$45 million expansion means 2,245 new jobs for Qualtrics

By Brice Wallace 

A Utah tech giant will grow by more than 2,200 jobs in Provo over the next decade, boosted by a state tax credit incentive.

Qualtrics LLC will add 2,245 jobs in a $45 million project that is only part of its expansion plan for the next 10 years.

“Our headcount growth plans over the next 10 years far exceed the 2,000 that you see here,” Rob Bachman, chief financial officer, told the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) board last week after the company was approved for the incentive of up to $32.8 million over 10 years. “Yes, we will primarily focus in Provo, but we haven’t closed off the opportunity to have other satellite offices inside Utah as well.”{mprestriction ids="1,3"}

Based in Provo and with co-headquarters in Seattle, Qualtrics is an experience management company that specializes in software that enables companies to collect and analyze data on customers, brand, employees and products to increase insight into business operations and the effectiveness of product offerings. Founded in 2002 in Provo, Qualtrics was acquired by SAP for $8 billion in a transaction completed in January.

“We’re very excited for them. Qualtrics is basically one of the quintessential Utah success stories,” Owen Barrott, GOED incentives analyst, told the GOED board. “They’ve been growing very rapidly. In January, they were acquired by SAP for a tremendous sum. They’re continuing to grow, continuing to expand revenue, continuing to expand operations.”

The company announced Nov. 13 it would create 200 tech jobs in Chicago, which would serve as the hub of the company’s Midwest operations and will host roles in client success, sales, support, and delivery and implementation. The company said that location would be its 25th office globally. That announcement followed ones for downtown Seattle — to house more than 2,000 employees — and Dublin, Ireland, doubling the number of employees there to more than 700.

The company has about 3,000 employees worldwide, including 11 offices and more than 700 employees overseas.

Qualtrics is approaching full capacity in the Provo office and plans to add office space and employees in Provo by building a new facility of up to 150,000 square feet. The new positions will include software engineers, sales, marketing, technical support, finance and account management — all representing an expansion of existing Utah operations.

When Qualtrics was approved for a GOED incentive in 2012, the company had only about 200 employees, Bachman said. That incentive, totaling about $10.8 million over seven years, was tied to the creation of about 1,080 jobs.

“The concept and the thought of having SAP put even more of a footprint in Utah alongside Qualtrics is a big deal, and this headcount (2,245) years ago would have seemed crazy,” Bachman said. “It doesn’t seem so crazy to us anymore. We’re going to go do this, we’re going to expand, and we’re going to continue to enrich the existing talent that exists from the great academic institutions that we have in Utah, but also pull really great talent from outside into Utah and retain the existing talent that we have here.”

The incentivized jobs are expected to pay an average of $87,000 a year. New total wages over five years are expected to reach nearly $1.5 billion, and the project is projected to generate new state tax revenue of $131.1 million during that time.{/mprestriction}