Bed Bath & Beyond

Bed Bath & Beyond is an online retailer, founded in 1999 and headquartered in Utah. For more than 20 years it was known as Overstock and the company rebranded in 2023 after an acquisition. The company employs more than 1,000 people worldwide.

An Irish outpost in the North West

The company set up in Ireland in 2013, and chose Sligo in the North West as its base of operations due to the business environment and cultural similarities to its HQ in Utah. The company said a major attraction of the region was availability of talent, combining a highly educated, English-speaking workforce with strong technical skills that would make it easier to hire and scale teams while accessing the wider EU market.

Initially serving as Overstock’s European Development Centre, over time the Sligo site’s remit grew to include functions and roles in data engineering, machine learning engineering, and site reliability engineering.

A strong engineering-led culture means there is a constant focus on using new cutting-edge technologies to evolve and improve the company’s core e-commerce platform. Now employing 60 people, the Sligo office serves as a core innovation hub focusing on advanced disciplines including blockchain, machine learning, data science, data engineering, analytics, site reliability engineering, and e-commerce software development.

Growing global responsibility

The Irish operation is strategically important as it is the company’s main engineering hub and its only global site outside the United States. The Sligo team has taken on an increasing share of the company’s technical footprint, while local leadership has also grown in influence and is now represented at global leadership level.

The company is exploring new product and business opportunities as it looks to diversify from its e-commerce roots, and it has plans to grow to 100 people in Ireland.