Two US companies set to create up to 500 jobs in Dublin

A US company that operates call centres around the world, Stream Global Services, is set for a major expansion of its existing Irish base, which will result in up to 400 new jobs for Dublin.

In a good day for job announcements, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation Batt O’Keeffe also confirmed another US firm, Spencer Stuart, will create 100 jobs in the capital from the establishment of its new operation in Ireland.

Stream Global Services is expanding its Irish services after winning a contract from Microsoft to provide customer support for users of its Xbox 360 games console in Europe which will generate annual revenue of over €40 million a year.

The company already employs 300 staff at its offices in Santry, which provides technical support, customer service and sales for a number of clients, including software companies, PC manufacturers, airlines and service providers. It has an existing contract to provide technical support to Eircom’s residential and business broadband customers worth €13.5m.

The company said its Dublin base will provide multi-lingual support in 16 languages to its European customers when the new service becomes fully operational in the autumn.

Meanwhile, Spencer Stuart, a US recruitment consultancy firm with 1,200 staff across 51 offices in 27 countries, is to locate its new technology and knowledge centre in Dublin.

The investment is supported by the Government through IDA Ireland. The development will see the company creating approximately 100 skilled positions over the next five years in software development, IT support services and information and data quality.

Mr O’Keeffe said Spencer Stuart’s arrival in Ireland was a welcome addition to Ireland’s thriving internationally traded services sector.

He attributed the company’s decision to locate here to an innovative workforce, low-risk environment, excellent infrastructure and favourable corporate tax rate.