BBVA aims to incorporate over 2,600 technology experts in 2023
The financial institution is launching a new job portal to attract people with technological backgrounds in the different countries where it has a presence. The Group expects to end 2023 with over 2,600 new hires of this type of professionals, 1,000 of which will be in Spain.
In recent years, technological talent (engineers, physicists, mathematicians and experts in artificial intelligence or data management) have become one of the most sought after professionals in the labor market. In light of the challenge of recruiting and incorporating tech talent, BBVA has created a new job portal with the aim of not only being able to show available positions, but also to demonstrate to people with these technological backgrounds all the opportunities the bank offers STEM talent.
“We have segmented value propositions that are allowing us to provide our candidates what they expect to find in large companies like ours. We offer a long career path, with a flexible work model, a training program at the highest level and a strong commitment to diversity, inclusion, and the physical and mental well-being of our professionals,” explained Pedro J. Méndez, Global Head of Talent and Culture in the Engineering area at BBVA. “We also know that there are aspects that are important specifically for tech talent, such as participating in challenging projects or working with the latest technologies,” he added.
In fact, in the new online portal, it is employees in the Engineering and Data areas who explain firsthand the opportunities that their current job provides in terms of learning, international mobility, use of the latest technologies, professional development and flexibility. “They will also find in this space information on the technological projects that BBVA carries out in the fields of development and architecture, security and infrastructure, as well as in the data field,” the director noted
The candidates can access information on BBVA’s awards and recognitions in the technology area and the major technological partners with which the Group collaborates: AWS, Google, Microsoft, IBM, Telefónica, Cisco or Salesforce, among others. “BBVA is much more than a bank, it is technology,” he summarized.
More than 2,600 tech positions
With the help of this portal, the Group aims to hire over 2,600 professionals from the STEM field throughout 2023, 1,000 of which will be in Spain. Of this total amount foreseen for 2023, 1,200 have already joined the bank so far this year (500 in Spain). “The profiles that we need the most for the Engineering area are software developers and data engineers, followed by experts in security, infrastructure and architecture,” Méndez explained. The profiles available for the Data area are in the data science and artificial intelligence field.
BBVA currently has approximately 22,000 STEM professionals globally, which represents approximately 19 percent of the total workforce. One year ago, the bank launched a global software unit that brings together over 16,000 developers and is allowing the bank to accelerate the creation of digital solutions and their scalability among the countries where it operates. In addition, the bank reinforced its commitment to data and technology with the creation of two technological hubs in Bilbao to host its BBVA IT and BBVA Next Technologies units - two companies that are in charge of developing, maintaining and evolving the systems and applications of the bank in Spain and advanced architecture in Cloud technologies, security and data..
On the data side, the bank has more than 3,000 professionals working on engineering and data science following the momentum generated by projects related to artificial intelligence and the opening of an AI Factory center in Mexico. “At the end of 2022, we added over 3,600 technological professionals, 1,000 of this amount in Spain. It is a trend we expect to maintain throughout this year,” he stated.
Employees help to add talent
In order to respond to these plans for growth in the technology field, BBVA has launched an internal referral program through which employees can suggest candidates for technological vacancies. The referred person participates in the selection process on an equal level as all other candidates and if they eventually join the company, the employee who suggested the candidate can be compensated with up to €2,000 per referral. “It is a way to involve all of our professionals in the bank’s objectives. Therefore, the employees participate in addressing one of the Group’s priorities to build the best, most committed team,” Méndez concluded.