The booming Birmingham founded business, Shipt announced Thursday that they will be keeping their headquarters in the Magic City, adding 881 new jobs in the area within the next few years.
“Shipt was founded and has flourished in Birmingham, and we would not have reached the success we have today without the continued support of this community,” CEO Bill Smith said. “As a rapidly growing technology company, we feel fortunate to be able to offer an avenue for creating highly skilled jobs within Birmingham.
Tuesday night the Birmingham City Council unanimously approved a new incentives package under which the company must not only add jobs, but also implement the City’s newly developed Talent Investment Program (TIP), Talent Acceleration Program (TAP), and Talent Optimization Program (TOP) as part of the incentives package.
The City will provide incentives of up to $1,762,000.00, payable over a term of up to five years on the basis of $2,000.00 per each new employee, with such funding to be used by Shipt, Inc. as reimbursement for the cost of implementing TIP, TAP and TOP.
“With this development package, we’ll be able to deepen our roots in our hometown, helping establish Birmingham as a center of technology and innovation not only in the South, but also within the United States,” Smith continued.
Shipt already employs over 300 people in the Birmingham area – not including it’s shoppers. The 881 new jobs will be highly-skilled, highly paid positions, mostly in high-tech functions including software development and data processing. Smith said the company expects to add 50,000 shoppers by the end of the year, bringing the total number of shoppers up to 100,000.
“Shipt represents the innovation, ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit that is defining a new generation of builders in Birmingham, and we are proud that Shipt calls our city home,” Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said.
Governor Kay Ivey joined executives at Shipt headquarters in Birmingham for the announcement; “By simplifying life with innovative technology for personalized grocery delivery, Shipt is positioned for rapid growth,” Ivey said. “The ideal location for this growth is its hometown of Birmingham, and we’re committed to helping the company develop and attract the talent it needs to fuel its expansion plans in Alabama’s ‘Magic City.’”
Woodfin posted a video of the announcement Thursday morning on Facebook.
