Online payments business Stripe adds more jobs to Irish hub

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Digital payments processor Stripe Inc will add hundreds of new engineering jobs in Dublin over the next three years, the United States' most valuable technology startup said on Thursday.

The new roles are in addition to 1,000 jobs the company said it would create in Ireland over the next five years when Ireland's sovereign wealth fund was part of a funding round that lifted Stripe's valuation to $95 billion in March.

Founded by Irish brothers Patrick and John Collison in San Francisco, Stripe in 2018 set up its first engineering centre outside of the United States in the Irish capital, where Facebook, Google and other technology giants have based their European headquarters.

Stripe's earlier job announcement contributed to employment growth among multinationals in Ireland returning towards pre-coronavirus pandemic 2019 levels in the first six months of 2021.

Ireland's economy is hugely reliant on multinational firms, which employ around one-in-eight workers in the country.

(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Susan Fenton)