Prometric Reaches 100 Highly-Skilled Jobs in Dundalk

24 IT Jobs Added to their Global Operations Hub – A Major Milestone for the U.S. Multi-National

Minister of State for NewEra, Fergus O’Dowd, T.D., today joined Prometric CEO Michael Brannick and IDA Ireland CEO, Barry O’Leary to announce a major milestone for the U.S. multi-national.

Prometric has now reached an employment headcount of 100 in Dundalk, with the addition of 24 skilled IT jobs. Prometric’s Dundalk operation is a major gateway for export work, bringing revenue in from some of the world’s most recognisable companies, organisations and Governments; supporting a business that operates in more than 160 countries and 20 hours of a global workday.

Prometric announced in November 2011 that it would bring 100 jobs to Dundalk by 2014, as part of its global test development and delivery operations business. On June 7, 2012, Prometric officially opened its Global Operations Centre, in Dundalk’s Finnabair Business & Technology Park, and announced it had a workforce of 52 employees within just six months of completing its €800,000, state-of-the-art facility. Roles include executive leadership, test publishing, business development, operations, software engineering, business and systems analysis, project management, human resources, finance, marketing and graphic design and accounting. A list of available positions can be found at the end of this release.

Prometric’s ties to Ireland run deeper than new jobs. The company is a corporate partner to Junior Achievement Ireland, contributing financially and placing employee volunteers in Dundalk classrooms where they serve as student mentors. Prometric also sponsors the Dundalk Táin Festival, organised annually by the town council and Town Centre Commercial Manager office. DkIT and Prometric benefit from a close partnership, exchanging innovative resources and best practices. Some initiatives include DkIT internships and an on-campus learning demonstration project that uses Prometric’s new cloud-based MyItemWriterTM technology.

Recently, Prometric’s Vice President of Test Development Operations, Holly Dance, was appointed to the Dundalk Chamber of Commerce as Council Vice President, a first for an American company and for any foreign direct investment firm.

Across Ireland, Prometric has more than 140 employees, with 30 open positions. Prometric operates in Dundalk, Dublin, and has test sites available in all 26 Irish counties.

Welcoming today’s news, Fergus O’Dowd T.D. said;

“I wish to congratulate Prometric on reaching 100 highly-skilled jobs in their Louth base a year ahead of schedule”

“Prometric is a perfect example of a company that follows the sun, and can deal with the West Coast of the United States as easily at it communicates with Asia because of Ireland’s unique geographic location”

Fergus O’Dowd T.D., Minister of State for NewEra

Prometric clients include Microsoft, the European Union’s Personnel Selection Office (EPSO), Ireland’s Road Safety Authority (RSA) and Irish Medical Council, the Project Management Institute (PMI), as well as India’s renowned CAT exam and the Association of American Medical Colleges’ MCAT®, both of which qualify students for access to prestigious business and medical schools.

Test development professionals in Dundalk work with the RSA to develop new and revised exams for professional drivers. They publish new exams for the Building Energy Rating Assessor (BER) programme on behalf of the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland. UK-based ARM Holdings partners with Prometric to develop exams used for certifying technology professionals who produce 35 per cent of all consumer digital devices in the world (more than 40 billion microchips).

Other major clients reside in China, Dubai, Japan, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and many others. These are organisations fueling global commerce and employment.

 “As a company, our primary purpose is to develop, deliver and produce test results for people to fairly demonstrate their knowledge. This is no small responsibility, and our employees in Ireland are part of our collective global business. Together, we provide a valid, secure and accurate measure of success or failure for millions of people per year.”

 Michael Brannick, President and CEO of Prometric

IDA Ireland is Ireland’s inward investment promotion agency and played a key role attracting Prometric to Ireland and Dundalk. Prometric’s 100 jobs milestone highlights the ongoing commitment of IDA to attract and support foreign direct investment. Ireland is location of choice for a large number of Business Services Companies due to high quality IT, financial and HR skills. IDA Ireland continues to attract shared services operations to serve European and global markets as well as more sophisticated and diverse regional headquarters’ operations from these companies.

“Prometric’s rapid growth in Dundalk further endorses Ireland’s credentials as key location for the business services sector. Prometric has a growing customer base and many high profile customers operating in global markets. I would like to offer the on-going support of IDA Ireland as Prometric further develops its Irish operation’’

Barry O’Leary,  CEO, IDA Ireland