Lisbon is emerging as a key IT hub in Europe’ – Tyson Foods

Tyson Foods, one of the world’s largest food companies, has chosen Lisbon to open a technology centre that will help the owner of brands such as Jimmy Dean and Hillshire Farm to “redefine the food industry through technology”. The hub kicks off in May with 30 employees already, but the aim is to reach more than 200 skilled jobs.

The hub in Lisbon is the US giant’s first investment in the Portuguese market and aims to boost the company’s growth plans in Europe.

“The Portuguese Hub will engage the people, systems and processes to provide additional support for Tyson Food’s expansion namely in European markets. The services provided in Lisbon will include a broad range of modern technology, including SAP/S4Hana, Data Sciences and Full Stack Software Engineering,” Dan Barrett, vice president, IT Europe at Tyson Foods, tells ECO.

Tyson Foods is opening a tech hub in Lisbon. What made Lisbon stand out from other European capitals in the decision process?

What made Lisbon stand out was its excellent emerging talent, very good support structures and quality of living for implementing our Tech Hub. Tyson Foods strives to be an employer of choice, and the establishment of an IT hub in Portugal is another step to ensure its team members have the tools and resources they need to be successful. Lisbon is emerging as a key IT hub in Europe with international accessibility and employee benefits, such as job and life skills training, a safe workplace and competitive compensation.

There are already 30 openings. What’s the timeline to reach the 200 jobs in IT?

We are opening the Hub on the 2nd of May and expect to have around 30 team members on the first wave and reach 200 roles in 18 to 24 months.

What sort of services and for which markets is the Lisbon hub center providing services?

The Portuguese Hub will engage the people, systems and processes to provide additional support for Tyson Food’s expansion namely in European markets. The services provided in Lisbon will include a broad range of modern technology, including SAP/S4Hana, Data Sciences and Full Stack Software Engineering.

We expect the Lisbon IT Hub to deliver the latest ideas for human and food safety and really help drive our global service efforts forward.

What was the investment in this specific project?

For competitive reasons, we do not have investment numbers to share.

Any plans to further Tyson Foods investments in the Portuguese market? In other locations of the country?

At this stage there are no plans for further IT investments in the Portuguese market.

Any new hub plans for Europe?

Currently there aren’t any new iT hub plans for Europe. We are concentrating all our efforts on our European IT hub in Lisbon.

The demand for tech talent is rising and it’s not enough to serve all the demand. What’s the strategy Tyson Foods is using in order to gain a leg up on the competition? Bigger salaries, more fringe benefits… a mix of both.

The demand for IT talent is a global challenge affecting not just Lisbon. We are creating a total benefits package that is competitive in the market but more importantly the center will be primarily focused on innovation projects and redefining the food industry through technology. Interesting projects coupled with a modern cloud technology stack will help us in our efforts to attract the best possible talent.

The demand for more flexibility in terms of the work model is a hot topic. How is the Tyson Foods’ hub accommodating this requirement from the talent? Will the work model have some remote days, will it be 100% at the office, full remote from some positions… What sort of work model will be in place?

The global pandemic has accelerated a more permanent move to a hybrid work environment. Our work model in Lisbon will be hybrid. We will keep the benefits and flexibility of remote working and provide the ability to work in a physical office near Marquês de Pombal.