Country leader Eimear Byrne talks about holding onto Irish SME vibes under the umbrella of a bigger company and the talent she’s looking for.
SD Worx is a payroll tech company that has been operating in Ireland for nearly 30 years, previously as Intelligo before it was acquired by SD Worx.
The company has been on a period of expansion over the last year, having announced plans to create 40 new jobs in the next two years as part of a €2.9m investment in its workforce. In August 2024, the company also invested a further €3m to expand its payroll services to Irish SMEs.
The Irish arm is led by country leader Eimear Byrne, who has 20 years of experience across various senior roles in the financial services and technology industries.
She joined Intelligo in 2016 in the finance function and worked her way up to head of finance and operations. She then took up the role of country leader and led the sale to SD Worx in 2022. Speaking to SiliconRepublic.com, she said it was quite different moving into the leadership role.
“I suppose one of the main differences is that we are still an SME in Ireland, but we are now part of this 10,000-plus employee company headquartered in Belgium. So, striking the balance between growing an SME, but also aligning with a huge international company definitely has its challenges,” she said.
While the company had been focused on payroll products before the acquisition, the goal is now to add many more products to the portfolio.
“There’s a huge volume of work to be done in releasing any product, from localising it so that it works in the Irish market, to determining where it sits in the Irish landscape of devices, who’s going to implement it, who’s going to support it and how even the sales process works.”
Expanding the team
While there’s much work to do as the company expands its product portfolio, it also means expanding its team.
In February 2024, when the company announced plans to hire over two years, the roles they were looking to fill were in software development, marketing, payroll processing and project implementation.
Byrne said the Bray-based company is able to reap the benefits of still being an SME in Ireland in many ways while also having the strong backing of a much bigger company.
“When I’m interviewing people to recruit in the company, I think we’ve got the best of both worlds. We’re an SME in Ireland and we control and drive our own growth, as long as it’s aligned with SD Worx, and then we do have all these benefits of the large international company that we get to bring to Ireland,” she said.
“[SD Worx has] made the investment in other markets, seen the outcomes, and they’re very happy to invest in Ireland. So, we are recruiting hugely across all functions. We’ve done a huge amount over the last two years. We are growing to expect to be about we’re well over 100 people at the end of 2025.”
Hunting for the right talent
Byrne said the current focus for the company is on service delivery and they’re always on the lookout for payroll professionals but it’s also looking to hire for its support desk function.
Another major team SD Worx is recruiting for is its implementation team. “So even if it’s a client that’s taking up outsource services, there’s still an implementation,” she said. “That’s the team that’s probably under the most pressure as we’ve grown so fast and our sales are coming in great, and that team needs resources, so we are hiring everything from implementation consultants to project managers.”
In terms of in-demand skills, Byrne said she’s ideally looking for people with experience in payroll and tech – a combination that’s not always easy to find.
Unlike other HR products, which are often driven by company policy, payroll is based much more in legislation and therefore “needs to be correct”.
“So, we would like our people to have a knowledge of payroll and legislation so that they can advise clients effectively.
“We do look for, on the tech side, implementation support, developers, people that understand how these varied systems need to integrate, like the flow of information into MegaPay – that’s our flagship product for payroll – and out of MegaPay, because the day of separate systems is gone.”
In addition to that integration knowledge, Byrne said AI’s major moves on the market mean that it’s an important skillset to look for as it becomes more embedded into systems.
“Integration and AI will be the two key areas that we’re trying to recruit for, coupled with payroll experience and general tech.”
Advice for early-stage professionals
With two decades of experience under her belt, Byrne shared advice for anyone starting out on their tech career journey.
She said really getting familiar with the kind of role you want is key and often a smaller company like an SME can give early-stage professionals an opportunity to get to know those areas.
“I think there’s huge exposure that can be an advantage of an SME, and in a larger company, it depends on if the person has more of an idea of what they want to do,” she said. “A larger company can suit where they can grow and develop within a specific niche.”
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