COMPUTER GIANT Hewlett Packard is to create 105 jobs at its facility in Galway in a variety of roles.

The jobs – which will add to its existing workforce in Ballybrit – focus on enterprise data architecture and will include roles in software engineering, testing and development.

Hiring for the new posts will begin immediately, the firm said.

RTÉ quotes enterprise minister Batt O’Keeffe as saying the Galway plant had been chosen for expansion because of its importance to R&D at HP’s global operations.

The highly-skilled positions will include engineering jobs from graduate to PhD levels, with 70 positions to be filled immediately.

HP Ireland’s managing director Martin Murphy said the company was “thrilled to be able to secure these jobs for Ireland as they speak hugely to the esteem in which the Irish skill set and capability is regarded within the HP community.”

The investment is being supported, the Irish Times adds, by IDA Ireland.

The announcement comes just two months after HP created 120 jobs at its facilities at Clonskeagh in Dublin. HP employs over 4,000 people at its Irish operations in Kildare, Dublin, Galway and Belfast.