Microsoft Canada plans to double its workforce in Vancouver with the creation of a new training and development centre at the Pacific Centre.
The company plans to occupy about 150,000 square feet in Pacific Centre, said Microsoft Canada president Janet Kennedy.
Microsoft plans to create 400 new jobs in Vancouver – which will double its current workforce – and will spend about $90 million annually. Microsoft already employs about 400 people in Vancouver, about 300 of whom are employed by the company’s two game studios – Big Park and Black Tusk, which was recently given the Gears of War franchise.
The new Microsoft Centre of Excellence is slated to open at Pacific Centre in 2015, but the company is already recruiting interns for its new Foundry Vancouver program, which will draw graduates from universities across Canada for paid internships.
“The first 25 interns have been hired and will start on May 5 for the Foundry program,” said Microsoft Canada president Jane Kennedy.
The new centre will focus on research and development for Microsoft cloud-based services such as Office 365, SharePoint, Skype, Bing and Yammer.
Kennedy said the hiring of new employees will coincide with the new office at Pacific Centre.
“We’ll start moving people in as we get the construction done,” she said.
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