TECH GIANT MICROSOFT has announced further investment in Ireland with the creation of 200 new jobs.

The news comes as the company grows its inside sales operation in Europe, the Middle East and Africa from its Dublin base.

The company wants applications for technical and solution sales specialists, as well as candidates with language capabilities, to expand its selling across those continents.

The 200 new jobs follow on from 600 announced in February of this year. To date, Microsoft said it had filled 80% of these new jobs.

Once these latest positions have been filled, it will bring the total number of Microsoft employees in Ireland to 2,000. The company said it hopes to fill all these jobs by the end of the year.

The company’s operations are based in Sandyford, south Dublin.

Cathriona Hallahan, the managing director of Microsoft Ireland, said that the company’s inside sales performance in Dublin “ensures that [it is] in a strong position when [it seeks] to attract further investment to Ireland”.

Lisa Dillon, the managing director of EMEA inside sales, added that further recruitment was indicative of the “quality of the applicants” that applied when the new jobs were announced in February.

In July, it emerged the tech giant would be cutting thousands of jobs worldwide, but sources told TheJournal.ie that the effect on Irish jobs would be minimal.

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