Why Belfast?

When we decided to open a third engineering centre, we had options. We'd built a strong presence in Mexico — two centres, hundreds of engineers, deep roots. Expanding there would have been the easy call. Instead, we chose Belfast. And it turned out to be one of the best decisions we ever made.

The reason was straightforward: Northern Ireland has a remarkable pool of software engineering talent, a strong university pipeline, and a business environment that's genuinely welcoming to companies trying to grow quickly. When Invest Northern Ireland came to us and laid out what was possible, we were convinced within weeks.

What we're building there

The Belfast engineering centre was designed from the start to serve two purposes. First, to support our existing US clients — particularly in fintech and biotech, the two verticals where we do our deepest work. We're building next-generation digital banking platforms, cancer diagnostics tools, and healthcare software that genuinely changes how people are treated. The engineering work happening in Belfast is serious and consequential.

Second, Belfast gives us a gateway into the UK and European markets that we didn't have before. The time zone alignment with London and the continent, the cultural familiarity, the English language — all of it makes Belfast a natural hub for European expansion.

"Global demand for high-end software development continues to grow. Companies have more engineering needs than engineers to fill them. Belfast gives us access to some of the best talent in the world to meet that demand." — Mike Barrett, CEO, Unosquare

The role Invest NI played

I want to be direct about this: the support we received from Invest Northern Ireland was exceptional. They didn't just offer financial assistance — though the £650,000 commitment was meaningful. They helped us understand the local technology market, introduced us to companies who had done this before us, and guided us through every step of setting up operations.

That kind of institutional support makes a real difference when you're building something from scratch in a new country. It accelerated us by months. And it told us something important about Northern Ireland as a place to do business: they want you to succeed, and they act like it.

100 jobs by 2019

We committed to creating 100 full-time software engineering roles by the end of 2019, with an average salary of £37,000. These aren't entry-level positions. We're looking for experienced engineers who want to work on hard problems in regulated industries — people who take their craft seriously and want to build things that matter. If that's you, Belfast is where we're building it.