US-based healthcare provider and insurer UPMC is to create 60 jobs in Kilkenny with the opening of its new global technology operations centre.
The centre, which will be located in MacDonagh Junction, will recruit the technology workers and support staff over the next three years. UPMC already employs 475 people in Ireland. Recruitment for network, systems and security engineers, security and privacy analysts and other information technology managers is already underway.
"This new centre will give us the unique ability to accommodate regulatory, cultural and language requirements across our international sites, including in Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan and China, " said UPMC's managing director in Ireland David Beirne.
The location is close to key UPMC facilities, including hospitals, cancer centres and an outpatient site in Waterford, Cork, Carlow and Kildare. The company has multiple healthcare facilities in Italy and Ireland, an advisory agreement to support an academic medical centre in Kazakhstan and a planned partnership to manage a network of new hospitals in China.
“Our multinational business requires a technology platform that allows us to consistently provide the highest quality care at the lowest cost, regardless of location,” said Ed McCallister, chief information officer of UPMC.
“As we considered locations worldwide that would best meet our needs, Ireland-and its centrally located, multi-cultural workforce-quickly rose to the top.”
The project is being supported by IDA Ireland. Chief executive Martin Shanahan said the investment was a vote of confidence in Ireland. "Kilkenny is an ideal choice of location, given the availability of highly skilled creative talent there," he said.
The news of the jobs was welcomed by Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphreys, saying it would be a "significant boost" to the wider region.
