A £40 million investment by PwC to create 771 jobs within the group’s fast-growing Operate division puts Belfast at the centre of the professional services giant’s strategy in the UK, a senior figure in the company has said.
The jobs, which will attract an average salary of £34,000, will be based in a new Advanced Research and Engineering Centre at PwC’s soon-to-be-opened £20 million Merchant Square headquarters in the centre of Belfast.
It will take the group’s Northern Ireland workforce to almost 3,300 over the next five years.
“This investment I think puts Belfast at the centre of PwC’s strategy in the UK,” said Ian McConnell, partner lead for PwC Operate on Wednesday.
“What that means over the next three to five years we can see Belfast ever growing in its influence and importance to PwC and its plans in the United Kingdom.”
He said the Belfast-based Operate is now PwC’s fastest-growing division, employing around 1,600 in the north.
It offers more hands-on services for businesses compared with PwC’s traditional advisory functions.
“We have grown the business over the past five years quite substantively. I think the pandemic in many regards, has driven the pace of change in terms of clients and their interest in delivery models,” said Mr McConnell.
“I think the pandemic has acted as a catalyst that really helped us grow our business. In many respects, the timing has been good.”
Invest NI will contribute £9.8m for 37 research and development projects and the creation of 108 software and engineering roles.
The business support agency said its support offer helped leverage the other 663 jobs at PwC’s Belfast headquarters, along with a further 38 university research posts.
Chief executive Kevin Holland said Invest NI had played a role in PwC growing its Belfast operation from 650 people in 2011 to 2,500 in 2021.
“Our support towards new jobs will help to build a world-leading research and engineering team in the heart of Belfast, while also securing PwC’s commitment to recruit a significant number of additional roles that will generate significant economic impact for Northern Ireland,” he said.
The jobs announcement was newly-appointed Economy Minister Paul Frew's first public engagement in the role.
"This significant investment by PwC is a vote of confidence in the talent of our local workforce and the success it has already achieved here," he said
It will enhance our reputation as a world leader in technology innovation and our capabilities in important research areas such as robotic process automation (RPA), workflow automation, data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI)."
