Slack Jobs!! - Jobs boost as Slack expands European HQ in Dublin

Tech firm set to increase Irish workforce by 80 and plans to employ 180 by end of 2017

Tech company Slack is set to add an additional 80 jobs to its Irish workforce as it expands its European headquarters in Dublin.

The company will employ 180 people in Ireland by the end of 2017, with new jobs including customer experience and account management roles. It currently has 30 people at its existing European base in the Digital Hub in Dublin.

When it set up its office in Ireland in May last year – its first outside North America – Slack said it would employ 100 people. However, speaking at the Web Summit in November last year, founder Stewart Butterfield said the firm’s plans had been held back by a lack of suitable office space in the city centre.

That situation has now been resolved, with Slack set to begin the move on Monday into One Park Place in Dublin, a 29,000sq ft building that will give it space to grow to just more than 180 people.

Slack offers a messaging platform for teams that brings communication from various channels into one place, creating a single archive that can be searched. It integrates with Twitter, Dropbox, Google Drive, Zendesk and Stripe, among others.

Minister for Jobs Richard Bruton welcomed the announcement. “Today’s announcement that it is creating an additional 80 jobs and opening a new office is further evidence of its commitment to Ireland and its ambitious plans for its operations here,” he said.

IDA Ireland chief executive Martin Shanahan said the decision to expand the team reaffirmed Ireland’s reputation as a hub for innovative and exciting tech companies.

James Sherrett, Slack’s Dublin-based senior manager of accounts, said expanding much further beyond 180 staff would have Slack on the hunt for a new premises in Dublin.

“Growth has constantly exceeded our expectations; we’re just trying to keep up,” he said. He said the UK was already its second largest market, with Germany and France also seeing significant growth.

Slack has its main offices in San Francisco, with a presence in Vancouver, Canada, and an office in Melbourne, Australia, to look after the Asia Pacific market. It currently employs 430 people and currently has more than 2.7 million daily active users, with 800,000 paid users.

“There’s certainly no indication growth is slowing down,” Mr Sherrett said, adding that the company expected to see new vectors of growth as Slack became more of a platform. The company plans to add an enterprise service to its line-up in the coming months.

The company, which officially launched in August 2013, has raised $540 million to develop its platform, with investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Google Ventures, Horizons Ventures, Social+Capital, KPCB, Accel, IVP, Spark Capital Growth, DST, and Index. Among its customers are eBay, Samsung, News Corp and the FAA, along with smaller firms and local businesses.

Source: www.irishtimes.com

Journalist: Ciara O'Brien