Jacobs adds 100 jobs to Irish business as it opens new Dublin HQ

Engineering and construction giant Jacobs plans to hire 100 staff for its Irish office as it opens a new headquarters here.

Minister for Finance Michael McGrath will formally open the group’s new office in Sandyford, Dublin, on Thursday, 50 years after the company first came to Ireland, which was its first location outside the US. Jacobs says it has been involved in the delivery of more than €50 billion worth of critical infrastructure projects for clients in Ireland since then “cementing Ireland’s position as a centre of excellence for complex advanced manufacturing and R&D, and supporting transformational economic growth”.

“Jacobs decided to grow beyond the US for the first time in 1974, and we selected Dublin with the IDA’s support,” said the group’s chief executive Bob Pragada. “The business has grown from four or five key people to a team of 1,200 people in that time.

“Although we’re a global business our operation here is an Irish success story. We have huge confidence in Ireland, and we are ambitious for our continued business growth here, and are committed to building skills for the future and investing in a new office in Dublin.”

The group, which has bases in Dublin, Cork and Belfast, is heavily involved in the life sciences, technology and energy sectors, counting Pfizer and Intel among its Irish clients. It also operates across energy, transport and city infrastructure sectors.

Jacobs said the 100 new jobs in engineering, project management, construction management, commissioning and qualification will be created over the next two years.

Its Irish operation reported profits of close to €12.4 million on revenue of just under €510 million in the 12 months to September 2022, the most recent year for which it has filed accounts. It paid a dividend of €20 million to a parent company on the back of that performance.

Globally Jacobs employs more than 60,000 people and says it has around approximately $16 billion (€14.7bn) in annual revenue.

Among its recent big infrastructure projects in Ireland are the Bus Connects programmes in Dublin and Cork for the National Transport Authority, the Dunkettle interchange upgrade, the M28 motorway in Cork and the east coast railway infrastructure protection programme.

“Since opening its office in Dublin 50 years ago Jacobs has been a leader in advanced manufacturing in Ireland,” IDA Ireland chief executive Michael Lohan said. “IDA Ireland looks forward to continuing to work closely with Jacobs and supporting them to deliver sustainable growth and investment aimed at furthering the modernisation of critical infrastructure and unlocking opportunities in the life sciences and semiconductor sectors.”