London-based SmartStream Technologies says it will open a customer service center in Jacksonville in early 2020.
SmartStream is a financial software and managed services provider.
It has more than 1,500 clients, including BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Northern Trust and Nasdaq. It was founded in 2000.
It will lease 6,908 square feet of space at Enterprise Park at 4190 Belfort Road.
Scott Henley, senior vice president of global corporate services with Newmark Phoenix Realty Co., represented SmartStream in the site search and lease negotiations.
SmartStream operates a U.S. headquarters in New York City and has offices in 17 countries.
Chief Marketing Officer Mark Roth said the Jacksonville customer service center will start with 20 employees, with plans to grow the staff “exponentially.”
The 20 employees will be a mix of relocated personnel and new hires.
According to job postings on its website, it has several openings on its reconciliations team, and an opening for a senior application support analyst.
“Being in the tech field, we’ve heard from a lot of people that it’s a great place to open up a center,” Roth said. “There’s a big talent pool, it’s a place that people want to live, it’s easy to attract talent. It’s really up-and-coming.”
After it is established, Roth said the company would look to area universities, including the University of North Florida and Jacksonville University, for talent.
Roth said the company doesn’t often open customer service centers. He said the expansion into Jacksonville can be attributed to the company’s growth as a whole. He wouldn’t disclose the company’s sales.
“This has been a year of unprecedented growth,” he said. “I can say that we have grown by virtually every measure more so than any past year. That’s one of the reasons we realized we have got to (expand).”