Saongroup, a global online recruitment firm owned by Denis O’Brien and Leslie Buckley, is hiring 10 senior managers as part of a major expansion in China. The company is expanding to almost 100 Chinese cities from its current base of 25.

The recruitment firm initially entered the Chinese market in 2006 by opening offices in Shanghai and Beijing, and has since grown through a combination of acquisitions and organic growth. Saongroup employs almost 1,000 people in China, where it is the fourth largest online recruitment business.

Saongroup chief executive Ciarán McCooey said China had one of the world’s most dynamic online recruitment markets and it represented “a great challenge” for the firm.

The company, which has its headquarters in Ireland, now operates in 17 countries.