Essential News

● Costa Rica’s Shared Service Center will provide IT services to all Roche affiliates in the U.S. and Canada.

● Approximately 100 positions to be created for qualified IT professionals to work in an environment offering development opportunities across the Roche group.

San José, February 16th, 2017. Roche, the world’s largest biotech company and an employer of choice in locations worldwide, will invest in a new Information Technology (IT) Shared Service Center in Costa Rica for Roche operations in the U.S. and Canada.

Roche is known for its focus on developing innovative medicines and diagnostic tools that help people live longer, better lives, and the Pharma Informatics organisation is an essential group of professionals supporting these efforts. The company’s focus on Personalised Healthcare combines its strengths in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics – along with advances in science and technology – to more precisely match treatments to patients.

The Shared Service Center will support all Roche IT end users for Roche Pharmaceuticals and Roche Diagnostics, handling IT support calls from users across the U.S.and Canada. Roche is expecting to hire approximately 100 employees to fill IT positions, including service desk agents, managers and trainers. A key requirement for all positions is fluency in English.

The new facility in San José will join Roche IT’s other shared service centers in Budapest (Hungary), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and key IT locations in Madrid (Spain), Basel (Switzerland), Warsaw (Poland), and South San Francisco (California, U.S).

Costa Rica’s Minister of Foreign Trade, Alexander Mora, has expressed that “The Central Government is very pleased with this announcement because it shows that the country is correctly addressing the complex and sophisticated needs of the service sector. Also, the growth of Roche is an example of its commitment and consolidated path in Costa Rica, where it has operated for almost 50 years. As Government, we will continue working to maintain the correct conditions for its successful operation, so the link with Costa Rica will be further strengthened.”

Jorge Sequeira, Managing Director of CINDE, notes that “The new Roche Shared Service Center will allow the company to provide IT support services for its U.S. and Canada operations. In August 2015, Roche opened another Service and Distribution Center for Central America and the Caribbean. This also reflects the strength of the Costa Rican service sector with cumulative exports during the 12 months between July 2015 and June 2016 of US$7.355 million, US$399 million higher than the quantity registered in the same period between 2014 and 2015. We are sure that the Costa Rican human talent will allow Roche to keep growing in the country.”

When asked why job seekers should consider Roche over other companies offering job opportunities in the San José area, Steve Guise, Global Head of Roche Pharma Informatics, expresses the following: “As a Swiss, family-owned global healthcare company, Roche invests for the future and for the long term. We have been developing leading medicines and diagnostics for over 120 years and this is just the beginning. Roche is focused on creating solutions for areas of high unmet medical need. This is true for our medicines as well as our diagnostics capabilities. We develop Personalised Healthcare solutions for the most severe diseases and we need the world's best talent to make this happen.”

Guise continues, “When we looked at how we could build our IT team for the future, we could not imagine a better location than Costa Rica to support our teams in the U.S. and Canada. We are making a long-term commitment to Costa Rica and to the people we will hire. If you join Roche you can look forward to an exciting career, full of professional and personal opportunities. A role in Roche Costa Rica can also be a stepping stone to a global career in a multi-national company with 90,000 employees across more than 100 countries.

When you join Roche, you are joining a family of professionals who believe that their daily work should not only be stimulating and engaging, but that it should also contribute to the well-being of society.”

About the long standing relationship between Roche and Costa Rica, Stephan Julsing, General Manager, Roche Central America and the Caribbean says: “Roche is always looking for opportunities to strengthen the relationship we have with the different governments in Central America and the Caribbean, where Costa Rica has been our home for almost 50 years. Since then, our experience with the country has been extraordinary. In 2015, we invested more than US$ 5 million in a new building that assures our growth for the next 10 years. Now we have decided to invest again – not only in infrastructure, but also on the services side, in which Costa Rica has strong experience and excellent human talent to offer. The political stability and the business environment Costa Rica has offered through the years make us completely sure this will be an investment we won't have any regrets about in the future.”

How to apply?

Recruitment for the open positions will start at the CINDE job fair which is taking place February 17-19th at Antigua Aduana, San José. Those interested in applying can visit the Roche stand (number 21A). The recruitment process will continue throughout the year.

Costa Rica is the head office for all of Roche’s Central America and the Caribbean Pharma division operations. It’s new Services and Distribution Center opened in Costa Rica in August 2015, and currently has more than 150 employees.

About Roche

Roche is a global pioneer in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics focused on advancing science to improve people’s lives. The combined strengths of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics under one roof have made Roche the leader in personalised healthcare – a strategy that aims to fit the right treatment to each patient in the best way possible.

Roche is the world’s largest biotech company, with truly differentiated medicines in oncology, immunology, infectious diseases, ophthalmology and diseases of the central nervous system. Roche is also the world leader in in vitro diagnostics and tissue-based cancer diagnostics, and a frontrunner in diabetes management. Founded in 1896, Roche continues to search for better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat diseases and make a sustainable contribution to society. The company also aims to improve patient access to medical innovations by working with all relevant stakeholders. Twenty-nine medicines developed by Roche are included in the World Health Organization Model Lists of Essential Medicines, among them life-saving antibiotics, antimalarials and cancer medicines. Roche has been recognised as the Group Leader in sustainability within the Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology andamp; Life Sciences Industry eight years in a row by the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI).

The Roche Group, headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, is active in over 100 countries and in 2016 employed more than 94,000 people worldwide. In 2016, Roche invested CHF 9.9 billion in Randamp;D and posted sales of CHF 50.6 billion. Genentech, in the United States, is a wholly owned member of the Roche Group. Roche is the majority shareholder in Chugai Pharmaceutical, Japan. For more information, please visit www.roche.com.

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