Deloitte is committed to growing its workforce in Belfast to 1,000 by 2020 after already achieving earlier recruitment targets which means once the office is fully staffed it will be the largest office in the Big Four's network outside of London by the end of the decade
The increase to 1,000 employees will result in Belfast being Deloitte’s second largest office, with the first currently being London out of a total of 28 in the UK. The second largest office is currently Manchester with 662 employees.
In September 2014, Deloitte created a five-year plan to produce 338 jobs at its Belfast Delivery centre, in an investment of £30m that was backed by a financial package of £2.6m from Invest NI. This plan aimed to increase its workforce to 700 by 2019. New roles were to be created in technology, pensions, actuarial consulting and finance.
This plan is ahead of schedule as 200 new staff have already been recruited since the start of this campaign, just over two years ago.
The workforce now totals 460 employees in Northern Ireland. In addition to this figure, 43 young people are set to join in September, this is through Deloitte’s award-winning BrightStart apprenticeships scheme.
The newly created jobs are set to build on the expertise that already exists at the firm's Technological Studio, in areas such as data science and analytics, cyber security and digital engineering. Deloitte also aims to grow its human capital, actuarial, tax and audit practices.
Nick Owen, chairman of Deloitte in the UK, said: ‘By 2020, Deloitte in Belfast will be the firm’s largest office outside London. That is testament to the success that the team here has enjoyed since announcing significant expansion plans and the breadth of expertise within the business. This commitment by Deloitte reflects the confidence we have in Belfast as a great place to do business and a hotbed of talent, particularly for graduates and school-leavers.’
Jackie Henry, senior partner for Deloitte in Belfast said: ‘Our meeting with the First and Deputy First Ministers has confirmed our belief that Belfast will continue to be a good place to do business in the years ahead. The skills agenda is absolutely critical to Deloitte’s view of Belfast as a centre of excellence and we hope the new Department for the Economy will continue to see value in investing in the local skills base.’
