Wattpad’s Halifax Headquarters To Grow As Naver Completes Acquisition
HALIFAX – Publishing platform Wattpad‘s finalized acquisition by South Korea’s leading Internet company Naver will accelerate the company’s growth, with many new roles at its Halifax headquarters.
The company’s acquisition by NAVER sets up Wattpad to grow faster than ever by growing its global user base and creating more opportunities for writers to build a following and make money.
Wattpad will grow its teams by nearly 50 percent this year, adding close to 100 new roles in engineering, marketing, content, and other parts of the company to continue to execute its vision to entertain and connect the world through stories.
Most of the roles will be in Canada and hires are made based on talent rather than location, with many now cross-posted between Toronto and Halifax with the best candidate going to the closest headquarters.
“Our Halifax location has never just been a second office for us,” said Kiel Hume, Wattpad’s Director of PR & Communications. “It’s always been intended to be a true second headquarters and the amount of growth and activity we’re seeing, I think is a great example of that.”
Despite the pandemic and unexpected renovations to its Volta offices, the Halifax Wattpad headquarters continued to grow while working remotely. Currently, there are 16 people at Wattpad’s Halifax office, which is expected to grow to at least 20 people by the summer and potentially even more through the end of 2021.
“We’re growing in every, every part of our business,” he added. “I think you’re going to see the biggest growth in our data and engineering teams, where we’re doing an enormous amount of hiring this year, but there’s going to be roles open for all different types of positions.”
Wattpad had hoped to create a minimum of 88 jobs at the Halifax headquarters in its first five years. With nearly 20 employees currently hired, the company has reached nearly 23 percent of its goal in just under a year.
“We’re really feeling great about how the team is taking shape there and just the pipeline of incredible talent, between the different schools in the region, different startups is taking shape,” he said. “We’re finding a really strong pipeline of candidates and filling those roles really quickly.
Two of Wattpad’s Toronto employees have already taken the opportunity to move to Halifax.
“One was a gentleman who was from the Atlantic region who was thrilled with the opportunity to go back to the region and be part of that team,” said Hume. “Then we had another gentleman who moved his entire family from here in Toronto to Halifax – he just loved the city and was really excited for the opportunity to go and live there.”