Facebook targets UK growth with 1,000 hires this year

Facebook will hire 1,000 people in London this year after Great Britain leaves the European Union, continuing its expansion of the company’s biggest engineering center outside the United States. The move will bring Facebook’s head count in the UK to more than 4,000.

A majority of the new jobs will be in technology, including software engineering and data science, said Nicola Mendelsohn, Facebook’s vice president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Other roles will be in the “community integrity” team, which makes products to detect and remove harmful content from various platforms, including Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp.

Mendelsohn said London’s appeal is not only its technology ecosystem but also the strength of its creative industries.

She said despite Britain’s imminent departure from the EU, Facebook’s enthusiasm for London is still strong. However, like other technology companies, the company wants certainty about Brexit.

“The Johnson government has been very clear about what that looks like, and so we will continue to invest here in London,” she said.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson lauded Facebook’s move while championing the UK’s appeal for the overall tech industry.

“We are committed to making the UK the safest place in the world to be online, alongside being one of the best places for technology companies to be based,” he said.