Ericsson to create 250 jobs at Irish operation

Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson is to create 250 jobs at its Athlone campus over the next three years as the company continues to target growth in its 5G and cloud technologies.

The company, which already employs 1,200 people at its research and development centre in Athlone and an additional 200 at its Dublin base, will recruit software developers, data scientists, architects, cloud and mobile communication engineers across all experience levels. The jobs will help support Ericsson’s cloud-native products that orchestrate, automate and power its global 5G portfolio.

The new round of recruitment follows Ericsson’s 25 per cent growth in employee numbers in Ireland over the past five years. The company has a long history here, opening in Athlone more than 40 years ago. It has built one of its largest software development campuses here, which develops solutions used in mobile networks worldwide. Ericsson’s technology is used in 40 per cent of mobile networks worldwide.

The Athlone facility is also the global R&D headquarters of Ericsson Digital Services Operations Support Systems (OSS), which develops the company’s OSS and cloud radio access network portfolio.

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Ericsson Athlone’s head of research Denis Dullea said the expansion underscored the Irish operations’ global reputation as a world-class research and development software development centre.

“We have a long-standing tradition here of evolving with technology,” he said. “As an R&D site that is something that was very important because technology and the pace of technology evolution is increasing all the time.”

The site already has 48 nationalities working there, and the company is confident of attracting the right skills needed to fill the roles. “People like to come to Ireland and that type of diversity can create kind of high-performing teams based in a high-performing R&D campus or R&D site,” Mr Dullea said.

“We expect 5G to be a platform for innovation. We as a company here expect 5G to be an enabler for industrial automation or industry 4.0. The software we produce here will help industries leverage the mobile technology to digitalise their industry and introduce smart manufacturing to rack assets, etc.”

The news was welcomed by Tánaiste and Minister for Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar. “These new jobs are in new areas in cloud-native technologies, providing some really exciting opportunities for the midlands,” he said. “It truly is a vote of confidence in Athlone and Ireland as a whole that such an internationally-renowned company has chosen to make this investment.”

The expansion is supported by the Irish Government through IDA Ireland.

IDA Ireland and CEO Martin Shanahan said the news was a significant announcement and demonstrated Ericsson’s commitment to its operations here. “The next generation of technology developed at the Athlone facility will set the standard for the industry. These jobs and the associated investment will have a substantial impact on both the local and regional economy.”