Xero is opening a new office in Hawke's Bay next year, with a target of 30 support jobs within 2017. The new roles are part of Xero's global Customer Experience (CX)  team and will include specialist Payroll experts.

Rod Drury, CEO of Xero, says the new Hawke's Bay office demonstrates the company's commitment to New Zealand and the importance of creating regional technology employment opportunities.

"It used to be that people needed to live in the major cities to accelerate their technology careers, but that's changing quickly,” he says.

“Along with the advent of the cloud, new technology has flattened the world to allow people who want a fulfilling job with a good life balance to do so from beautiful places like Hawke's Bay.

Drury explains that opening this new office provides an opportunity to draw on talent across Hawke's Bay and lessens the burden on housing and transport in cities like Auckland and Wellington.

Xero is currently looking into whether it's worth taking space in the new Tech Hub development in Ahuriri, Napier, which is being converted from a wool store to offices with shared spaces.

Telecommunications company NOW and local software company Red Jungle are confirmed tenants with the development is set for completion early next year.

Xero first established its New Zealand presence in Wellington in 2006 and now has 21 offices in 15 locations throughout the world.

Stuart Nash, Labour and Hawke's Bay MP, says Rod Drury and Xero are a real Hawke's Bay success story.

“It's fantastic that Rod has shown enough confidence in the region to locate a centre here,” he says.

“This is a real opportunity for Hawke's Bay to prove it can be a centre of excellence and provide the sort of skills companies like Xero require. If we get this right, I see a very bright future for the tech sector and Hawke's Bay over the medium-to-long term.