Dunfermline-based software company Bitwise has opened a new Dundee office and plans to grow its workforce to 100 by 2025.
The firm was founded by managing director Craig McWhirter in 1987 and its new Dundee office will complement premises in Dunfermline, Sweden and the Netherlands.
Bitwise is a software service company developing safety critical software.
Its work includes software for products such as blood glucose equipment and self-driving cars.
It has completed more than 1,000 projects for clients in the medical, defence, automotive and fintech sectors.
Bitwise software can be found in products ranging from card payment terminals, to high integrity radiotherapy and security systems.
During the pandemic the firm made no redundancies and is now expanding to keep up with demand.
Bitwise Dundee expansion
The company currently has 63 staff, mostly based in Dunfermline and eight in the new Dundee office at Delta House.
Within the end of the year it hopes to have filled the Dundee Technology Park premises.
“The current office has enough space for 22 engineers,” says site manager Brian Robertson.
“But if we can recruit successfully in Dundee, we’ll open another or a bigger office.
“The plan is to expand from 63 to 100 by 2025, almost 40 engineers. If they could be based in Dundee that’s what we’ll do.”
The firm identified Dundee as the best place for a new office due to the investment in the city over the past few years.
Mr Robertson says a lot of the talented software engineers that would have perhaps left after graduation are now staying.
This is good news for the firm, as they are looking to hire graduates and junior engineers.
Attracting young engineers
The site manager hopes to attract young engineers to Bitwise with a diverse range of projects and clients.
Mr Robertson says: “We’re a diverse company.
“What attracted me to Bitwise is the range of projects you do, which is quite unique.
“With a lot of software companies, you’ll be spending all your time on one product or project year after year.
“At Bitwise, an engineer could be working on a military project for six months, then jump on to a medical project.
“Then the next year they might do an automotive project.”
The software firm joins fresh tenant Vidatec, who moved its operations from Stirling to Dundee in November, at the technology park.
