Christchurch-based Jade Software is in major recruiting mode. She is looking for 28 new team members to join immediately to help the company cope with strong business growth.
And that’s just the beginning. Jade is aiming for ambitious growth over the next 10 years – which will lead to even more employment opportunities.
The company reported $ 30.8 million in revenue for the year ending Dec.31, 2020 and is confident it will grow to $ 80 million within a decade.
Twenty-five of its 28 currently vacant positions are based in New Zealand, two in Australia and one at its base in York, UK. They include quality assurance engineers, software engineers, a customer manager, a business analyst and a marketing coordinator.
“It’s not unusual for us, but it’s really exceptional to recruit so many people at once, given that we currently only have about 220 employees,” said John Ascroft, chief innovation officer at Jade. “That’s a lot of new people to recruit and introduce to the company all at once.
“We have won many new contracts over the past two months, mostly modernization projects for large Australasian companies looking to make their software easier to use and able to run on different systems. We are also seeing very encouraging growth in our international markets, ”says John.
“We are fortunate that the Jade culture is very attractive and is definitely a recruiting tool for us. People are drawn to our culture and to the care we show for our employees, ”says John.
Jade introduced innovative new ways of working in response to Covid-19, as well as activities and a support program to keep her staff connected and engaged. This led to Jade winning the HR Innovation category at Human Resources New Zealand’s recent annual awards.
John is optimistic about New Zealand’s training for the tech sector.
“In the past it would have been fair to say that New Zealand higher education institutions did not train enough people to meet the needs of the industry, but that is no longer the case. Local higher education providers do a good job of training graduate engineers, which is important given the difficulties in recruiting foreigners today.
“With the immigration tap currently closed, it’s harder to hire experienced people, but the flip side is that New Zealand companies often hire staff, train them for a few years, and then lose them for jobs. roles abroad – which is not the case. such a problem right now. So we have more balance – which we hope will work in our favor.
“We give people a complete package: a lifestyle, flexible working and an environment where they can work on big projects and learn a lot,” says John.
“New Zealand tech companies are all competing for a fixed pool of trained people right now, but we are confident that the Jade culture will give us an edge and we will find the people we need to be a part of the next step. of Jade’s journey, “says Jean.” The feedback so far has been very positive. People want to be part of an exciting and successful business where they can develop their own skills.
About Jade software
- Christchurch-based Jade Software is one of New Zealand’s lesser-known export success stories – an overseas-owned New Zealand company employing many of our best IT minds to develop innovative solutions for business. global scale and export its advanced products to construction companies, financial companies and casinos. worldwide.
- Jade’s ambition is to have four products within 10 years generating annual sales of $ 20 million each. The JADE platform (an end-to-end technology platform that allows developers to build applications so that businesses can seamlessly connect with their customers) is already making $ 20 million per year and the company plans to raise its Jade ThirdEye anti-money laundering product to $ 20 million. It also provides for two new products, likely to be used in regulated environments..
- Jade is owned by the UK-based Skipton Building Society, which started out as a client of Jade, invested in the company, increased its stake and then took the opportunity to buy out all the remaining shareholders, including including Jade founder Sir Gil Simpson.
Through her ties to Skipton, Jade extended her Jade ThirdEye reach to British building societies such as the Newcastle Building Society and the Monmouthshire Building Society. It is now expanding to target industries characterized by large and regular financial transactions, including shippers, casinos, and the gaming and racing industries.
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