In an effort to capitalize on the flourishing Denver tech ecosystem, a publicly traded entertainment giant is set to open a new office in the Mile High City.
Irvine, California-based Vizio (NYSE: VZIO) today announced the opening of its newest office location in Denver, with plans to expand its tech and innovation team into the local market.
With the pandemic keeping many people at home over the last year, Denver native and Vizio SVP of Interactive Advertising David Rudnick said the company took a deeper look at potential innovation.
In addition to Vizio’s hardware suite of smart televisions and sound bars, the company builds and deploys its own software. Rudnick said that side of the business came into focus over the last year.
“With so many people staying home and us really beginning to take a deeper dive into how people consume content and interact with TVs, the company took a position that it was time to invest,” Rudnick said. “In order to do a lot of the long-range things that we’re thinking about, as well as getting bigger as a company, we really thought about our investment into that software layer.”
That’s where Denver comes in.
Rudnick said the city’s growing tech workforce and work-life balance was particularly attractive to Vizio as it sought a new market to put down roots.
“Denver has a tremendous technical backbone, that some people are aware of and a lot of people are not,” Rudnick said.
About a year ago, Vizio began putting a small Denver team together. Now, with today’s announcement, the company is preparing to hire more than 100 full-time employees by the end of 2022 and open a brick-and-mortar office space.
"The entrepreneurial spirit of Colorado’s tech talent is the perfect fit with Vizio’s culture of innovation, and these high-quality jobs are a huge win for Colorado,” Colorado Gov, Jared Polis said in a statement. “Vizio’s desire to be a long-term community partner is exactly the kind of thoughtful corporate investment that Colorado values."
The hires will be focused on the technology side, ranging from engineering to software and quality assurance.
The company’s Denver office will join the Vizio’s more than 600 employees across six U.S. locations including its headquarters in Irvine, California, and offices in Dallas, Seattle, San Francisco, New York City and Dakota Dunes, South Dakota.
After being raised in Denver, Rudnick left for a period of time before returning nearly two decades ago. He’s excited for Vizio’s presence in the city after witnessing the local ecosystem develop.
“As we see Denver continue to evolve and mature, we know it’s a great place for people to be and we think Vizio is a good match for that,” he said.
