Jaguar Land Rover is actively recruiting tech experts laid off by Twitter, Facebook-Meta, and Amazon.
Software expertise
Like every other car company, the UK-based, Indian-owned car maker is looking to dramatically expand its expertise in software and digital products, and the current round of layoffs and redundancies at the globe's biggest tech companies makes for an ideal recruitment pool.
JLR is looking for around 800 new employees to work at its sites in the UK, US, Ireland, India, China and Hungary. JLR's office in Ireland is its software engineering hub in Shannon, part of the Shannon Free Zone adjacent to the international airport. It's one of JLR's main hubs for developing software and tech for autonomous cars and connected functions.
Irish base in Shannon
The roles Jaguar Land Rover is currently looking to fill are in the fields of autonomous driving, artificial intelligence, electrification, cloud software, data science, machine learning and many more. JLR says it needs to recruit for these roles as it "becomes a digital-first and data-driven organisation. These skills are essential to developing, building and repairing Jaguar Land Rover's next generation of cars that will epitomise beauty and modern luxury, while delivering for clients a fully connected experience."
Anthony Battle, Chief Information Officer at Jaguar Land Rover, commented: "We are further strengthening our data and digital skills base so we can deliver our Reimagine strategy and become an electric-first business from 2025 and achieve carbon net zero by 2039. Our digital transformation journey is well underway but being able to recruit highly skilled digital workers is an important next step. We are pleased to be able to provide opportunities to talented individuals with digital capabilities."
Time of turmoil
Dave Nesbitt, Digital Product Platform Director at Jaguar Land Rover, said: "Jaguar Land Rover is transforming to an electric-first business, and we are creating some of the most digitally advanced vehicles ever seen. Through our products we will create new experiences, new levels of intimacy and connected car services for our customers, to give our clients a true modern luxury experience."
The recruitment drive comes at a difficult time for the car maker. While it has an impressive order bank, especially for Land Rover models such as the new Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, and Defender, Jaguar is struggling with older models, and out of both brands, there is only a single all-electric car, the Jaguar I-Pace, which was launched in 2019.
Meanwhile, JLR's chief executive, Thierre Bollore (a former senior executive at Renault), has this past week departed the company, citing personal reasons. It's a major blow, as Bollore was the architect of Jaguar's impending re-invention as a high-end, all-electric brand.