Rocket Flair Studios is best known for the ancient Egyptian city-building game Dynasty of the Sands, which is available on PC.
Start-up based in Belfast that develops video games 14 new positions will be created at Rocket Flair Studios, covering full-stack and front-end development, lighting and animation engineering, and quality assurance.
Invest Northern Ireland has provided the company £98,000 in funding to help create the positions, eight of which are already in place.
Following the completion of a multimillion-pound contract with an unnamed worldwide games developer, the company announced its employment plans. In order to fulfill its contract with the games producer, the start-up will invest £700,000 in its operations in addition to hiring additional employees.
In 2017, Rocket Flair Studios opened its doors in Belfast. It focuses on creating specialty city-builder games for PC using immersive technologies such as AR and VR. Dynasty of the Sands, a legendary ancient Egypt city-building game, was created by it.
“We are delighted that our innovative products have led us to secure a multimillion-pound contract with a prominent global games developer,” said the start-up’s managing director, James Bradley.
“This is a huge step forward for us, especially as 94pc of the sales from the project will be in markets outside Northern Ireland. This will bolster our reputation globally.”
Bradley noted that the company approached Invest Northern Ireland in 2020 when it was still a six-person team. Rocket Flair Studios was able to increase its staff thanks to the agency's help, he said, giving it "the capacity and specialist skills to secure and deliver this contract."
“We now hope to make our plans to create a centre of expertise for strategy-based PC games in Northern Ireland a reality,” he added.
Susan O’Kane, Invest NI’s eastern regional manager, said that the gaming start-up “really understands the global gaming industry and has created a niche with Dynasty of the Sands, which it has received worldwide recognition for”, and that securing a multimillion-pound contract at such an early stage in its business is a “significant achievement”.
She added that the Invest NI team is continuing to work closely with Bradley and Rocket Flair Studios to “help deliver a strategic plan for the company to progress at pace and scale”.
Ards & North Down Borough Council have 2 key vacancies this month. They are recruiting for an Assistant Regeneration Officer and a Business Researcher. You’ll find out more and how to apply for these jobs on the link below.
Location: Bangor
Salary: £20k-£30k
Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon Borough Council are recruiting for 3 vacancies in March. They are looking for a Senior Planning Officer £35k-£45k, a Corporate Project Manager £30k-£40k and Technical Assistant £20k-£30k. Check out the full list of jobs to see if there is something for you.
Location: Banbridge
Salary: Varied see above
Belfast City Council is currently recruiting for the following roles: Housing Officer £30k-£40k, Grants Officer £30k-£40k and Project Officer £30k-£40k. They are also looking for an Area Intervention Officer £40k-£50k to work in wider University and Lower Ormeau Area. View the latest job opportunities on nijobfinder today.
Location: Belfast
Salary: varied
Derry City and Strabane District Council have 3 jobs available in March. The first role is for a Business & Investment Project Officer with a salary of £30k-£40k. They then have 2 legal roles – a Solicitor £30k-£40k and a Junior Solicitor £20k-£30k. See more details on nijobfinder.
Location: Derry City
Salary: varied
Mid and East Antrim Borough Council based in Ballymena are looking for a Communications and Media Relations Officer and are offering a salary of between £30k and £40k. For more details click on the link below.
Location: Ballymena
Salary: £30k-£40k
Newry, Mourne & Down District Council has 2 jobs listed this month, both based in Newry/Downpatrick. The first one is a for a Skills & Employability Manager and the second one is for a Skills & Employability Officer. Both roles have a salary band of £30k-£40k. Find out more on the link below.
Location: Newry / Downpatrick
Salary: £30k-£40k
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Last month, the number of employees in Northern Ireland reached a new high of 777,300, indicating that the employment market rebound following Covid-19 is taking root.
According to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, the number of employment paid through the PAYE system increased by 5.4 percent year on year and 0.5 percent in February (Nisra).
Employee numbers were up 3.3 percent from March 2020, marking the ninth month in a row that they were higher than pre-pandemic levels.
Overall employment levels, including self-employed people, as well as total hours worked, have not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels, according to Nisra.
HMRC PAYE statistics also revealed that, at £1,904 per month, workers' median monthly income had declined by £35 over the month, but was up £113 over the year.
Separate figures from the labor force survey indicated that unemployment and employment rates remained stable from November to January, at 2.7 percent and 70.4 percent, respectively.
The rate of economic inactivity – defined as individuals who are neither working nor seeking for job – remained stable at 27.5 percent.
The number of people receiving unemployment benefits was 39,600, or 4% of the workforce, down 900 from January's revised total.
It was also 38% lower than the pre-pandemic total of March 2020, but 30% higher than the pandemic era peak of May 2020.
In February, 40 individuals were laid off, bringing the total number of verified layoffs for the year to 2,070, a reduction of 64% from the previous year.
In February, 210 people were nominated for layoffs, for a total of 2,040 in the year to February, an 81 percent decrease from the previous year.
In December, a separate measure of employee jobs – which is less up to date than the HMRC PAYE statistics – reached a new record of 782,450, up 12,290 jobs year on year and 2,850 jobs quarter on quarter.
The number of jobs in the services industry reached a new high in December, with 636,290. In the three months leading up to December, the sector created almost 2,000 new positions, including 900 construction jobs.
However, in the quarter ending in December 2021, there were 290 fewer manufacturing employment.
In the year to December, both the private and public sectors added jobs, with the private sector adding 563,940 positions and the public sector adding 217,790.
For November to January, the number of weekly hours worked was anticipated to be 26.9 million, down 3.2 percent from the previous quarter.
