• Interview by:
  • Ana Marcela
Interview

‘We have a committed ram up of up to 800 people by 2025’ – Airbus

The company is studying locations for satellite hubs in different areas of the country with educational institutions and access to talent.

Airbus wants to strengthen the team with 300 more people and, in the fourth quarter, move the aeronautics company’s Lisbon hub to Parque das Nações. A new space to host the company’s ambitious growth plan for Portugal: “We have a committed ram of up to 800 people by 2025.”

After last year Airbus started up its Global Business Services Centre in Lisbon, today the hub already employs 130 professionals of 21 nationalities. The aim is, already this year, to hire more 300 professionals, but in the plans is the move to a new building in the Oriente area of Lisbon, and the company is studying other potential satellite offices in other parts of the country.

“We may open some satellite offices in other Portuguese medium sized cities where there are very good higher education institutions (Universities and Polytechnics) and schools with many talented people,” Charles Huguet, managing director of Airbus GBS, says to ECO.

The future employees will find a hybrid working model and “an attractive salary package and an extensive range of benefits that promote personal and professional well-being,” highlights the managing director.

“We are in Portugal to put down roots, to be one of the best employers, attracting talents who want to grow with us, who want to be part of the Airbus family. We want to grow in and with Portugal,” he guarantees.

You are getting ready to move forward with an action to recruit more than 300 people for the hub in Lisbon. What motivated this decision? What new services/markets will be served from Lisbon?

Airbus identified the need to create an international development platform that would align company standards worldwide under a single roof, connect processes end-to-end and coordinate tools in order to improve the efficiency of support services.

Airbus has had a strong growing bilateral relationship with Portugal for more than 50 years. Lisbon came out as the clear “hotspot” for Europe, fulfilling all the requirements: available experts/talents, demonstrated local GBS ecosystem, accessible, attractive, stable, GDPR compatible and a favorable labor environment. From our Global Business Services Center, we are hiring in the areas of Finance, HR, Procurement, Information Management, Engineering, Communication, Customer Services, Legal and Compliance.

What profiles are you looking for?

We are looking for people with the ambition to work in the aerospace leading company and the desire to grow with us. Airbus is a world of opportunities, and Airbus GBS may be a starting point for bigger ambitions. By joining Airbus in Portugal, people are not just joining a new GBS, they are joining the family of the worldwide leader, proud of its strong European roots.

We are hiring many different profiles – interns, juniors, specialists, seniors, experts, team leaders or managers. The main focus is in the areas of Finance, HR, Procurement, Information Management, Engineering, Communication, Customer Services, Legal and Compliance.

Is the focus still on local (resident) talent or is teleworking expanding the recruitment pool for the Lisbon hub to other geographies?

We are looking for people who have the ambition and skills to be part of the Airbus family and to grow together with the company regardless of their location or nationality. Our main hub for Airbus GBS is in Lisbon and we already have 21 different nationalities in our team.

Is the focus on face-to-face work, a hybrid model? What model will employees find?

Airbus is focused on providing a good working environment and a healthy work-life balance for the benefit of the best employee experience worldwide, which is why it has a global hybrid working model that was put in place when the pandemic started in 2020. This is now our reality and that is what employees will find by joining Airbus GBS in Lisbon.

The demand for talent is on the rise. What salary and benefits strategy is Airbus pursuing to win the race for talent?

We are aware of the competition for talents and this is why we have set up our compensation and benefits policy that has enabled us to attract more than 170 people to join us over the past 8 months.

Airbus’ Global Business Services Centre in Portugal offers an attractive salary package, and a full range of benefits for professional and personal wellbeing, including health insurance, life insurance, success sharing and an employee share owner plan (ESOP).

There is also an employee assistance programme that offers support in different areas, such as legal, finance and childcare. Training and development is also in place and is provided by the international Airbus Leadership University. To help support the work/life balance, Airbus offers a flexible working policy. International mobility is also available.

The hub will accommodate over 400 people. Are there plans to move to a new space? When? And what investment will this imply?

We are expected to move to a new office in Parque das Nações in the Q4 of 2022, right next to Gare do Oriente, with all the public transport available and near the airport. It’s a brand new sustainable building with more than 4000m2 for collaboration areas and a terrace of more than 1000m2.

It is a significant and strategic investment from Airbus to secure the best possible workplace and employee experience for the new talents that we are looking to onboard in the next months. We are not stopping here, as we have a committed ram up of up to 800 people by 2025.

We are in Portugal to put down roots, to be one of the best employers, attracting talents who want to grow with us, who want to be part of the Airbus family. We want to grow in and with Portugal.

And are there plans to install additional hubs in the country? In new locations?

We are looking into that option, as Portugal is full of talented people all over the country. The main hub will remain in Lisbon, however we may open some satellite offices in other Portuguese medium sized cities where there are very good higher education institutions (Universities and Polytechnics) and schools with many talented people.

With this most recent bet — hiring more than 300 people — what amount of investment has Airbus already channeled to the domestic market?

For the implementation of Airbus GBS, we are making a significant investment for job creations and the real estate facility, including systems. Beyond this strategic financial investment, our main assets are people, in which we invest a lot to help them grow.

  • Ana Marcela