BT, a British multinational telecommunications holding company is planning to hire 2,800 new employees in the UK and India, as the company attempts to reduce its reliance on subcontracted labour.
The telecommunication giant plans to grow its in-house digital talent staff to 6,300 people by April 2024, from 3,500 at the start of the financial year.
In India, The company plans to recruit around 1,800 new employees centred around the company’s hubs in Bengaluru and Gurugram.
And in the UK, it plans to onboard 1,000 new employees who will be based around BT’s hub sites in Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol, Belfast, Ipswich and London.
The majority of the new UK digital talent will be based outside of the capital, and the company added that the new talent should be based at one of the company’s workspaces where possible.
Most of the roles for hiring new employees are in product management, software engineering, cloud, design, data, AI and machine learning, and agile delivery.
BT said that its financial outlook remains unchanged for the next financial year as the incremental costs associated with these hiring plans are offset by a reduction in its reliance on subcontracted labour.
Commenting on the hiring plans Harmeen Mehta, Chief Digital and Innovation Officer at BT said, “Digital was founded to accelerate BT’s transformation, innovation and return to growth,”
“To succeed, we need to bring in and upskill the top digital talent, and our efforts will boost the tech communities in the UK and India along the way.” Harmeen added.
The company also said that we will focus on entry talent, which could make up as many of the 400 planned new roles, focused on apprentices, graduates, women returners, and others starting their careers in digital.
In order to support the recruitment drive, BT says it is bolstering its digital recruitment capacity under Director of HR and digital Mark Murphy.
Lord Bilimoria, cofounder and chairman of Cobra Beer and CBI Vice President, added: “It’s great that BT is creating so many jobs in such an important area to future economic growth. I’m particularly pleased to see their investment in both the UK and India – two titans in digital talent.
“This announcement reflects the strong partnership between the two countries – and the innovation and business opportunities that a new trade deal between them could unlock.” Lord added.
