US tech firm First Data is to create up to 300 jobs in Nenagh with the establishment of an R&D centre. The company develops software to help facilitate and secure commercial transactions.

The IDA-backed plans will see the centre peopled by high-skilled employees and will be First Data’s first Irish location outside of Dublin. The company currently employs approximately 300 workers in two separate facilities in Dublin.

Among the anticipated work at the new R&D centre in Nenagh will be application/software development, application analysis, business analysis, technical project management, systems consulting and enterprise architecture.

Pending the signing of a lease for the property and the completion and renovation of an existing 32,000 sq. ft facility at Stereame Business Park, hiring will commence for the opening of the centre later this year, with occupancy expected in 2017.

Tom Higgins, First Data’s chief administration officer, said that his firm had always enjoyed close collaboration with authorities in Ireland, and has benefitted the country’s “extraordinarily talented and diverse workforce”.

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He added: “We are looking forward to expanding our presence in Ireland with this new facility in Nenagh, County Tipperary, which will house some of our most advanced research work in payments technology.”