CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Moderna announced Friday that it is set to open a new office in Seattle.
The biotechnology company best known for developing one of the COVID-19 vaccines said that it wants to expand its presence in the U.S. by opening new locations in San Francisco and Seattle.
The Seattle location will be focused on technology, according to a statement released Friday by the company. Moderna hopes the technology talent in the Seattle area will help Moderna advance its goals in artificial intelligence and cloud-based software tools.
Moderna plans to hire up to 220 people in Seattle, including software engineers, technical program managers and product managers.
"Moderna is investing to fully realize our ambition of embedding technology into everything we do. By building technology solutions that enable business, scientific and people-led breakthroughs, we will continue to make a positive impact on the people we serve," said Brad Miller, chief information officer of Moderna. "We are hiring rapidly in-market across key tech capabilities and are excited to grow our presence in Seattle, an area rich in highly skilled talent."
Its San Francisco location is planned to house Moderna Genomics. Genomics focuses on the structure and function of genomes. In January, Moderna purchased OriCiro Gemonics for $85 million.
Moderna currently has 17 offices worldwide, including five in the U.S. The company was first formed over 10 years ago as a research program for messenger RNA. Today, Moderna has multiple clinical vaccines and manufacturing facilities.
It also has plans to hire roughly 2,000 new employees this year across its global company.
There has been a lot of investment to rejuvenate downtown Seattle.
“In February about 47% of folks were spending three or more days in the office relative to that same month in 2019,” said Jon Scholes, who is the president and CEO of the Downtown Seattle Association.
“We’re going in the right direction and we’re going in the right direction when it comes to return to office as well,” said Scholes.
The data for the last three months shows a rise in workers returning to the office, which is almost half the number of workers that we saw in 2019, according to Scholes.
“A year ago we had 140 tent encampments on the streets of our greater downtown. Today we have 10 or 12. Crime is going down. The number of folks living outside is also decreasing,” said Scholes.
With the opening of the Seattle Convention Center and Comic Con bringing tens of thousands to the area, companies are moving in and it’s not just biotechnology companies. Real Estate Analyst CBRE found that in Seattle, some unused office buildings are being converted into life science properties.
“We need to recognize we’re competing with other places around the country, other downtowns that are in a similar spot. I think Seattle’s best days are ahead of us. We’ve got great assets and a lot to look forward to next summer,” said Scholes.
Moderna said it plans to have an open house on April 4, which is the start of its hiring event. The hope is to rapidly scale up their workforce.