New York company Agio to create 100 jobs

Pictured (L-R) are Thomas Raju, Belfast Site Lead, Agio with Kevin Holland, CEO, Invest NI; Gordon Lyons, Economy Minister and Garvin McKee, Chief Revenue Officer, Agio.

Economy Minister Gordon Lyons announced today that leading US IT and Cybersecurity services provider Agio is to create 100 jobs and a new technology centre in Belfast.

The New York company provides AI-enabled technology services for the Financial Services industry, with a specific focus on the Alternative Asset Management market which includes Hedge Funds, Private Equity and Asset Managers.

The Minister said: “I am delighted to welcome Agio to our impressive cluster of FinTech companies; and to announce its first-time investment in Northern Ireland.

“Agio’s investment here will add to our pool of expertise, and will lead to the creation of 100 high-quality technology jobs over the next five years. The investment will contribute £4.5million in annual salaries to the local economy once all of the roles are in place.

“Investments such as this will play an important role in building our economic recovery. My Department’s 10X Economy vision is centred on focusing on the core technologies and clusters where Northern Ireland can be a global leader within the next decade. Cybersecurity and FinTech are two areas where we have seen the emergence of significant capability and capacity with the potential to drive the economy forward.”

Invest Northern Ireland has offered Agio set up expertise and £650,000 of support towards the creation of the new jobs. The roles will be a hybrid of home based and located in Agio’s Belfast technology centre at Urban HQ.

Garvin McKee, Chief Revenue Officer and Northern Ireland-native, said: “We’ve got great customer feedback on their experience with our Belfast engineers. We are confident that a Northern Ireland base will continue to add excellent talent to our service organisation. Invest NI has been extremely helpful and has given us key insights to the ICT sector, provided introductions to key stakeholders and information on the skills on offer.

“By tapping into this talent, we will add to our world-class technology team. The Northern Ireland team is central to our growth plans and will enable us to deliver 24/7 ‘Follow the Sun’ support to our global customer base. It will also support the development of our products and services for our planned European expansion.”

Kevin Holland, Invest NI’s CEO, said: “We’ve been working with Agio since 2019 to showcase our local tech talent through introductions to universities, colleges, and existing investors. I am delighted that this has led to investment in Northern Ireland. It is clear that technology will play a significant part in Northern Ireland’s growth, and this project will make an important contribution to the ICT sector as we move forward post-pandemic.

“Our people, and their skills, are our most valuable resource. We are working with businesses, academia and government to help future-proof the ICT skills pipeline, to enhance Northern Ireland’s already strong proposition as a prime location to establish or grow a business. There are also initiatives to help attract-back talent currently working elsewhere to ensure we have the right talent to meet the needs of this growing sector. We look forward to following and supporting Agio’s business journey in Northern Ireland.”

Recruitment is already underway, with 19 roles in place. Jobs such as network, server and public cloud engineering, end user analysts, cybersecurity consultants, and business development roles are available.

Invest NI’s support is part funded by the Department for Economy Economic Recovery Action Plan.