There have been a parade of big California-based tech companies coming to Seattle over the past few years, as most GeekWire readers know. Usually, those companies like to announce that they’ve set up shop in town, in hopes of stealing the good employees at your current company, but Square took a different path.
GeekWire has learned that Square opened up a downtown Seattle office at some point last year, and a Square representative confirmed the existence of the office but wouldn’t tell us exactly where it is. Around ten people across various disciplines are working for Square at this mysterious location, and it’s hiring.
Square isn’t the only company to keep its Seattle presence quiet; Snap quietly rolled into Seattle a few years ago, putting up a billboard along State Route 99 that attracted a handful of workers to a temporary office before later moving into a much bigger space with more employees.
Square has grown steadily since it was founded in 2009, still unprofitable but with strong revenue growth over the last several quarters. Jack Dorsey’s side hustle has about 1,800 employees, according to Bloomberg, so this isn’t yet a major outpost for the mobile payments and financial services company. But with Seattle’s growth off the charts, that could change, as it has for many of the companies we’re tracking on our list of engineering centers in Seattle.
But it’s a start, and just another sign that the tech industry increasingly views Seattle as an important hub for their operations. If you know more about the location of Square’s office, let us know.
