Dyson to grow engineering team in Singapore by 50%

SINGAPORE - Singapore's job market may be tight at the moment, but it appears that engineering talent remains very much in demand.

Technology firm Dyson announced in a statement on Wednesday (Dec 7) that it is looking to expand its presence in Singapore by hiring about 200 more engineers in the next few years.

The British family-owned company joins a growing list of companies and organisations seeking engineering talent in Singapore, including the Government, transport operators SMRT and SBS Transit, and tech giant Google.

Dyson, best known for its vacuum cleaners, hand dryers, bladeless fans and supersonic hair dryers, currently has about 800 employees here. Of these, nearly half are engineers.

Now, plans are afoot to further ramp up its engineering capabilities by growing its team in Singapore by 50 per cent. "We have plans for our engineers here to step up in developing the next frontier of Dyson technology, in close collaboration with our team in the UK," revealed Scott Maguire, the company's global engineering director.

According to Mr Maguire, the company hires professionals from across a range of engineering disciplines, including mechanical and design engineers, electronics engineers, motors and power systems engineers and software engineers.

The company also said that it was looking to hire young engineers fresh out of university, including those with no prior experience.

"Technology does not develop itself. We depend on the many bright young minds from Singapore and wider Southeast Asia who are bold enough to push the boundaries and to challenge engineering norms," said Mr Maguire, who divulged that the average age of the company's engineers is 26.

But Mr Maguire stressed that the company will welcome applicants from all backgrounds and experiences. "In particular, we're looking for people who have a fire in their belly, are passionate about solving everyday problems and most importantly, are brave enough to try out new ideas without the fear of failure," he said.

Besides expanding its team, Dyson is also planning to open a new technology centre here next year to support its research and engineering efforts.

Further announcements about the new facility, including its location, will be made next year. "We are set to make a key announcement in 2017 - covering the specific role that the technology centre will play, and accordingly the types of people we hope to bring into the state-of-the-art facility," Mr Maguire said.

The company is also keeping coy on the kinds of technology that they will be working on. "Let's just say we're not limited by our imagination. We're constantly looking for new and better solutions to solve age-old problems. People in Singapore will simply have to wait and see what we have up our sleeves," he added.

In its statement, Dyson explained that it's decision to expand its presence here was due to the quality and availability of enigneering talent in Singapore, and because the city-state and the company shared a similar "underdog" mindset.

"The Government is embarking on a nationwide plan to tackle the world's challenges with 'smart city' technologies through the Smart Nation initiative. This forward-thinking approach has made Singapore a hotbed of many popular global technologies companies and an attractive destination for cutting-edge technology to be developed," a spokesperson said.

Dyson, which was founded by inventor James Dyson in 1991, now hires over 2,000 engineers globally and spends £5 million (S$9 million) a week on research, design and development. Last year, it recorded a turnover of £1.7 billion, with its business in the Asia Pacific region growing by 50 per cent.

seanyap@sph.com.sg