cybersecurity, hybrid working and sustainability capabilities.

IBM

IBM’s Irish headquarters are located on Dublin’s Shelbourne Road. The company has been in Ireland since 1956, having been founded way back in 1911 in the US.

In a piece about the company’s 100-year anniversary in 2011, former SiliconRepublic.com editor John Kennedy recalled attending company events in the ’90s in the Shelbourne Hotel, where IBM had started its first Irish operation in one room. By 2011, IBM had grown to more than several thousand employees at its west-Dublin campus alone.

In May of this year, IBM announced the creation of 200 new jobs across its operations in Dublin, Cork and Galway. The roles will be in IT, R&D, digital sales, software development, digital security and software engineering. Recruitment is underway and new roles are in addition to the 400 new hires it made here during the pandemic.

Intel

The most sought-after employer for Irish engineering students, US chip giant Intel has been in Ireland since 1989.

It employs almost 5,000 people here and plans to add 1,600 roles at its Leixlip campus following the completion of an expansion begun in 2019.

Last year, Intel said it was planning to invest €80bn in its European operations to combat the semiconductor shortage. Intel kicked off its investment in Ireland and several other European countries earlier this year with an initial commitment of €33bn.

“Our planned investments are a major step both for Intel and for Europe,” said Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger. “We are committed to playing an essential role in shaping Europe’s digital future for decades to come.”

Meta

Meta has been the name of Facebook’s parent company since 2021, when Mark Zuckerberg unveiled plans to focus on the concept of the metaverse.

Facebook has been in Ireland since 2008 after it established its EMEA headquarters in Dublin. Over the years, it has grown its staff headcount significantly. It now employs more than 3,000 people in Ireland and is still growing.

Last October, it said it was planning to hire 10,000 new workers across Europe for its AR and VR projects.

Microsoft

Another tech giant with its EMEA headquarters in Ireland, Microsoft employs nearly 3,000 people at its campus in Leopardstown, which opened in 2018, and at its data centre in Dublin.

The company has teams across software development, operations, finance, HR, sales and marketing. In February 2021, it said it was going to grow its digital sales team by 200.

Later that year, Anne Sheehan was named as the company’s new general manager in Ireland.

Oracle

Computer software company Oracle set up in Ireland in 1990. Its EMEA headquarters are in Dublin, like many other tech companies on this list.

In 2016, it announced the creation of 450 new jobs in Dublin as part of a wider EMEA recruitment drive.

While there was a risk of job cuts in 2020, Oracle is back hiring in Ireland. Some of the roles on offer at the moment include technical product manager, sales reps, solution architect and field support specialist.

Qualcomm

California-headquartered semiconductor company Qualcomm has its main Irish office in Cork. It began hiring in 2013 for its R&D facility in the city.

The chip giant was one of the major players in the smartphone revolution. Its Cork facility began with just 20 staff focusing on security technology and related intellectual property for 3G and 4G devices.

In 2020, Qualcomm announced that it would bring hundreds of new jobs to Cork. Its subsidiary, Qualcomm Technologies, said it planned to invest €78m in a new R&D facility at Penrose Dock in the city.

Qualtrics

The US employee experience software company has been expanding in Dublin ever since its arrival on these shores in 2013. It went on hiring sprees in 2014, 2015 and 2018.

Last September, it said it planned to double the size of its Dublin office as part of a major EMEA expansion. Dublin is home to its EMEA headquarters and by 2024 it wants to have 650 staff employed there. In total, Qualtrics said it aimed to hire 1,000 people across its European locations over the coming three years.

In a recent conversation with SiliconRepublic.com, CEO Zig Serafin described Dublin as “the epicentre of how we operate across Europe”.

Salesforce

The cloud software player provides customer relationship management tools to its worldwide network of clients. It has been in Ireland since the early noughties and its Irish headquarters are in Dublin.

In 2019, it made a major hiring announcement for Dublin with plans to create 1,500 jobs. This announcement coincided with the company’s news that it was planning to build a sister Salesforce tower to the one it had in San Francisco.

It is hiring for several tech roles in Ireland currently.

ServiceNow

Californian software company ServiceNow has been operating in Ireland since 2018. Last April, it said it planned to hire 300 new staff for its Dublin office.

The company said its hiring plans in Ireland were part of a broader push to grow in Europe. It said it was looking to recruit engineering and digital sales staff over the next three years.

The previous year, ServiceNow said it was developing a data centre in Dublin to serve customers in Ireland and wider Europe.

VMware

The California-headquartered cloud computing and virtualisation tech company first established itself in Ireland in the mid-noughties, opening an office in Cork.

Last month, VMware said it was hiring 205 staff in Ireland, with all the roles to be in place by 2025. The company has a hub in Dublin, however staff will have the option to work remotely.

The new hires will be involved in VMWare’s efforts to create new cloud tech. Ireland is the company’s third largest location globally with more than 1,000 employees.

US semiconductor manufacturing company Broadcom recently announced it plans to acquire VMware. If Broadcom’s planned acquisition of the company goes through, it will be the second major change in its operations since it spun out of Dell last year.

10 things you need to know direct to your inbox every weekday. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of essential sci-tech news.

Blathnaid O’Dea
By Blathnaid O’Dea

Blathnaid O’Dea joined Silicon Republic in 2021 as Careers reporter, coming from a background in the Humanities. She likes people, pranking, pictures of puffins – and apparently alliteration.

Loading now, one moment please! Loading