Mission Labs sets target to double its headcount over the next 12 months to over 200 employees. The company, which specialises in cloud communications and customer experience technologies, was acquired earlier this year by listed communications service provider Gamma Communications PLC, five years after being founded by Damian Hanson and David Hague in 2016.

Damian and David continue to lead Mission Labs through its next stages of growth, supported by their established senior leadership team, and managing director, James Wilson.

Mission Labs works with modern cloud-based technologies offering a number of digitally led products, including business phone solution, CircleLoop, and customer experience desktop, SmartAgent. During the COVID-19 pandemic Mission Labs has also continued to expand, recruiting over 50 new team members, and securing multiple new customers.

Underlining the company’s ambitions, Mission Labs has also announced it has taken on new headquarters at one of Manchester City Council’s Grade A workspaces, having agreed terms on 11,000 sq ft of office and meeting space at Arbeta on Northampton Road. The move, which will see Mission Labs more than double its existing office footprint, supports plans for rapid growth of the company’s products and services which serve thousands of customers, from SMEs to Enterprise and Public Sector organisations.

With the aim to double headcount to 200 employees over the next 12 months the company expects that Arbeta’s location, transport links and quality of facilities will appeal to a wider catchment, taking better advantage of the tech talent pool in Greater Manchester and the surrounding areas. Mission Labs co-founder, Damian Hanson commented “Arbeta is situated in a very fast-growing area of Manchester, supported by excellent infrastructure and facilities. The new space that we have secured provides us with a brand new, welcoming HQ that is right in the heart of the action. And as we continue to rapidly create new roles and accelerate our headcount, we know just how important a great working environment is for attracting and retaining talent.”

Whilst the relevance of the corporate office has been the source of much debate over the past 15 months, Mission Labs has engaged directly with its staff to design and validate a working model for the future, as co-founder David Hague explains

“During the pandemic we have continually reacted to the changing needs of our colleagues. We observed early on that 100% homeworking does not appeal to everybody and we safely reopened our offices as soon as we were able to do so last year, allowing a small number of colleagues to work where they feel most comfortable and productive. We have subsequently engaged directly with the entire team to define our needs for the future and the feedback was overwhelmingly in favour of a hybrid working model.”

Mission Labs’ new Arbeta HQ will officially open later in the summer with a ground-up design and fit-out currently in progress. The company’s original HQ at Rawtenstall will also be retained as an office and meeting space for Lancashire-based colleagues.

Rob Page, managing director, Arbeta said: “We are delighted to welcome Mission Labs to Arbeta and look forward to seeing the completed space. While the future of the office has been much discussed, the approach taken by Mission Labs is refreshing: they’ve been able to move quickly and react to the changing requirements and needs of their team and have still taken the same size of space in the building we have discussed with them from the start.”

For more details on available career opportunities at Mission Labs please visit missionlabs.co.uk/careers to engage with the company’s in-house recruitment team.

VIsit Mission Labs at https://www.missionlabs.co.uk/ and Gamma at https://www.gammacommunicationsplc.com/