Yaspa, a London-based payment and identity fintech company, is opening a new tech hub in Leeds, which is expected to create 10 jobs initially. The new office will be located at Platform by Bruntwood in the city centre. The company is currently recruiting for 10 senior software engineering positions and plans to have a team of 20 backend Java developers by the end of the year.

David Turner, formerly of William Hill, will lead the new Leeds office as head of engineering. Yaspa’s decision to establish a presence in Leeds is based on the concentration of gambling companies in the city, which includes Sky Betting & Gaming, Paddy Power, and William Hill.

David Turner said: “When I heard about the opportunity to join Yaspa, it felt like the perfect role for me. I am passionate about creating a safe, supportive environment where engineers can do their best work and this role allows me to do exactly that – building a talented team in Leeds while delivering the technology to support Yaspa’s next stage of growth. What excites me most is that Yaspa has already done the hard part. It has found its value proposition, proved it works and is now scaling. My focus will be on growing the engineering team rapidly, with the aim of having two strong squads in place by the end of the year, initially dedicated to the US proposition, while making the most of the chance to apply best practice from the start.”

The company plans to hire a squad of mid to senior level engineers to focus on building its US product then, as soon as that squad is at full capacity, Yaspa intends to hire a second squad, making 20 new jobs created via the Leeds tech hub in total for this year.

Chris Watkins, Yaspa’s chief people officer, commented on the choice of location. “We see Leeds as the ideal location to open our second UK office, with access to a strong pool of software engineering talent. It also has a strong reputation for talent with experience in iGaming, thanks to the companies that are also located there.”

Image source: Bruntwood SciTech