Vodafone To Hire 7,000 In Digital Services Push

Mobile goliath Vodafone is to create thousands of jobs to help develop its new generation connectivity and digital services push across Europe and Africa.

The operator announced it will add nearly 7,000 software engineers to its expanding European-wide technical workforce by 2025. It said it will achieve this via a combination of recruitment, re-skilling existing employees, and insourcing.

A previous hiring push in 2017 saw the operator create 2,100 new customer service jobs in the UK, as part of an ongoing £2 billion investment programme into its network and services.

Software engineers

Vodafone said that it latest hiring push is to meet surging demand for digital connectivity, which is growing by up to 50 percent every year, and which has been accelerated by the Coronavirus pandemic.

The operator said that by bringing more software skills in-house, it is driving forward its “strategy to transform from a traditional telecommunications company to a new generation connectivity and digital services provider of scale across Europe and Africa.”

Vodafone’s expanded software teams will allow it to build differentiated products and services at lower cost and own the intellectual property (IP) rather than sourcing them through suppliers. Insourcing expertise generates savings of 20 percent, on average, said Vodafone.

Vodafone said the new intake of software engineers will complement the existing 9,000 employees already working in this area.

They will join Vodafone Technology, the new platform-focused function within Vodafone that unites all European tech employees, as well as its international shared services division.

Together, they will develop new Internet of things (IoT) products, smart network features, digital & IT, and cyber security services across Europe.

“Vodafone is rapidly shifting up the gears to support the dramatic digital transformation that businesses and society are undergoing,” explained Johan Wibergh, chief technology officer of Vodafone.

Vodacom effort

“We are building a global software brand with a diverse and inclusive culture, providing superfast connectivity and powerful digital products – however and wherever customers want to use them,” said Wibergh.

The operator is aiming to have more than 50 percent of all staff within Vodafone Technology working in software engineering by 2025.

Vodacom, part of Vodafone Group, is also adopting a similar strategy through the extension of digital and financial services across Africa.

The hiring comes as part of a 8 billion euro investment in the last financial year.