Talent, transportation and still-secret government incentives is bringing financial technology company Deluxe Corp. to town with more than 700 jobs, according to president and CEO Barry McCarthy.
“We’re very confident that the Sandy Springs area and the [Ga.] 400 corridor in particular would be fertile ground for us to hire and develop talent,” McCarthy said in an interview.
Minnesota-based Deluxe announced in September that it will open a “FinTech and Customer Innovation Center” sometime next year at 5565 Glenridge Connector. Deluxe say it will hire 709 people at an average salary of $91,000.
McCarthy said that fintech is “the underlying technology that enables commerce of every kind,” from swiping a credit card to applying for a mortgage.
Deluxe is more than 100 years old and was best known for its founder, W.R. Hotchkin, creating the checkbook, which changed the payment system forever.
“We still print checks, and we ship about 150,000 packages every day, but it’s less than 40% of our company’s revenue,” McCarthy said.
Earlier this year, Deluxe reorganized around four businesses: payments, cloud solutions, promotional solutions and its legacy check systems.
McCarthy said during the reorganization, the company realized it needed to hire more people skilled in fintech and payments, and began a national search.
“Georgia quickly went to the top of that list,” he said.
That’s because Georgia is a global fintech capital, with 70% of all payment volume passing through a company headquartered in the state or with a meaningful presence here. Other factors included the University System of Georgia establishing the FinTech Academy and the Technology Association of Georgia having 40,000 paying members in technology in Georgia.
The Perimeter Center area was an attractive location, McCarthy said, due to its community amenities and easy access to Ga. 400, I-285 and MARTA stations. “And then it got down to the specific property in specific geographies or specific addresses, and the Sandy Springs site went to the top of the list for a number of factors,” McCarthy said.
Then there was the package of tax breaks and other incentives offered by the state and the city. McCathy said he isn’t at liberty to release the amount yet. The City Council previously authorized a package of tax exemptions and fee waivers worth up to $255,000.
“We put all those things together with a great building, with spectacular views, you know, [and a] great all-around economic package. It became the obvious choice for us going forward,” McCarthy said.
Deluxe will hire people in the fields of product management, product development, application development, artificial intelligence, machine learning, data analytics and positions that support those areas. McCarthy said employees suited to those roles will have degrees from technical colleges and master’s degrees or doctorates.