Rapid7, a leader in Belfast’s burgeoning technology scene since 2014, recently celebrated its 10 year anniversary with company festivities and reflections from team members who have witnessed the momentum achieved since setting up in the city.
Rapid7’s global leadership joined the 500-plus member Belfast team to mark this prestigious milestone moment in the local office’s history, enjoying various off-site team-building excursions and on-site celebrations.
Chris Wallace, Director of People Strategy, was first on the ground of the Belfast operation. As he reflects on the progress made over the past decade, he is in awe of all that the award-winning cybersecurity company has achieved.
Chris tells Sync NI: “When I think back to the original plan the company had in 2013, it was to set up a moderately-sized office, which would grow to around 70 staff members.
“To sit here 10 years later and look at what we have grown into, with our 500-strong staff and a state-of-the-art workspace in the heart of the city centre; it's been a real success story for the company that I think has exceeded all of our expectations. I feel it is equally a success story for Belfast and Northern Ireland as well.”
Pictured: Rapid7 team members celebrate 10 years in Belfast
Ryan Williams, a Distinguished Software Engineer at Rapid7 who has also been with the growing team for a decade, agrees the Belfast office is “extremely important” to Rapid7’s overall growth. He says: “When we first set out here in Belfast, our location was expected to become a medium-sized office focused on technology roles. As time has gone on, it has become our largest office with nearly every section of the Rapid7 business represented, from engineering, to people strategy, to marketing, and finance.”
One of the key ingredients to Rapid7’s epic success story in Belfast is its popular intern programme, which Williams reveals has been instrumental in finding trained and talented new recruits.
“Our intern programme has been fantastically successful,” Williams enthuses. “It's one of our major contributions for recruitment. It has been a fantastic sight to see some of those very first interns from 10 years ago grow to become such valued senior staff members in our office today.”
A key element in the success of the intern programme is the city’s talent pool from local universities, including Queen’s University Belfast and Ulster University.
Pictured: Chris Wallace, Director of People Strategy, was first on the ground of the Belfast operation
“We go out and engage with universities to get the best talent they are producing,” Ryan says, adding that an element to the successful internship programme is allowing the interns to work as real-life developers.
“We don't put our interns to the side or give them work no one else wants to do, we bring them along with us and train them,” he explains.
“We invest in our interns, and hopefully that will help them to perform well when they return to university.”
Chris agrees: “We tell our interns we won’t be giving them the ‘boring’ stuff to do! You will be working on the same product code as any of our engineers. We are going to stretch and grow you in ways that will really challenge you.
“We want our interns to either come back to us as a graduate, or at the very least, have the easiest last year of university we can possibly prepare them for, because they will have been working on complicated and interesting things here, which will really set them up to be successful in their final year.”
Rapid7, which operates a hybrid working policy, places a high focus on innovative collaboration, communication and growth. It is “the best of both worlds” says Chris, in terms of the ability for the team to balance the benefits of both remote-working with the energetic, vibrant atmosphere of the city centre office. “The office is always one of the most heavily utilised and attended out of all the offices Rapid7 has. The challenge we have as an office is finding a seat some days!” laughs Chris.
The company has gone from strength to strength throughout its time in Belfast, with highlights including winning ‘Best Place to Work in IT’ in the large company category at the Belfast Telegraph’s annual IT awards in 2022. Rapid7’s team was also recently awarded ‘Cyber Security Project of the Year’ for research conducted in collaboration with CSIT at QUB.
And both Chris and Ryan are confident that the next 10 years holds equally exciting milestones to continue building upon, including more focus on AI as well as the continuation of career building for its talented team.
“Belfast continues to be a key strategic site with continued growth opportunities for the company, and I don't see that changing anytime soon at all,” Chris explains. “I think the future is really positive and bright for Rapid7 in Belfast.”
Ryan adds: “As AI becomes more and more important for every industry in the world, we are excited that our relationship with CSIT will allow Rapid7 to really push forward with AI, and our teams in Belfast will play a big part in that.”
But for now, the local team are looking forward to reflecting upon the impressive accolades they have achieved so far.
Speaking ahead of the 4 July festivities, Chris explains: “Things move so quickly in general and Rapid7 moves so quickly, so in many ways these past 10 years have passed in the blink of an eye. It is really important to stop and take stock with the people who are here, and recognise how far we've come and celebrate what we've done.
“It is an incredible thing to see all of the faces who joined us in the very early days, including interns in the summer of 2014, who are now leading teams and initiatives and have built a career here.”
The ethos of career building and development at Rapid7 certainly seems high on the agenda as the thriving company marks its 10th anniversary. With a team of 500 staff; a thriving and inclusive company culture; and results which speak for themselves, it certainly feels like a milestone moment.
“It feels incredible to be celebrating 10 years in Belfast,” Ryan concludes. “We are extremely proud of the career-building opportunities on offer at Rapid7. This event marking 10 years in Belfast allows us to reflect, have a chance to pause, and celebrate all that we have achieved here together as a team.”
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