Canadian tech firm hiring for new Costa Rica operation

Tech consultancy firm Konrad Group opened its doors in Costa Rica this week, its first operation outside of North America.

The Toronto-based company has 45 employees here and is in the process of recruiting 85 more for its new offices in Tres Ríos, between San José and Cartago.

The company is looking for bilingual (English-Spanish) engineers in the computer sciences and software developers with experience in applications for web and mobile devices.

Job-seekers can apply through the company’s website: konradgroup.com/careers.

The company currently provides strategy, design and development services mainly for companies in the U.S. and Canada, including Fortune 500 businesses such as McDonald’s, Target and PayPal.

Marco Fernández, Konrad Group’s general manager in Costa Rica, said the company is committed to the country and the opening of its new offices here represents the beginning of an ambitious plan.

“Our operation will not move from one country to another to lower costs. Our business model is not based on costs but on human talent,” Fernández said during an opening ceremony on Monday attended by Vice President Ana Helena Chacón, Foreign Trade Minister Alexander Mora and other officials.

Growing sector

Jorge Sequeira, general director of the Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE), said the launch of Konrad Group’s operations here is proof of the quality of the country’s professionals in the digital services sector.

Some 140 companies make up Costa Rica’s services cluster in areas including financial analysis, software development, information technology, engineering and graphic design, according to a recent CINDE report. These companies provide approximately 50,000 direct jobs and 17,000 indirect jobs.

Costa Rica is the main exporter of value-added services in Latin America, according to CINDE, surpassing Chile, Brazil, Argentina and Peru.