Global tech company Leidos boosts Victorian presence

Leidos, a global science and technology firm, has increased its investment in Victoria with plans to establish its Software Factory in Melbourne as part of a project that will create up to 100 new, highly skilled tech jobs.

Minister for Economic Development Tim Pallas said this will be its first factory outside the United States. The factory will support the company’s growth in Australia, extend its global reach and attract new industry-leading capabilities for software development. Minister Pallas said the expansion by Leidos is strong validation of Victoria’s thriving tech sector, its skilled workforce and thriving culture of innovation.

“Having this cutting-edge facility in Melbourne will further boost our capabilities in areas of software development and create highly skilled jobs which will continue our economic recovery,” Minister Pallas said.

Leidos is an information technology, engineering and science solutions and services leader working to solve challenges in defence, intelligence, homeland security, civil and health markets. The company’s 38,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers across the world.

Leidos will use the new factory to develop secure and complex software products, using its Melbourne location to work in tandem with US-based offices as part of its global model. The new factory will enable the company to bring software to market rapidly, affordably and at high quality.

“This investment in cutting-edge software development techniques draws on Leidos’ global capabilities and will significantly enhance our capabilities to deliver the highest standards of complex software development to our customers,” said Paul Chase, Leidos Australia Chief Executive.

Leidos employs more than 550 workers at its existing Australasian and Asia Pacific headquarters in Victoria as part of its workforce of more than 1400 across the country. The company’s Australian clients include the Department of Defence, the Australian Tax office, the Bureau of Meteorology, the Department of Home Affairs and other Agencies.

The investment by Leidos is a further boost to Victoria’s tech sector, which contributes $38.4 billion to the state’s economy and supports more than 139,000 workers across 19,941 businesses. The announcement is part of a string of international investments in Victoria secured by the Labor government, including AWS, Illumina and Elbit, that will assist in Victoria’s economic recovery.

“This is a fantastic announcement and investment in Melbourne’s south-east that will bring highly skilled jobs and technical specialists to our region,” said Dr Tien Kieu, Member for South Eastern Metropolitan.

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