Voxpro creates 400 Cork jobs but eyes huge expansion in the US

Global business outsourcing firm Voxpro, which has announced plans to create 400 jobs in Ireland over the next 18 months, is eyeing massive expansion in the US.

The jobs announcement, made by Taoiseach Enda Kenny at the company’s Cork headquarters yesterday, will make Voxpro one of the country’s largest providers of multilingual tech support and business outsourcing services.

Most of the new jobs will be offered to graduates across a range of tech support and language skills, with salaries starting at €25,000.

Company founders, husband and wife team Dan and Linda Kiely, said it was a very proud moment for them, and had fuelled their ambitious growth plans for the US next year.

But they revealed long-term plans for further expansion across Europe and into the Asia Pacific region.

“The start-up feel will never leave our DNA,” Mr Kiely said.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny arrives at .@VoxproIreland #Cork to announce a 400-job expansion pic.twitter.com/JXELbL8c7X

— Eoin English (@EoinBearla) November 20, 2015

From a small paging operation with just six staff based in an office above a shop on Cork’s Marlboro St, the company has experienced phenomenal growth in recent years.

It had 40 staff when it won a contract to provide technical support to Google in 2009. It announced 350 jobs in May 2014, expanding its workforce from 500 to 850 people.

It now counts room-letting site Airbnb, Google-owned thermostat firm Nest, online payments firm Stripe, founded by Limerick brothers John and Patrick Collison, and TravelZoo among its clients.

Staff numbers at its large multilingual support centre in Mahon, Cork, are set to top 1,200 following yesterday’s announcement.

The company has operations in Dublin and in Folsom City, Sacramento — a facility designed to mirror a Google campus.

Ms Kiely said they are eyeing ambitious growth across the US next year with plans to have 100 staff on site in Folsom by the end of the first quarter of 2016.

The firm is scouting for a second US location and ultimately plans to open multiple sites across America.

The Taoiseach hailed the company’s global ambitions.

“Voxpro is an example of an Irish company that has grown because of their own vision and courage to extend the boundary of Ireland.

“The announcement of 400 jobs is not the end of that.”

He said it is part of the national recovery which is now creating up to 1,000 jobs a week.

“But we need to build on that and keep the momentum going,” he said.

The company currently has vacancies for a range of customer service and technical support roles for people with Russian, German, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Italian language skills.

The city’s latest jobs boost comes just a week after Apple boss Tim Cook announced 1,000 new jobs at its European headquarters in Hollyhill.

Voxpro was named Cork Chamber/Vodafone Cork Company of the Year last year. Ms Kiely picked up the Leading Female Award at the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 2015 awards last week.