Chicago-based online payments technology company Braintree is looking for a few good engineers — or maybe 150 of them.þþThe company said Monday it is planning to triple its workforce during the next couple of years, hiring at least 150 people as it accommodates an expanding customer base of startups and high-growth firms. Braintree's technology, which handles services such as credit card payment processing and secure storage of credit card data, works behind the scenes at companies such as daily deals provider LivingSocial, ÿAngry Birdsÿ maker Rovio and restaurant reservation service OpenTable.þþBraintree executives announced their hiring plans alongside Mayor Rahm Emanuel at the company's new West Loop headquarters. The firm, founded in 2007 by University of Chicago Booth School of Business graduate Bryan Johnson, had 20 employees a year ago and now has more than 60. It also opened an office in Menlo Park, Calif., earlier this summer with about 10 employees to be closer to customers in Silicon Valley and the Bay Area.þþThe Chicago office can accommodate more than 200 people, said Chief Executive Bill Ready. He said the company is looking for a range of engineers, from young graduates to professionals with 10 or more years of experience. Candidates should show ÿgreat ability and high aptitude and a high willingness to dig in and learn,ÿ Ready said, adding that this potential is more important than experience.þþBraintree's hiring announcement comes on the heels of last week's news that Motorola Mobility, the smartphone-maker acquired by Google in May, will move its headquarters and 3,000 employees from its longtime Libertyville campus to the Merchandise Mart. The mayor is seeking to turn Chicago into a high-tech hub that will attract engineering graduates from area universities. This is a goal shared by local startups, including Braintree, which is seeking to build deeper connections with schools such as the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Northwestern University and the University of Chicago.þþÿMany of the graduates of those programs end up choosing to go to the West Coast,ÿ Ready said. ÿWe see them as we hire in our Menlo Park office. We'd rather see them here first.ÿþþBraintree processes more than $4 billion in annual credit card billings from more than 2,000 merchants, having more than tripled its transaction volume during 2011. Last year, the company raised $34 million in its first round of funding from Accel Partners, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm that has also invested in Groupon, Facebook and Kayak.þþÿEvery startup I know says they could grow faster if they had more engineers,ÿ Ready said. ÿThe biggest limit to our growth is finding enough capable, talented engineers quickly enough.ÿþþBoth Emanuel and Ready mentioned PayPal as an example of a company that could have put down roots in the Chicago area had the tech community been more robust. The online payments pioneer was co-founded in Silicon Valley more than a decade ago by Max Levchin, a graduate of the U. of I.'s computer science program. Many of the company's founders and early employees, known informally as the ÿPayPal Mafia,ÿ were fellow U. of I. alumni who have started other marquee tech companies such as YouTube and Yelp.þþÿTen years ago, Braintree could not have succeeded in the city of Chicago,ÿ Emanuel said Monday. ÿPayPal chose a different route.ÿþþThe PayPal example has particular resonance for Braintree because both firms are building technology in the online payments industry.þþÿThe payments platform started here in Chicago,ÿ Ready said, adding: ÿThousands of jobs that PayPal created in the Bay Area should have been in the Chicago area, had Max found the support he needed.ÿþþTribune reporter Kristen Mack contributed.
Source: Chicago Tribune
