Economic boost for region with 800 jobs for Red Hat – News – Waterford News & Star

New roles announced in the technology sector for Waterford, Cork and Dublin have been welcomed by Government as Waterford is expected to take the lead and bring a significant boost to the economy through Red Hat.

IBM and Red Hat, with the support of Government through IDA Ireland, have announced 800 roles that will be introduced over the next three years.

“As IBM continues to help organisations transform their businesses with hybrid cloud and AI, attracting, developing, and retaining talent remains a key priority,” said James Kavanaugh, IBM senior vice president and chief financial officer.

“The announcement is a result of our strong relationship with IDA Ireland and the Irish government but is also a testament to the calibre of talent here in Ireland, one of many reasons Ireland continues to be a strategic location for IBM,” he added.

Red Hat’s site in Waterford was established in 2014 after the acquisition of FeedHenry – a mobile and cloud technology startup company founded at SETU. 

As a result of continued support from Red Hat since then, the Waterford site is now Red Hat’s largest software engineering site in Ireland, with teams contributing to a wide variety of Red Hat products and technologies in collaboration with other locations globally.

Their contributions to Red Hat have been recognised by numerous business awards for technology and innovation

Red Hat’s Waterford site has also enjoyed a long-standing partnership with SETU, which is expanding to other national universities, which has produced a strong talent pipeline that is perfectly at home in the global Red Hat family, where interns and graduates are widely celebrated and recognised for the talents that they bring. 

This, coupled with community partnerships, as well as support for various STEM initiatives at numerous local schools, provides the perfect backdrop for diverse staff to engage in the social fabric that is Waterford and the South East.

While welcoming the announcement, Taoiseach Simon Harris said it “not only reinforces the company’s deep-rooted commitment to Ireland as a strategic location, but is also set to deliver real impact to the Irish economy through job creation and by strengthening specialist skills and expertise”.

“Furthermore, this news demonstrates Ireland’s continued attractiveness as a preferred location for global companies to build out their digitalisation, research and innovation capabilities,” he added.

Adding to the welcomed news, James Mernin, Director of Engineering and Site Lead for Red Hat in Waterford, said: “As a Waterford native, I am incredibly proud of what the Red Hat team has achieved together here in a relatively short space of time and this new collaboration with IBM and IDA Ireland will help us continue to provide a wealth of opportunities for attracting and developing skilled talent.”