Customer Service Center for Tech Firms Bringing 695 Jobs to ABQ

TaskUs, a provider of outsourced customer support and other services for companies like MailChimp and Tinder, announced Wednesday it will open an office in downtown Albuquerque and hire 695 employees over five years.
The company is headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif., and currently has offices in California, Texas, Mexico and the Philippines. Its Albuquerque outpost will be located in First Plaza at 200 Third St. NW, a building the company will spend $9 million improving, according to information provided by officials.
Last month, a city commission approved an incentive package for TaskUs comprising $2 million from the state’s Local Economic Development Act fund, $1 million from the city’s closing fund and an industrial revenue bond package that functions as a property tax break. The deal is expected to come before City Council in September.
TaskUs CEO Bryce Maddock told the Journal he is confident city officials will approve the incentives and is excited to break ground on the project in October. He said the office will include an arcade room and a nap and meditation space.
“We like creative offices that mirror our Silicon Valley customers,” Maddock said at a press conference announcing the jobs.
Economic development officials said New Mexico beat out Utah, Nevada and Texas for the project. Maddock remarked at the conference that Albuquerque was chosen because of its low cost of living, the availability of direct flights out of the Albuquerque International Sunport, and pool of college students from the University of New Mexico and Central New Mexico Community College, among other attributes.
Gov. Susana Martinez called the project proof that New Mexico “is not just a fly-over state now; (companies) are actually looking at us as a place for business.”
Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said that between TaskUs and recent job announcements from health care company CareNet and technology startup Lavu, about 1,000 new jobs are coming to downtown Albuquerque.
Maddock said TaskUs will begin hiring management for the Albuquerque office at the end of the year, and other employees at the beginning of 2019. He did not have a salary range for the jobs, but said most of positions will be in either customer service or “content security”– more specifically, ensuring user-submitted content and advertising complies with a website’s terms of service.
Annemarie Ciepiela Henton, Albuquerque Economic Development’s vice president of business development and marketing, said in an email that TaskUs visited Albuquerque multiple times over the past year and interviewed 18 Albuquerque-based employers before making their decision.
By: Marie C. Baca (ABQ Journal)
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