It announces tech hub in Melbourne in a bid to stay ahead of the smaller startups
Commonwealth Bank is set to hire 100s of tech professionals for a new Melbourne technology hub, launched in partnership with RMIT and Monash University.
The bank is looking for employees with skills in artificial intelligence, data and security, according to a report by The Australian.
The new hub follows similar units in Sydney and Adelaide. It’s part of what CBA said is a $1 billion investment in Australia’s digital skills. Software engineering students from Monash University and RMIT will be given job placements in an array of engineering roles, CBA chief executive Matt Comyn told The Australian.
CBA is already one of Australia’s largest hirers of tech professionals, and Comyn said that the COVID-19 pandemic had spurred the bank to look beyond its Sydney headquarters for technical talent.
“At the moment it’s a tight labour market, and during the last couple of years we’ve demonstrated that we want to bring more capabilities in-house working for CBA, and we haven’t had the representation in Melbourne that we would have liked,” Comyn said. “It’s a very significant market for us from a customer perspective.
“The overall advantage I think you get working at CBA is a very strong, strategic support and focus on big investments in technology, engineering and experiences that make a real difference to customers’ lives,” Comyn told The Australian, “We want to build a strong and compelling proposition for people to join us.”
Brendan Hopper, chief information officer for technology at CBA, said the bank aimed to hire about 400 workers over the next three years – even as many tech companies are laying off staff.
Read next: Tech, turnaround times still broker concerns
“We also believe we have one of the best early careers programs in the technology industry and we are ambitious to grow it,” Hopper told The Australian.
Comyn said the new technology hub would help the big bank stay nimble to compete with the smaller startups that have disrupted the industry in recent years.
“We want to have a great proposition to attract the best people and give them really rewarding and exciting work, and to be able to make better decisions for our customers and deliver better experiences over the long term,” Comyn told The Australian. “The short-term [economic] volatility isn’t going to distract us from that.”
