Netflix and Disney+ streaming rival Roku is to create more than 50 jobs after opening a new Manchester city centre office.
The California-headquartered company, which was founded by Manchester-born billionaire Anthony Wood, has taken space at Bruntwood SciTech’s No.1 Circle Square off Oxford Road.
The office will be Roku's fourth in the UK, following London, Cambridge and Cardiff.
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The business said it will now be recruiting for more than 50 engineering roles before the end of 2022, as well as offering three-month paid internships.
The initial phase of recruitment will focus on product engineers who will work with Roku TV brand partners on developing Roku TV models, powered by the Roku OS.
Roku’s platform serves more than 56 million active accounts worldwide as of the third quarter of 2021.
Alastair McGeoch, director of software engineering, Roku, said: "Roku was founded on the belief that all TV will be streamed.
"We are looking for the right talent to continue to change how the world watches television. Manchester is a city steeped in engineering history and famed for its cultural impact on the world, so it is a natural fit for us.
"In Manchester, we will primarily focus on recruiting software engineering roles in 2022, with the ambition to increase the size of our team there in the next four years.
"Manchester is Roku’s fourth UK office, following London, Cambridge and Cardiff and has an incredible talent pool. Roku is proud to be joining the city’s newest neighbourhood and growing tech sector."
Tim Newns, chief executive of MIDAS, Greater Manchester’s Inward Investment Agency, added: "It is incredibly exciting to have one of the world’s leading content streaming technology companies investing at such scale in Manchester.
"They join a wider software supply chain around content streaming that includes the likes of BBC iPlayer and Disney Streaming Services (formerly Cake Solutions) which makes this a growing area of specialism for the city region and at a time of extreme growth in that sector globally.
"We’re looking forward to seeing how Roku can leverage Greater Manchester’s innovation strengths in the technology and media sectors, alongside the existing ecosystem and academia, to take their product offering on to the next level."
