Jaguar Land Rover woos programmers hit by big tech layoffs • The Register

Jaguar Land Rover, the famous British automaker, is trying to fill a long list of tech and engineering jobs by appealing to the victims of Silicon Valley’s recent round of layoffs.

In a statement released on Friday, the company – owned by Indian conglomerate Tata Group since 2008 – said it aims to fill vacancies by launching a new job portal for laid-off tech workers to “explore career opportunities and offer hybrid work patterns.” . “

Roles it is looking to fill include those in autonomous driving, artificial intelligence, electrification, cloud software, data science, machine learning and more. The company said in the statement it is “becoming a digital-first and data-driven organization.”

The overtures come when tech industry workers bleed. Facebook owner Meta is laying off more than 11,000 employees, thousands have left Twitter, and Amazon says it could cut 10,000 corporate and tech jobs.

Website Layoffs.fyi estimates that more than 118,000 workers have been laid off at more than 760 tech companies this year as company valuations fell and market conditions became more difficult.

“We continue to strengthen our data foundation and digital capability base to execute our Reimagine strategy to become an electric-first company by 2025 and achieve net-zero carbon by 2039,” said JLR.

But JLR chief information officer Anthony Battle said the automaker lacks an overlapping set of capabilities. “Our digital transformation journey is well underway, but recruiting a highly skilled digital workforce is an important next step. We are excited to offer opportunities to talented individuals with digital skills.”

Meanwhile, Dave Nesbitt, director of JLR’s digital product platform, said the company is developing some of the most digitally advanced vehicles he’s “ever seen.”

Jaguar was founded in Blackburn in 1922 as the Swallow Car Company. After World War II, it changed its name to Jaguar before designing and manufacturing a range of classic cars, including the E-Type, powered by the Swinging Sixties caricature Austin Powers and in the cult film of the 1970s Harold and Maude.

Land Rover began as part of the Rover Company with the original four wheel drive SUV manufactured in 1947. As part of BMW and Ford, the company went on to build the Range Rover, which became a luxury SUV brand famous for carrying basketball superstar Michael Jordan in the 1990s and the late Queen Elizabeth, at least for a time without a license.

For tech pros who’ve seen enough of the startup scene, JLR might offer an opportunity to experience a bit of history. ®