IT firm Kainos to create almost 350 jobs

Northern Ireland's largest software firm Kainos has announced 341 new jobs over the next three years to meet rising customer demand for artificial intelligence (AI).

The roles represent a £19.8m investment, with 309 of the jobs based in Belfast and 32 in Londonderry.

The average salary will be £58,000.

The new roles cover a range of areas from software engineering to consulting, to AI and data science. The firm's total headcount now stands at 3,500 people.

Kainos chief executive Brendan Mooney said the investment was "another example of large organisations looking to build their workforce in the cities of Derry and Belfast".

"When it comes to AI our views are very clear, it helps our people do more and do it more quickly which is a great result for our customers," he said.

"AI for us is an enabling technology rather than a replacement technology."

Mooney has played down fears that AI software will lead to job losses, voicing scepticism that large organisations would be able to build and roll out their own AI software solutions at scale.

Kainos' revenues for AI and data-related projects increased 11% over the last year to almost £46m and accounted for about 20% of revenue in its digital services division.

It comes as Kainos' recent annual results reported sales up 17% to £431m and pre-tax profit up 2% to £67m.

Economy Minister Caoimhe Archibald said it was "a strong vote of confidence in our growing tech sector and the highly skilled people who work here".

She said AI could help drive new high-value job creation across the economy.

Kieran Donoghue, chief executive of Invest NI, said his organisation would contribute £1.5m towards the new jobs.

"It's a significant announcement because it's an example of a company headquartered in Northern Ireland, operating globally – reinvesting in its business in Northern Ireland when the company had choices about where it could invest," he said.

"This shows that AI can actually create jobs.

"We all accept it will displace some roles, but in our experience in Invest NI, what our clients are doing is embracing the technology and upskilling people within the business to work on higher added value functions."