Workday To Invest €175M in Dublin AI Centre of Excellence, Adding 200 Jobs

Workday, Inc. the enterprise AI platform for managing peoplemoney, and agents, today announced a three year €175 million investment and 200 specialised roles to establish its AI Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Dublin.

The investment, supported by IDA Ireland, expands the role of Workday’s EMEA headquarters in the company’s product research and development globally.   Since 2008, Workday’s Dublin-based teams have driven impactful R&D, including AI-driven solutions like Workday Learning and Workday Assistant.

The AI Centre of Excellence will focus on four key areas:

 

  • Product Development: Over 200 roles will be added in Dublin, helping to ensure  regional AI, cybersecurity, engineering and research expertise is reflected in Workday Illuminate, the company’s AI platform. Workday currently employs 2,200 people here, of which approximately 80% work in product research and development.

 

  • AI Upskilling: Workday has partnered with Technology Ireland Digital Skillnet to upskill 300 current employees through its AI Business Academy. In addition, through partnership with TU Dublin, over 285 employees have already graduated with certifications in AI relevant themes including Machine Learning, Cybersecurity, Entrepreneurial Leadership, Leadership and Team Enablement and Creating Successful Products.

 

  • AI Academic Fellowships & Partnerships: Workday’s Industry Fellowships, in collaboration with universities such as Trinity College Dublin and Dublin City University (DCU) and Research Ireland will directly embed post-doctoral researchers within R&D teams in the company. This allows top-tier academic talent to apply their expertise to real-world AI and machine learning challenges.

 

  • Partnership With Irish Tech Scale-Ups: Through the Workday Innovation Network – created with Enterprise Ireland – the organisation will collaborate with Irish AI start-ups, SMEs and industry leaders such as Wrksense and Workhuman to drive innovation.

Welcoming the investment, Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment Peter Burke T.D. said: “Since Workday acquired Irish tech innovator Cape Clear in 2008, it has evolved into a research and development powerhouse, based on a blend of talented people, technology and innovation which Ireland can uniquely provide. Workday’s decision to expand its AI footprint in Dublin is a testament to Ireland’s reputation as a global leader in technology and innovation. We are very pleased to support this investment and partner with Workday to maximise its new AI Centre of Excellence.”

“Dublin has been a cornerstone of Workday’s innovation for close to two decades,” said Graham Abell, Vice President, Software Engineering & Ireland Site Lead, Workday. “This latest investment will power our next chapter—pioneering the next generation of ERP, built for the AI era.”

“Workday’s decision to expand its AI footprint in Dublin is a testament to Ireland’s reputation as a global leader in technology and innovation. This investment of €175 million and 200 jobs over the next 3 years will further strengthen Ireland’s position at the forefront of AI research and development. I would like to wish Workday every success for this AI Centre of Excellence and I look forward to our continued partnership,’’ said Michael Lohan, CEO, IDA Ireland.

To support its continued growth in Europe, Workday will open a new, state-of-the-art EMEA headquarters at College Square, Dublin 2. The headquarters will include a new Customer Experience Centre (CXC) – an immersive space for European customers to collaborate alongside Workday product experts and senior leaders. Current career opportunities can be viewed at Workday’s online careers centre here.

Bumble Inc. Introduces ‘Bumble For Friends’ Friendship-Finding App

Bumble Inc, the parent company of Bumble, Badoo, Fruitz and Official, announced the launch of Bumble For Friends, a standalone app for finding friends. The app creates a new way for people to grow their friendship circles by discovering meaningful, kind, and fun connections in their local area that is separate from the Bumble dating app.

The new app follows the successful BFF mode that’s been available within the Bumble app since 2016, which features three modes for: romantic relationships (Date), platonic friendships (BFF), and business connections (Bizz).

Bumble For Friends is expected to be especially popular among Gen Z, as new research from the app reveals that over a third (38%) of 18-24 year olds in Ireland believe that platonic relationships are more important than romantic relationships. However, a quarter are stuck in outdated friendships (25%) and a third are not satisfied with the ones they currently have.

The research found that while over half (57%) of 18-24 year olds in Ireland want to make new friends, almost a third (30%) feel prevented to do so due to finding it difficult to approach people in person and a fear of being judged.

“Friendship has always been a critical part of Bumble’s goal to living a healthy and happy life. With feelings of loneliness and isolation at an all-time high, now more than ever is a time to prioritise self-love and friendships for our well being. Having a dedicated Bumble For Friends app that’s separate from the dating experience makes friendship-finding easier for people looking to make meaningful platonic connections in their area,” said Whitney Wolfe Herd, Bumble’s founder and CEO.

“People are more open to making friends online than ever before. In fact, in a recent Bumble For Friends survey, over a third of Gen-Z respondents in the UK shared that making new friends online lessened their loneliness,” Herd said. “No matter your life stage – whether it’s moving off to college, looking for a travel partner or becoming a new mum – Bumble For Friends creates a fun way to connect with people while helping solve the extremely important issue of loneliness.” 

How Bumble For Friends Works

  • It starts with creating a profile that reflects the member’s personality and interests through uploading photos and showcasing hobbies that illustrate where the person is in their life and what kind of friends they’re looking to meet.
  • Bumble For Friends models a similar experience as Bumble Date where members see profiles for potential friends based on common interests, swipe right on profiles they would like to connect with and are notified when a match is made.
  • Anyone currently using BFF mode with the Bumble app who wishes to migrate their profile and connections into the Bumble For Friends app will be able to skip the set-up and easily do so upon downloading and logging into the new app as an existing member.
  • Once a BFF profile is moved over to the Bumble For Friends app, BFF mode is no longer available in the Bumble app. The Date and Bizz functionality remains.

A new, easier way to plan group meetups exclusively available in the Bumble For Friends app

  • Starting to roll out today within the new Bumble For Friends app, it’s easy to get a group together to make a plan to meet IRL.
  • Any member can create a plan for a group meetup with at least two of their connections from the conversations tab.
  • A member selects a planned activity from a list of suggestions or creates their own.
  • Once a member selects a plan theme or creates a title for the group chat, they can invite at least two of their matches.
  • Their matches receive an invite in their chat that is titled the name of the planned activity, which can be edited.
  • Anyone who accepts the invite can join the group chat and start discussing any of the meetup details.

Bumble For Friends is free to use and is available on the App Store and Google Play in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, and the United States with more regions to come.

Check out connectingus which is a new Irish social media site