Continental wants 500 people at the technology and development center in Porto

When the company decided to install its engineering center in Circunvalação in 2019, Continental expected to have 300 employees. Two years later, Continental reviewed the needs and announced the hiring of 400 more engineers until 2025.

Continental Engineering Services Portugal already employs one hundred engineers and another 150 are expected to join by the end of the year. The company's goal is to reach 500 by 2025. To this effect, there are open vacancies for software engineers, embedded SW engineers, hardware engineers, systems engineers, cybersecurity specialists, penetration testers, and full-stack developers.

In the statement, the director of engineering services at Continental guarantees that "two years later, we are a team of 100 employees and I can say that we made an excellent bet in investing in Porto, where we found a young, committed and a highly motivated team to face up to the technological challenges ahead". And these challenges, which now lead to the reinforcement of hiring, are related to the "high demand for the development of solutions for the automotive sector, industry 4.0 and needs in the area of ​​ cybersecurity".

Jochen Diehm highlights at Continental Engineering Services Portugal "the innovative projects in the automotive sector, the intercultural environment – ​​joint projects in different locations –, the flexibility and career opportunities in view of the expected growth".

After "almost six years of exchanging information, studies, analysis and negotiations", the German group chose Porto to install its engineering and services center, stressing that the location would be useful for the development of "solutions for the next era mobility, such as electric vehicles or autonomous driving”, as well as for research and development of solutions in the area of ​​cybersecurity.

The proximity to the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto was also taken into account, as the technological development center wants to privilege the connection with the academic world.

According to Pedro Carreira, manager of Continental Mabor, "we have opened a door to young graduates in Portugal, as all employees of Continental Engineering Services are highly qualified".

Quoted by the Público newspaper at the time of the announcement, the director of engineering services at Continental confessed that the group was "proud to expand activities to Porto and build a team of excellence." "I am confident that this new location will be the pillar of our success in the future,” stated Jochen Diehm.

Since Continental's main business in Portugal is the production of tires and having recently invested around one hundred million euros in a factory in Lousado, the focus of the technology center in Porto is on the development of new products, boosting the diversification of the multinational's business.