In 2020, several new important IT companies have appeared in Kraków. These include OANDA or Backbase, companies operating in the fields of finance and technology - what are they looking for in the capital of Malopolska region in Poland?
- Every year there are more and more companies that decide to build IT teams in Krakow/Poland. At least 3,000 new jobs appear every year as a result of the expansion of IT companies on the local market," the authors of Aspire and Motife's "2021 Krakow IT Market Report" communicate.
In 2020, despite the pandemic, it was no different. At least 10 IT companies launched their development offices in Krakow and employed over 150 IT specialists. However, these are not all available vacancies, recruitment processes are still ongoing.
The presence in Krakow of such companies as Canadian OANDA or Dutch Backbase significantly enriches the local fintech sector. The first of them prepared 50 jobs for software engineers, specialists taking care of IT infrastructure, but there were also positions for people from finance, marketing and HR departments. The Dutch in turn employed 30 engineers to support and develop the company's main product - a digital platform for banking.
- We launched our Krakow centre in the summer of last year. We started quietly, focusing on two areas of development - building a team to work with clients and creating new Backbase services. In the second half of the year we already had a team of 30 engineers. In addition, we started building our R&D centre in Kraków - says Robert Liziniewicz from Backbase.
Apart from these two companies, Mohawk (e-commerce; 15 people employed), SearchSpring (e-commerce; 5 people employed), Haptology (internet of things; recruitment in progress), Beekeeper (mobile communication; 20 people employed), Billennium (IT services and solutions for business; recruitment in progress), Mindtree (consulting; 10 people employed), GFT Group (fintech; 25 people employed) will open their offices in Kraków in 2020.
Pandemic does not scare them
Technology companies have been adopting a hybrid or remote working model for many years now, so switching to full-scale communication and remote tasks did not trouble them much last year. Plans for expansion, organisational transformation and growth in overseas markets also continued despite the pandemic.
OANDA decided to open offices in Krakow already in November 2019. The plans for 2020 were implemented, the local branch started and a total of 100 employees were hired during this period (including 50 IT specialists). - We tried to organise a complete structure of the organisation, that is, we wanted to keep a balance both in the area of technology, finance and business services - for such positions we also took new people into the company - explains Eoin McCoy, head of development of OANDA.
As far as the technology sector is concerned, OANDA hired mainly highly qualified employees in positions ranging from the so-called product owners and software designers to engineers and testers of infrastructure and IT systems. There was also room for customer service and identity verification (KYC) people.
- Krakow is high in all world rankings as a potential expansion location for foreign companies. This is influenced not only by the young and highly qualified staff, but also by the multiculturalism of the candidates available in the city - an extraordinary asset that attracts foreign companies. It should be emphasized that Kraków is no longer perceived as an office base, but as a convenient location for the headquarters or main offices of global brands - adds Eoin McCoy.
Source
