Economic Development May Recap

Raleigh Ranked the Best City for Jobs 

  

Raleigh was ranked as the Best City for Jobs by Glassdoor. The rankings were determined by weighting three factors equally: how easy it is to get a job (hiring opportunity), how affordable it is to live there (cost of living), and how satisfied employees are working there (job satisfaction).

 

As part of the report, they include each metro's median pay for employees, median home value, job satisfaction rating, number of current job openings, and population. 

 

Raleigh's numbers are as follows: 

Glassdoor Job Score: 4.1

• Number of Job Openings: 24,146
• Population: 1,242,974
• Median Base Salary: $50,950
• Median Home Value: $198,400
• Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.3

 

Glassdoor Chief Economist Dr. Andrew Chamberlain stated, "Raleigh is also situated in the famous "Research Triangle" and has several universities feeding skilled workers to employers. Couple this with Raleigh's walkable neighborhoods and affordable homes; it's no surprise that Raleigh stands out as the best city for jobs."

 

SAS Institute | Cary | Software/IT | Expanding 

Cary analytics giant SAS is planning a new nine-story office building and training center called Building A. Plans for Building A, which have not yet been approved by the town of Cary, call for a nearly 420,000-square-foot project, complete with more than 1,100 parking spaces. If built, the new structure would be the 24th building at the SAS campus in Cary. SAS employs about 5,300 in Cary and about 14,000 worldwide. The Cary site has expanded annually by about 4 percent, according to statements Jim Goodnight made last year.

 

SFW | Raleigh | Marketing | New

Greensboro-based marketing group SFW is opening an office at the NC State University Centennial Campus. The campus is the only research campus in North America that combines academic programs, corporate, governmental and nonprofit partners, which pairs well with the SFW focus on research insights, says SFW CEO Ged King. The company has grown more than 40 percent each year for the past five years, increasing their staff from 12 to 60 employees during that time. The agency is also in hiring mode with an eye open for designers, digital marketing experts, account management, and other positions.

 

Ipreo | Raleigh | Software/IT | Expanding

Financial technology firm Ipreo continues to expand its workforce. The firm currently has a headcount greater than 200 and plans to hire at least 50 more by the end of the year----from product management to development roles. To accommodate the growth, Ipreo is taking over another floor of office space in its high-rise building on Fayetteville Street. A recently completed staircase connects the two floors Ipreo now occupies. And a construction café and training room will round out the renovations, expected to be completed by the end of May.

 

WakeMed Women's Hospital | Raleigh | Healthcare | Expanding

WakeMed Health & Hospitals is set to open the WakeMed North Family Health & Women's Hospital, an expansion of the health system's existing North Healthplex in North Raleigh. The hospital will focus heavily on women's services, though it will still see some male patients as well. The 248,800-square-foot, 61-bed women's hospital at the corner of Falls of Neuse and Durant roads brings with it new and expanded services. This is the health system's third full-service hospital offering a birthing experience. More than 7,500 babies are born at WakeMed's hospitals in Raleigh and Cary each year.

 

Peak10 Inc. | Morrisville | Data Center | Expanding

National IT infrastructure and cloud services provider, Peak 10, Inc., continues its expansion of facilities and services with the construction and renovation of its data center operations at 5150 McCrimmon Parkway in Morrisville. The new build-out contains 31,500-square foot of space which will include a third data center, new office space, and a state-of-the-art Technical Assistance Center. The expansion will include the addition of new support staff positions and bring Peak 10's total Raleigh footprint to more than 100,000 square feet. The new facility will accommodate new and existing customers throughout the central and eastern regions of the state.

 

Compass Rose Brewery | Raleigh | Brewery | New 

Compass Rose Brewery, which opened this month off Gresham Lake Road, is the first brewery in northeast Raleigh. Compass Rose----owned by John Coulter, Thomas Vincent, Jose Luis Martinez, and Gary Kohake----wants to tap into the North Raleigh crowd, which might feel a bit left out of the brewery scene. For now, Compass Rose won't bottle and sell its beer, but it will sell kegs and distribute to bottle shops and restaurants. The brewery also plans to feature local food trucks in lieu of a full kitchen.

 

Samanage | Cary | Software/IT | Expanding

Cary-based Samanage has raised a whopping $16 million. The local headcount----currently at 30----doubled in 2014. And, boosted by the new financing, he expects the pattern to repeat itself in the next 12 months. Currently, there are seven open job positions for the Cary office with more to come in marketing, customer support, and engineering, leading to a hiring spree of about 50. The firm is in the process of doubling its office space in Cary to about 10,000 square feet. Samanage creates service software such as a performance benchmarking product that allows organizations to measure and benchmark performance against peers.

 

Credit Suisse | Research Triangle Park | Financial Services | Expanding

Global investment banker Credit Suisse is planning a 25 percent expansion----one that will involve an entirely new space in addition to its current footprint in Research Triangle Park.

 

SimpliVity | Raleigh | Software/IT | Expanding 

Massachusetts tech firm SimpliVity recently expanded its customer support operations to Raleigh, a move that brought 30 jobs----but that's just the start of the company's plan for the Triangle. A SimpliVity spokesperson confirms the company plans to double that local headcount by the end of the year. SimpliVity works in what's called "hyper converged infrastructure," bringing multiple IT elements into one block of shareable resources. The goal is to simplify the infrastructure for companies, and investors are buying in. The company has raised more than $276 million in venture capital and employs 500 people across the globe.

 

New & Expanding Metrics Since January 2015 

	Jan. --  May 2015
New & Expanding Company Announcements	30
Jobs	864
Investment	$99.5 million