Northern Ireland’s Skilled Workforce Secures 94 Job Investment by Metaswitch – Hamilton

Minister for the Economy, Simon Hamilton MLA, has announced UK headquartered Metaswitch Networks plans to create 94 new ICT and R&D jobs.

Minister for the Economy, Simon Hamilton MLA, has announced UK headquartered Metaswitch Networks plans to create 94 new ICT and R&D jobs.

Metaswitch, which designs and develops cloud-native¹ communications software for telecommunications software providers, is opening a new Centre of Excellence in Belfast, housing best in class technical support and R&D teams. 

Welcoming the company the Minister said: “Once again, our pool of highly educated people has attracted a new investor to Northern Ireland. The investment by Metaswitch will see the company create 25 jobs over the next four months, with plans to grow to 94 jobs over the coming three years.

“There will be a range of roles available in Information and Communications Technology and Research and Development, with an average salary of over £27,500, creating an additional pool of high-quality roles in the telecommunications sector. Once fully operational the project will contribute approx. £3.3m per annum in wages to the Northern Ireland economy.

“The new centre will deliver a competitive and innovative edge to the company’s operations, helping it to compete in a global industry. The involvement of Invest NI and my Department has secured this highly attractive mobile project for Northern Ireland.”

In conjunction with the job announcement, Economy Minister, Simon Hamilton, has launched the commencement of the first Metaswitch Academy. The programme will see 20 graduates undertake an intensive nine week training programme delivered by Belfast Metropolitan College.

Academy participants will learn the skills required to kickstart a successful career in software support engineering with potential employment at Metaswitch’s new Centre of Excellence in central Belfast.

The Minister added:  “This Academy is an excellent example of how I am determined to work with academia to ensure that our graduates have the skills required for new companies such as Metaswitch as well as our indigenous companies.”

The company has been offered support of £800k towards employment and Assured Skills training assistance.

Graeme MacArthur, Executive VP of Engineering and Support Services at Metaswitch, said: “We were attracted to Northern Ireland primarily because of the stable supply of highly educated people. We were particularly impressed by the Assured Skills program and the close links it fosters between business and the universities, enabling us to feed into curriculums and ensure the ongoing supply of smart people with the right skills.

“High quality telecommunications and lower operating costs were also attractive and we anticipate that the Belfast centre will provide a very cost effective element of our growth strategy.”

Notes to editors: 

1. “Cloud native” refers to software products designed for deployment in modern cloud computing environments.
2. Metaswitch is Head Quartered in London (Enfield), with various offices in UK, USA, Mexico City, Singapore, Melbourne and Hong Kong.
3. Invest NI has offered an Employment Grant of £470k, and The Department for Economy has offered Assured Skills assistance of £330k.
4. For media enquiries contact DFE Press Office on 028 9052 9604. Out of office hours please contact the Duty Press Officer via pager number 07699 715 440 and your call will be returned.
5. Photos will be available to accompany this news release.
6. Follow us on Twitter @Economy_NI 

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