A Massachusetts company will be expanding to Tampa Bay, hiring roughly 100 people in the next 18 months while securing an office location.
International Data Corp., a technology research business that works with investors and startups, has begun seeking local hires focusing on entry- and mid-level sales positions. It is a subset of the International Data Group, which publishes 179 magazines and newspapers focused on information technology.
“Between the growth, and access to the talent pool, and companies moving in to expand their operations, they thought this was a really good location,” said Arnie Perez, International Data Corp.'s sales director.
Perez has lived in Tampa for the last six years and is a mentor at the Tampa Bay Wave. He will oversee the Tampa Bay office. The company has yet to sign a lease and is considering Tampa and St. Petersburg, but Perez said it has a pull toward the Westshore neighborhood.
"We want to be part of that support on both sides of the equations," he said. "[We want to be there] for the startups and [also the] investors, with our research and programs we have. We want to be part of the boom coming to Tampa."
He expects to hire between 80 and 100 employees in the next 12 to 18 months and have the first hires start by July. There will be a focus on recent graduates and young professionals to fill the mostly entry- and mid-level positions available.
“It speaks volumes of the booms we’re experiencing in the city,” Perez said. “We have the perfect storm of the recent growth, and the recent graduates are very impressive.”
According to Perez, IDC is seeking local talent but will have its employees working remotely for now. He expects to close on a lease this summer with an office opening in around Q4 and will most likely have a hybrid work setup both at home and in the office.
”Everyone will start working from home, but when they feel safe to come back to work, we want to have an office," he said. "We want to show the values of the company, have everyone share best practices and just connect."
Perez hopes the Tampa Bay office will serve as a sales hub and be the springboard for recent graduates or young professionals in the region.
“Our CEO wants to expand our sales operations, and they selected Tampa to be part of that," Perez said. "In the next three to five years, we want to establish and be an anchor for our inside sales organization, where they can grow in the company and move up the ladder. We want to be a starting point, with many recent graduates to start with a great company and learn everything they can."
The company is the latest of several that have expanded to the region in the last few months alone. This month, Washington, D.C.-area tech company ID.me announced plans to open its second office in Tampa, expecting to hire at least 500 in the area. The month prior, Signode Industrial Group, a transit packaging company, announced it was relocating to Tampa and will bring 200 high-paying jobs with it.
