Red Hat, an open-software firm headquartered in Raleigh, announced earlier this month it will hire 800 people in the coming fiscal year.
Job openings will include a variety of positions, from sales to research and development, in both the company’s national and international offices. There will be about 50 openings in the Raleigh office.
“Since around half of our associates work outside the United States, it’s safe to assume that around half of the new jobs will be outside of the U.S., while the other half will likely be in the U.S.,” said Kim Jokisch, director of employment branding at Red Hat. “Students should be really excited for the opportunities locally. But with offices around the world, students and graduates could explore roles with Red Hat in a variety of other places if interested.”
Still, Jokisch said N.C. State students should “absolutely” be excited about the announcement.
“Red Hat has had a very good relationship with N.C. State for many years now,” Jokisch said. “We’ve seen many N.C. State students and graduates come to work for us as interns and full-time associates.”
Jokisch said the relationship between Red Hat and N.C. State “took off” in 2002 when the company moved its headquarters from Durham to Centennial Campus. In 2013, it moved again to downtown Raleigh. But the company still actively interacts with N.C. State students and graduates, Jokisch said.
“Because our headquarters is located in Raleigh, we have many opportunities in our downtown office,” Jokisch said.
Opportunities include those in engineering, information technology, sales, finance, human resources and marketing, Jokisch said.
“The College of Design has been a great resource for design talent, and we’ve had a number of people work for Red Hat while pursuing their MBA at N.C. State,” Jokisch said.
Even though the 800 jobs will span a variety of areas, most will be in sales organization and products and technologies, the Triangle Business Journal reported in March.
“That’s the core of our business,” said DeLisa Alexander, Red Hat Chief People Officer. “It’s making the products and selling the products.”
Of the 54 current openings in Raleigh, 41 are in sales or technology, according to Red Hat’s website.
Currently, Red Hat employs about 6,300 people worldwide. The open software provider was the first of its kind to earn more than $1 billion in revenue and raked in $1.53 billion during the last fiscal year, according to TBJ. Customers include the New York Stock Exchange, DreamWorks, Amazon and British Airways.
The N.C. State Career Development Center, which didn’t respond to a request for comment, doesn’t list Red Hat in its employer directory.
Jokisch said N.C. State students interested in working or interning for Red Hat should go to redhat.com/jobs.
“We’ve got a vibrant summer intern program, during which a large influx of students come to Red Hat,” Jokisch said. “Some students, if they’ve recently graduated, may get the opportunity to transition into full-time employment after the internship ends.”
