Ibex to add 400 jobs at new customer-service center in Wilkins

Ibex, a national customer-service company with a longtime Pittsburgh operation, plans to open another center this fall in Wilkins, employing an additional 400 people.

The company is building out a 33,000-square-foot facility in the Penn Center East office complex near Monroeville Mall, with a target opening date of Oct. 1.

Customer-service representatives will make up the bulk of the 400 jobs, said Brad Jones, senior director of communications at ibex. The average salary for the positions will be roughly $30,000 a year.

Jones said this new facility, which represents a $3.5 million investment, will utilize emails, chats, calls, and other methods of communication to support the businesses that outsource their representatives.

“For any number of things you would call a customer service line, we are the people on the other end of that line,” said Jones.

In April 2020, Ibex closed a 440-person facility in Coraopolis, moving all of those positions to work-at-home status. The plan is to keep those positions remote for the time being and hire the additional 400 people for the new facility, said Jones.

“Our long-term strategy is to get this facility up and running and continue to grow,” said Jones. “We plan to also expand and grow jobs through the work-at-home status.”

Citing such institutions as Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh, Jones said that “the ability to track some of the technology-driven talent in the area” was one of the primary reasons ibex chose to expand in Pittsburgh. Ibex entered the market in 2004.

No partnership has been finalized yet, but Jones said there is a possibility that universities can be involved in upcoming job fairs being held to fill the new positions.

Jones said that ibex has been “met with open arms” by the Pittsburgh community.

Mark Anthony Thomas, president of Pittsburgh Regional Alliance, the economic development affiliate of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, says that his organization helped convince ibex to expand in Pittsburgh by showing economic trends in the region supporting job growth.

“We are thrilled that ibex — a long-standing member of the Pittsburgh business community — has doubled down on its commitment to the region,” Thomas said. “The announcement not only adds 400 new jobs, but it also fortifies Pittsburgh’s position as a tech hub.”

Ibex operates 31 facilities internationally and employs roughly 24,000 people.