CaixaBank adds hundreds more IT professionals to support digital transformation

CaixaBank has begun the recruitment of 200 young people with the tech skills that are “fundamental” to the digital transformation of the Spanish bank.

The positions will be filled by “mainly young people” with technology and science degrees to help it advance in tech areas including cloud application development, data analysis and artificial intelligence (AI).

CaixaBank said it is using Python, React and Java developers “to support the development of hybrid apps, the development of AI, and advanced analytics models and to enhance software applications (appification) in financial services”.

It added: “In addition, cyber security and cloud experts are also being recruited, as well as specialists in digital marketing, user experience and quality assurance engineers.

“Professionals are also being hired for the dedicated digital transformation team, with specialties including agile and scrum methodologies, innovation and workplace transformation.”

The roles, which will be based at tech centres in Barcelona, Madrid and one recently opened in Seville, are expected to be in place by the end of this year, taking the size of the bank’s in-house IT team to 1,000.

“Seville has great potential as a tech development hub for CaixaBank, and the new centre will make it easier to attract technology talent looking to develop professionally in CaixaBank Group,” said the bank.

CaixaBank has 20 million customers with 11 million using its CaixaBankNow digital banking website and app.

The bank said that to attract and retain talent it is “committed to new project and career management methodologies, such as gamification, with a flexible organisation model and horizontal structures based on projects and specialties for professional development, providing maximum technical know-how and a culture focused on these profiles”.

The recruitment of 200 more staff comes at a time when the finance sector is seeing major cuts. In May, JP Morgan announced it would cut about 500 job cuts, which included the removal of roles in the technology and operations departments.

In February, PayPal said it was cutting 2,000 jobs – about 7% of staff – amid challenging economic conditions.

Other recent cuts include UK payments infrastructure financial technology firm Paddle, which reduced its workforce of more than 350 by 8%, and fintech LendingClub, with 14% of its workforce set to go as high interest rates stifle demand for its lending services.