Software testing firm SQS is to expand its Irish operations, adding 75 jobs over the next three years.

Fifty of the positions will be based in Dublin, the company said, with a further 25 at its Northern Ireland office. Up to 30 of the jobs will be filled by the end of the year, the company said.

SQS said it is recruiting software quality engineers and managers, business analysts, performance engineers and software test analysts.

The company, which came to Ireland in 2002, already employs more than 200 people in Dublin and Belfast, and plans to boost its workforce by 35 per cent by 2016.

It provides independent outsourced IT testing services to customers in the financial services, manufacturing, utilities, retail and telco sectors.

Chief executive of the company Dik Vos said the expansion was a strong reflection of the growth of the IT industry and the increasingly important role that independent software testing and quality control.

As part of its expansion, SQS has also moved to a new headquarters in Dublin’s Docklands area.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny welcomed the news of the expansion, describing it as “another encouraging sign of the ongoing rise of Dublin’s Digital Docklands”.