1,000 jobs for Irish in Middle East, says Hyder

A MAJOR international consultancy has up to 1,000 jobs available for highly qualified Irish construction staff as it ramps up its operations in the Middle East, which is enjoying a boom in infrastructure spending.

Hyder Consulting, which already employs nearly 4,000 people in the UK, Germany, the Middle East and Asia, is attempting to hire up to 400 workers over the course of the rest of the year, with another 600 posts to be filled over the next two years.

Much of the work will centre on Qatar, which is spending billions as it prepares to host the 2022 World Cup, while the Saudi Arabian authorities have already announced a $400 billion national infrastructure development plan.

The company is seeking architects, engineers, quantity surveyors and CAD technicians, with full professional recognition and between five and 10 years of experience, to work on “world-class, career-defining projects”.

The 150-year-old company has operated in the Middle East for more than 45 years and claims “excellent local knowledge and client relationships” in the oil-backed economies of the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

“We have no projects or exposures to Libya, Iran, Egypt, Yemen or Syria. In Bahrain, where we have an office of approximately 100 staff, we are trading normally and only suffered minimal disruption during the protest rallies earlier this year,” it said.

Recruitment for the new jobs will take place in Ireland, Britain, Germany and Eastern Europe, but Mullingar-born Hyder executive Alan Lord insisted the campaign would begin in Ireland.

“We are not the type of company that focuses on 10 different places at one time. We will start in Ireland, then the United Kingdom, then Germany and then Eastern Europe,” he told The Irish Times yesterday.

Candidates will be required to relocate to the Middle East, rather than be expected to fulfil duties remotely, but Hyder provides a relocation package covering schools, accommodation and other costs.

“The Middle East is a very good place in which to work. It is a tax-free environment. People can expect a very good salary and enjoy a very good standard of living and enjoy the opportunity to save,” Mr Lord added.

The jobs will not be confined to men.

Neil Kemble, head of Hyder’s Middle East utility arm, said the company is making a determined effort to bring more women into its workforce. “I want them on my team,” he told The Irish Times.

The company has won a succession of major contracts recently, including one from Qatar’s General Electricity and Water Corporation to carry out engineering and environmental work on a plan to build five mega-reservoirs.

The reservoirs will be among 30 to be built by the authorities in Qatar, which currently has just two days of reserves, to increase emergency storage spread through the state’s network to 30 days’ supply.

It is also involved in plans to build a $35 billion metro system for the Qatari capital, Doha, while it will help with the design of a new district for the city, including “hundreds of tunnels and viaducts”.