Malwarebytes eyes major expansion of its Irish operations

US cybersecurity company Malwarebytes has said it may need another office in 18 months, even as it opened new EMEA headquarters in Cork yesterday.

Speaking as staff moved into the company’s new Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) base, in One Albert Quay, Malwarebytes founder and chief executive Marcin Kleczynski said he hoped the company would need more office space by the end of next year, such has been its recent growth.

The firm, founded by Mr Kleczynski when he was a teenager after he accidentally infected his family’s computer with malware while downloading a game, has grown rapidly and now protects 250m computers worldwide.

Its sales growth in 2015 topped 100%, while the final quarter of last year was the 31st quarter in which Malwarebytes generated positive cash flow.

In March, 2015, Malwarebytes announced 50 roles in Cork and hopes to have filled its 80-person capacity office by the end of next year.

“We’re going to try to keep ahead of schedule [on recruitment] as far as we can, but should there be any shift in security spending — whether it goes up or down — we’ll adjust to that,” said Mr Kleczynski.

“But I’m hoping, by the end of next year, we’re looking for a new office, potentially, or expanding this one. So that’s 80 people by the end of next year. I think that’s optimistic, but certainly achievable.”

Staff based in Malwarebytes’ Cork office perform a range of functions, the largest of which is sales.

Sales and support engineers are also employed at the city centre office, and while the company’s main engineering hub is based in Clearwater, Florida, in the US, and though there is no immediate plan to develop Cork as an engineering base, it may happen in the future.

Because of the “cutthroat” nature of competing for engineering talent in the San Francisco Bay area, Malwarebytes has given up trying to hire engineers at its Santa Clara office, while it is close to “exhausting” the talent pool around its Florida base, too.

“In Santa Clara, it is cutthroat to try and hire engineers,” said Mr Kleczynski. “I have given up — I have given up trying to hire skilled engineers in the Bay Area. It’s very difficult to find. We find we have much higher success in [Malwarebytes’ other bases] than in Santa Clara… Honestly, I prefer to hire engineers elsewhere.”

As a result, there is potential to add engineering roles in Cork, with the likelihood that projects would be moved to its EMEA office from the US.

He added that the Cork office was “very important” to the company, while Anthony O’Mara, Malwarebytes EMEA vice president, said the cluster of security and enterprise technology companies in the city was a major draw.