There are ‘huge opportunities for local talent’ in Letterkenny as IT services giant TCS expands its Donegal base.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is expected to hire up to 170 new staff in Donegal as it looks to create a strategic hub for providing digital transformation, IT and business services to clients in Ireland and further afield.
It comes after the company opened a new digital innovation lab at its Letterkenny base, where solution architects and designers will work closely with clients. The company’s future investment plans in Donegal include building a cloud experience hub and a cybersecurity threat management centre to extend clients’ cyber resilience.
Andrea McBride, head of the TCS global delivery centre in Letterkenny, told SiliconRepublic.com that the company is “creating high-value employment opportunities across a variety of roles and disciplines, including cybersecurity, cloud services, project management, data analytics, customer service and IT helpdesk”.
She added that TCS is “proactively hiring more people” to join its team and that it has “an ongoing recruitment process in place from graduates to senior hires”.
TCS is part of the large multinational Tata Group, which is based in India. The IT services giant currently employs around 1,400 people in Ireland across a range of highly skilled tech-related roles.
The company has been expanding its presence in Letterkenny following its acquisition of Donegal-based Pramerica Systems in 2020.
In the last year alone, TCS has promoted more than 100 people in Letterkenny, recruited nearly 200 new hires, and made more than 100 contractors permanent.
“Much has been achieved following the acquisition, as the business continues to invest, embrace and implement a major organisation transformation programme, while simultaneously supporting our people to adapt to our new working environment and culture, and in some cases, new roles and responsibilities,” said McBride.
Since the acquisition, TCS has continued to invest in equipping its employees with the latest skills and in building out its Donegal base from where it serves more than 25 global and local customers.
Earlier this month, the company’s hub was visited by Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar, TD, along with Government and IDA representatives.
Varadkar praised TCS, calling it one of the north-west’s largest employers and adding that it had “made a phenomenal contribution to Donegal”.
Earlier this year, TCS teamed up with the Atlantic Technological University to run an hacking challenge event for students. That partnership led to up to 20 graduates joining the TCS cybersecurity recruitment selection process, with the first 10 set to start work in June.
TCS has also forged relationships and key academic partnerships with 13 third-level institutions and schools around Ireland. These collaborations have provided the company with the ability to design courses and pathways that “can then deliver a great platform for young people to enter the TCS workforce to build their careers in one of the fastest-growing IT businesses,” said McBride.
She added that there are “huge opportunities for local talent” in Letterkenny.
“Ireland has also proved to be a very attractive location to recruit internationally. At TCS, we currently have over 40 nationalities represented in our workforce in Ireland. With our operations in Donegal, we can truly say that you can have a global career and life in the north west of Ireland.”
Deepak Chaudhari, country head for TCS Ireland, described the Donegal hub as a “great touch point” for Irish enterprises to engage with TCS for their growth and transformation journeys.
“Our highly talented team at the Letterkenny centre has seamlessly integrated with our global delivery network, winning assignments from clients all over the world across multiple industry segments and driving our business expansion,” he added.
In an interview with SiliconRepublic.com last year, Chaudhari said Ireland is a “great place to do business” due to its “impressive ecosystem” of local companies, global companies, academia, innovation partnerships, Government support and skilled talent.
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