US tech firm Cognizant will create 1600 new jobs in Adelaide in its new “global delivery centre”

The developing digital boom in Adelaide continues to gather pace with US tech firm Cognizant announcing it’s starting a hiring spree.

Global technology firm Cognizant will set up a “global delivery centre” in Adelaide, creating 1600 jobs over the next five years, it will announce on Thursday.

The US-based multinational’s chief executive for Australia and New Zealand Jane Livesey said the company would start recruiting immediately, targeting “talent in the early stages of their career - as well as experienced professionals with digital technology skills’’.

The global delivery centre will be based in the Adelaide central business district, and would be focused on helping Cognizant’s clients in fields including software, artificial intelligence, machine learning, cloud computing and data analytics.

Ms Livesey said in response to the pandemic, many of Cognizant’s customers were seeking onshore service delivery, and were prioritising their digital investments.

“Our new delivery centre will expand Cognizant’s expertise in cloud, IoT (internet of things) and AI to help our clients to adapt to new market conditions, sharpen their competitiveness

and meet their sustainability goals,” Ms Livesey said.

Cognizant says it will be hiring across the spectrum of experience.

“We are proud to partner with the government to recruit, train and invest in the next

generation of Australia’s highly skilled digital workforce and contribute to the growth of the

South Australian region.”

Cognizant joins a number of major tech and consulting firms which have announced large commitments to Adelaide in the past 12 months, with Accenture recently saying it had employed 300 people of an expected 2000 over five years, Deloitte announcing in September it would recruit up to 500 new staff for its new Centre for Innovation and Technology, and MTX Group in May announcing 500 new jobs for a local service hub over the next three to five years.

Premier Steven Marshall said Cognizant would be in good company with the state’s digital sector growing strongly.

“1600 South Australians who are looking for a career in the digital space will have jobs thanks to Cognizant’s confidence in our great state,’’ he said.

“Cognizant will be in good company in Adelaide with the Australian Institute for Machine Learning, the MIT big data Living Lab, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure Space and Nokia 5G.

“South Australia’s capability to provide a pipeline of skilled workers through our world-class universities and institutions, coupled with Adelaide’s status as the world’s third most liveable city, makes us an attractive place to do business.’’

Prime Minster Scott Morrison said the new centre would “serve as a magnet for top talent from Australia and abroad’’.

Cognizant said it had been assisted by the Global Talent Attraction Taskforce set up by the Federal Government in late 2020 to encourage high-growth companies to set up in Australia.

Cognizant said it did not recieve any financial incentives from the state or feredal governments

Cognizant has already started to recruit for the new delivery centre with expressions of interest being sought at cognizant.com/au/en/adelaide-delivery-centre

Originally published as US tech firm Cognizant will create 1600 new jobs in Adelaide in its new “global delivery centre”