Cambridge seems to be the place to be if you are embarking on a career in semiconductor, systems or software design.
Start-ups on the numerous science parks in and around Cambridge accounted for 30 per cent of the UK’s total venture capital investment in the first three months of the year.
Electronics companies are attracting a significant proportion of that investment which in turn usually translates into new project teams and recruitment. Two of the biggest recent venture deals included Cambridge-based printed electronics firm
Plastic Logic and Cambridge Broadband.
Cambridge Consultants is this month starting a major expansion of its Cambridge-based design teams over the next five years.
The design firm has a target of recruiting 150 staff at a new facility in Cambridge and Alan Richardson, deputy CEO at
Cambridge Consultants, is confident he can find experienced designers in the Cambridge area.
“There are now more than 35,000 people working in technology businesses in the Cambridgeshire area,” says Richardson. “Last year we added 40 staff in Cambridge and over half of those were recruited locally.”
Wireless semiconductor company Icera is another design firm recognising the importance of the Cambridge area. The Bristol-based company has opened a development centre in Cambridge, where a team of up to 25 wireless comms designers will work on protocol stack and system software for the 3GPP mobile systems including 3G and HSPA.
“Cambridge is the UK’s largest centre for embedded wireless software development and our new team there will be leading protocol stack development at the cutting edge of cellular wireless technology,” says
Icera president and CEO Stan Boland.
In its search for design engineers Cambridge Consultants holds regular open days. The last open day in March focused specifically on wireless design engineers. The company’s approach was notably flexible and accessible. Potential candidates were asked to pop in to the office on the Cambridge Science Park or simply discuss career opportunities over the phone.
Another local company which is doing well is
Nujira. It designs high efficiency power amplifier systems for wideband-CDMA, DVB and WiMAX wireless infrastructure. With customers such as Alcatel, Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung and Sony, Nujira has attracted some attention this year as one of Europe’s most impressive rising stars.