BBVA plans to hire 2,700 technology professionals in 2024

BBVA has been implementing various plans and initiatives over the past three years to attract the best technology talent (engineers, mathematicians, experts in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and data management), some of the most in-demand fields in the labor market. Digitization has been one of the pillars of the bank’s strategy for over a decade now. Evolution of the value propositions has entailed transforming processes and technology. It is therefore necessary to put people at the center, attract and engage the best talent and put the latest technologies and tools at their disposal.

For this reason, at the end of the year 2021, BBVA launched a new global software development division that includes more than 16,000 developers from the entire Group. In the framework of this structure, the bank hired 3,279 people in 2022, 1,008 of which were in Spain.

In 2023, BBVA hired over 3,908 people in STEM fields, or for data and engineering areas. Of this amount, 1,259 people were hired for areas in Spain. And the bank went a step further, reinventing software development with ONE, a project through which the engineers work in a collaborative, coordinated manner, sharing best practices from the bank and the industry. In addition,  BBVA Technology was established in Europe - a new company that unites the Group’s three technology companies: BBVA Next Technologies, BBVA IT España and Datio. And in 2024, the bank reinforced its brand with the launch of BBVA Technology in the Americas.

In addition, last year the bank set up a new job portal to attract people with a background in technology in the various countries where the bank has a presence.  The goal of this job portal is to publish the technology vacancies and present the possibilities the bank offers to people with a background in technology and STEM fields. With the help of this portal, BBVA aims to hire approximately 2,700 technology experts this year.

In the engineering area, software developers and data engineers continue to be the most in demand, followed by security, infrastructure and architecture experts. In this regard, Pedro J. Méndez, Head of Talent and Culture for the Engineering area at BBVA, noted that: “Architecture, data, cybersecurity and infrastructure are the areas in which the most people have been hired over the past year.”

Talent is one of the essential pillars of the Engineering area’s strategy, which is based on developing a unique model with a career plan and personalized training. “A long-term career plan is offered, with a flexible work model, the training programs at the highest level, a commitment to diversity, inclusion and the physical and mental well-being of all professionals,” explained the Head of Talent and Culture for the Engineering area. Furthermore, these professionals work with cutting-edge technologies from BBVA’s main strategic technology partners on challenging projects in fields, such as development and architecture, security, fraud, infrastructure and data.

The Engineering area has a unique way of detecting talent, offering challenges that allow people to grow both professionally and personally by identifying the drivers of skill development. “We identify technical skills in order to understand the knowledge we have. Through various big data and artificial intelligence techniques, we define an entire upskilling, or skill enhancement, system,” Pedro J. Méndez explained.

Without a doubt, a company of BBVA’s magnitude offers diverse challenges and opportunities to develop the full technical potential, regardless of the field, with state-of-the-art tools and technologies and numerous far-reaching projects in which continuous learning is guaranteed. In addition, the flexibility and mobility of people are the keystone of the strategy, and technology is the driver to bring the age of opportunity to everyone.