Zendesk Plans to Expand Team to 500 Staff in Ireland and Agrees Move to 55 Charlemont Place, Dublin

July 17, 2017

DUBLIN, IRELAND — 14 July 2017 — Zendesk today announced that it is looking to hire an additional 300 staff and has agreed a lease to expand into 55 Charlemont Place in 2018, taking over 58,000 sq. ft. of Grade A office space in Dublin for its EMEA HQ following a significant growth of the local team.

Zendesk established its first office in Dublin in 2012 with two engineers to focus on supporting the global expansion of the company’s engineering team. By 2014, the team had grown to over 50 employees continuing to support product development specifically for the Zendesk Talk and mobile products but also bringing in sales, support and operations teams at its current location of One Grand Parade.

Colum Twomey, vice president of product development at Zendesk, has been there from the beginning and leads the office in Ireland: “It’s incredible to see how much we’ve grown over the last five years in Ireland. The local team includes multiple nationalities bringing a variety of skills and plays a key role in both Zendesk’s global product development and EMEA sales expansion. This year we are recruiting for engineering, DevOps, infrastructure, product management as well as Android/iOS development roles. We’re also recruiting for a large number of non-tech roles including in sales, customer advocacy, finance and legal.”

The new building, located on the banks of the Grand Canal opposite Zendesk’s current office, is under construction and is due for completion later this year. It was designed by Pascal Mahoney of Mahoney Architecture and, upon completion, will carry a LEED Gold sustainability accreditation and a BER A3 energy rating. 55 Charlemont can comfortably accommodate about 500 people and will be able to support Zendesk’s continued growth and investment in Ireland.

According to An Tánaiste, Frances Fitzgerald TD: “Zendesk’s decision to create 300 new jobs in Ireland is welcome. It is a clear vote of confidence in this country’s international leadership position in technology and professional services, and as a base for European and wider EMEA operations. I am particularly pleased to see Zendesk create new roles in technical areas, like engineering, infrastructure and mobile development—areas which are driving a global digital revolution.

“The Government recognises the importance of technology and technology education. Underpinning this is the Government’s commitment to creating an economic environment that is open to foreign direct investment, open to the creation of highly skilled jobs, and open to innovation.”

Speaking at the event CEO of IDA Ireland, Martin Shanahan said: “Today’s announcement from Zendesk to significantly expand their operations in Ireland is a welcome endorsement of the Ireland offering and demonstrates the extent of the confidence which Zendesk have in the highly skilled Irish workforce. Last week IDA Ireland published very strong mid-year results which put Ireland ahead of the targets set down in the ‘Winning Strategy 2015-2019’. Zendesk’s decision to reinvest in its existing operations here in Ireland is reflective of the country’s competitiveness and pro-business infrastructure. I look forward to working with Zendesk as they continue to invest and succeed.”

Savills was the acting agent working with Zendesk on the deal: “55 Charlemont Place is set to be an exceptional office space for its new tenant,” said Michael Healy of Savills Ireland. “Internally, the building has been cleverly thought through with the most contemporary business in mind. Externally, Zendesk will be very well served from a location perspective alongside the Grand Canal, it really does tick all the boxes.”

Along with Dublin, Zendesk has five other offices in the region: a large sales, marketing, and customer support team in London, regional offices in Berlin and Paris; as well as engineering hubs with sales and support teams in Copenhagen and Montpellier. The company has over 35,000 paid customer accounts in EMEA, growing at 30 percent year over year to end March 2017. In total, Zendesk now has over 101,000 paid customer accounts globally as of the end of March 2017.

CSR is a key part of Zendesk’s culture. In 2017, the Zendesk Neighbor Foundation is planning to give approximately €140,000 ($155,000) in grants in Ireland, and the local team has committed to around 2,200 volunteer hours this year to support local causes.

Modelled after Zendesk’s CSR program at its San Francisco headquarters, the volunteer hour commitments and financial support in Ireland have already helped Temple Street Hospital in the following ways:

Techies4TempleStreet: Leadership partner and committed three teams to take part

Financial Grant: In Q1 2017, Zendesk provided a grant of over €40,000 ($45,000) to help the hospital in its fundraising activities

Easter Egg Packs and Christmas Presents: The Zendesk team in Ireland has put together Easter Egg packs and donated Christmas presents for the Children of Temple Street Hospital as well as volunteering at the Colours Ball

About Zendesk

Zendesk builds software for better customer relationships. It empowers organizations to improve customer engagement and better understand their customers. More than 101,000 paid customer accounts in over 160 countries and territories use Zendesk products. Based in San Francisco, Zendesk has operations in the United States, Europe, Asia, Australia, and South America. Learn more at www.zendesk.com.