By Business & Finance Guidewire Software, a global provider of software products to the general insurance industry, today announced the expansion of its operations in Ireland with the leasing of additional office space to handle its growing team. To build on its success in the country, Guidewire anticipates hiring 60-80 new staff in 2015/2016.
Already employing more than 150 people at its Global Services and Development Centre in Dublin, this expansion will position Guidewire Software Ireland as the largest office outside of the US, where the company is headquartered. The additional staff will provide consultancy support and product development resources to some of Guidewire’s 180 customers around the world.
There are two components to the Development Centre and Global Services in Dublin: the European Development Centre (EDC) and the Guidewire Services Centre (GSC). Product Development has been a significant factor in the growth of the EDC this year, where its highly-skilled technical team is developing product extensions, accelerators, mobile applications and web portals. The strength of technical talent in Ireland led Guidewire to designate the Dublin site as its fifth Development Centre, joining the Guidewire teams in the San Francisco Bay Area, Exton (Pennsylvania), Tokyo, and Toronto as a product development operation.
“We have been very pleased with the quality of talent and output from our Dublin office, and I regard our decision to start operations in Ireland as one of the best we have made in the last several years. We intend to build on that success with a significant increase in our hiring plans and a deeper integration of our Dublin-based personnel into the career progression opportunities of the company, especially in Europe,” said Marcus Ryu, chief executive officer, Guidewire Software.
Dan Lonborg, engineering director and head of the European Development Centre, added: “It’s a great vote of confidence in the team and the outstanding work they have done that we‘ve decided to increase our investment in the European Development Centre. This expansion will allow us to take on bigger, more complex and new types of projects in Dublin.
“Guidewire’s goal is to build the best software possible for our industry and our Dublin team has a significant role in this. They are committed to our core principles of product quality.”
