6 October 2023

TUI opens “Digital Hub” in Porto

Pieter Jordaan explains what the Hub is and what the plans for the future are

This is a shortened version of an interview of Pieter Jordaan, Member of the Group Executive Committee & Chief Information Officer of TUI Group, with Portuguese online publication eco, you can find the full interview here. 

Pieter, can you explain the plans for the Digital Hub in Portugal?

We are shaping the future of tourism from our Digital Hub in Portugal. We have great talent there joining us at TUI. Teams are ambitious, creative and bring a great set of experience and curiosity along. You can feel that Portugal is a tech hub, there is a whole ecosystem of innovation around our hub that we will benefit from. Teams will be involved with all aspects of IT development for a global player in tourism – from sourcing for our flights and hotels, to analytics, our mobile app and to the development of our customer platform. In addition, we will have teams based in Porto pushing the implementation of Artificial Intelligence powered technologies across our platforms. Our Portuguese teams will be right in the center when it comes to building cool tech for TUI, working together closely with their 2400 tech colleagues in our global IT organisation.

Where were you doing these kind of functions until now?

Our “Digital Hubs” – in addition to Porto, we open hubs in India and Poland – are a chance to diversify our teams. Our customers are diverse, so we want to make sure that also the teams developing products for our customers are diverse. At the same time, TUI is undergoing a transformation with a focus on new products, common platforms and the scalability of our business. This means it is an exciting time to work in tech for us. Some of the functions can now be expanded thanks to our teams in Porto, others will be newly created. The Digital Hub in Porto is a great growth opportunity for us.

When will this operation start?

Operations at our Digital Hub officially started on 1 October 2023. TUI´s CEO Sebastian Ebel joined our Porto teams in person to welcome them to the company. Teams of the Digital Hub were working for a local partner of TUI in the past and we found an agreement to take ownership of this operation. So we were able to kickstart our hub. Now the focus is on growing our teams further.

How many people will you start with and how many do you want to have – and in what time frame?

Right now, we have about 150 colleagues working at the Digital Hub, and we plan to increase our team to 200 colleagues by the end of 2024. It is good time to join us now. From a skill perspective, we offer jobs from developers to architects, from product owners to business analyst. We are filling both junior and senior positions.

What type of profiles and skills are you looking for?

We are hiring all types of profiles and skills – frontend, backend, fullstack, mobility, AI and more. I would like to encourage readers to check out our recruiting website for jobs. Our hub is evolving, tech needs of TUI are evolving, so tech enthusiasts should check regularly our website for job opportunities, or even better create an own profile and leave their CV.

Who will lead this new operation?

Paulo Grilo will be the Managing Director of the Digital Hub. Paulo has been with TUI for over 24 years, with extensive experience in both IT and business functions, in several countries and TUI entities. He will work closely with the IT and business leadership teams to make sure that the Porto teams are truly a part of the global technology organisation, but also of the overall TUI family. Working in our Digital Hub in Porto means having a chance to build industry leading products and platforms, in combination with unique development and career opportunities in an international company.

Why did you choose Portugal – and Porto, in particular – to move forward with this project?

TUI has a longstanding and successful partnership with Portugal as a popular travel destination for our customers. Hotels, flights, cruises, tours and activities – TUI is present here with its full portfolio. Now we are expanding our footprint in Portugal by opening the “Digital Hub Porto”. Portugal is proving that it is not only a beautiful travel destination, but also a digital innovation center. We find here not only the right talent with the right skills we are looking for, we also find here a whole innovation and tech hub of European relevance that will be essential to grow our operations in Porto. And finally, I would also like to highlight the support by AICEP, the Portugal Trade & Investment Agency, which contributed to our decision to set up the Digital Hub in Porto.