Daily deals site Groupon is coming to Ireland and is currently recruiting at least 30 people to work at a new international marketing headquarters that will be located on St Stephens Green in Dublin’s city centre.
One of the fastest-growing internet companies with US$2bn in revenues shared with local businesses, jobs advertised on Groupon’s UK website indicate the company will be establishing a major presence in Ireland.
At present there are as many as 30 roles advertised on Groupon’s UK website, with roles ranging from HR and marketing to IT, design, software engineering, data analysis, web applications engineering, and product management.
According to the wording on the job roles advertised, Groupon says: “Come join us as we build out our new international headquarters in the St Stephens Green area of the city. Dublin will be a new hub for our International Marketing Group, including SEO, SEM, Display, Affiliates and Merchant Marketing.”
A spokesperson for Groupon has been in touch to point out that the text in the ad was incorrect and that the company’s international headquarters are located in Switzerland and will remain so. The operation’s role will be primarily as a hub for Groupon’s International Marketing Group.
The company is also seeking people for business consulting roles in key cities in the UK, including Aberdeen, Brighton, Glasgow, London, Hull, Bradford and Oxford.
The arrival of Groupon will be another jewel in Dublin’s digital crown. Groupon will join a community that already boasts Facebook, Google, HP, Microsoft, PayPal, Gilt, Intel, IBM, Yahoo!, Salesforce.com and many others who see Ireland as the go-to place for building global web businesses.
Dublin’s gain may be Berlin’s loss, however. In recent weeks, it emerged that Groupon, as part of a restructuring exercise, will be potentially cutting back 100 jobs at its Berlin operations, where it employs an estimated 850 people.
Since it was founded in 2008 by Andrew Mason and Eric Lefkofksy the daily deals site has grown at an exponential rate to employ more than 11,000 people and has been cited as one of the fastest companies to achieve US$1bn in revenues.
However, disappointing Q4 losses saw co-founder Andrew Mason ousted as CEO. Although revenue increased 30pc to US$638.3m, Groupon reported an operating loss of US$12.9m in the fourth quarter 2012. Net losses amounted to US$81.1m.
Nevertheless, the company already has a receptive online market in Ireland where thrifty online consumers spent €53m through daily deals sites in 2012, up from €46m a year earlier, according to MyDealPage.ie.
Groupon image via Shutterstock
