Finance and HR cloud based software developer Workday has today opened its second office in Ireland, while it also announced €2m in funding for a new Chair of Technology & Society at Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin) - the first of its kind in Ireland.
Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment Simon Coveney today opened Workday's 'Dockline' office, an 80,000 square foot high tech, high spec building in Dublin 1.
The Minister was joined by IDA Ireland chief executive Michael Lohan, Professor David FitzPatrick, President of TU Dublin and Graham Abell, Site Lead and Vice President of Software Engineering at Workday at the opening today.
The new Dockline office will accommodate Workday's strategic EMEA functions such as finance, sales, support, and HR, while the engineering and development teams will remain at the existing Workday office in Smithfield.
Workday currently employs over 1,800 people in Ireland, representing about 70 nationalities.
It said that bi-locating its operations will allow the company to continue to grow in Ireland, while the company progresses to the next phase of planning and design work for its proposed new 550,000 square foot European headquarters at Grangegorman.
Meanwhile, Workday said its seven year commitment with TU Dublin in Grangegorman will see the creation of a new pioneering research unit, which will examine the intersection of technology and society, across topics ranging from Artificial Intelligence to STEM.
The company said that recruitment will start shortly for the Chair role and eight additional roles, including five PhD students and three staff members.
"We continue to hire talented people as Ireland plays a crucial role in our innovation efforts at Workday. Such growth also means we can extend our community programmes and embrace new opportunities with TU Dublin, collaborating on projects that will have positive societal impact at both a local and national level," commented Workdays Graham Abell.
Michael Lohan, CEO of IDA Ireland, said that Workday's second Dublin office is a testament to the strength of the Irish talent pool.
"The company's growth plans signal confidence in the conditions that Ireland offers for European Headquarters of large scale companies. The development of a new Chair of Technology & Society at TU Dublin will offer a great opportunity to further research in this area and deepen the link between enterprise and education in Ireland," he added.
Simon Coveney said the company's new facility will house a range of functions including finance, sales, support, and HR and will be another platform to show off an extremely talented workforce.
"This is a further welcome investment and adds to Workday's already well established and thriving presence in Ireland," he added.