Northern Ireland's largest software firm, Kainos, has announced 341 new jobs over the next three years to meet rising customer demand for artificial intelligence, representing a £19.8m (€23.1m) investment, as reported by BBC News NI.

Of the new roles, 309 will be based in Belfast and 32 in Londonderry, spanning software engineering, consulting, AI, and data science. The average salary will be £58,000 (€67,500), bringing the company's total headcount to 3,500 people.

Chief executive Brendan Mooney said the investment was another example of large organisations choosing to build their workforce in Belfast and Derry. On AI, Mooney said the company's position was clear, describing it as an enabling technology rather than a replacement technology that helps its people do more and do it more quickly, to the benefit of customers.

Mooney also played down fears that AI software would lead to widespread job losses, voicing scepticism that large organisations would be able to build and roll out their own AI solutions at scale.

Kainos' revenues for AI and data-related projects increased 11% over the last year to almost £46m (€53.5m), accounting for approximately 20% of revenue in its digital services division. The company's most recent annual results reported sales up 17% to £431m (€501.3m) and pre-tax profit up 2% to £67m (€77.9m).

Economy Minister Caoimhe Archibald described the announcement as a strong vote of confidence in Northern Ireland's growing tech sector and the highly skilled people working within it, adding that AI could help drive new high-value job creation across the wider economy.

Kieran Donoghue, chief executive of Invest NI, confirmed his organisation would contribute £1.5m (€1.7m) toward the new jobs. Donoghue described the announcement as significant because it demonstrated a globally operating company, headquartered in Northern Ireland, choosing to reinvest locally when it had options about where to deploy capital.

Donoghue added that the announcement showed AI can actually create jobs, acknowledging that while some roles will be displaced, companies supported by Invest NI are embracing the technology and upskilling people to work on higher added value functions.

The Kainos expansion forms part of a broader pattern of AI-driven workforce investment in Northern Ireland, where dual market access under the Windsor Framework and a deep pool of technology graduates continue to attract both domestic reinvestment and international interest.

View the full report on Kainos's 341-job AI investment in Northern Ireland.