Ukraine’s largest tech firm EPAM works with Google, Epic Games

Editor’s Note: This story is part of the Kyiv Post series of profiles of information technology companies that work in Ukraine. EPAM is a sponsor of IT Fellowship, a program that supports the Kyiv Post’s tech coverage.

EPAM
Year founded: 1993
CEO: Arkadiy Dobkin
Number of employees: 10,000+
Motto: “Engineering the Future”
What separates you from other companies? The Ukrainian branch of EPAM is the largest tech company in the country by number of employees. It employs even more techies than Belarus, the country where the company was founded.

When Belarus-founded software engineering company EPAM entered Ukraine in 2005, the local information technology market was promising but small.

At that time, EPAM employed around 20 people, who worked from a small office in Kyiv. But even back then, the company already wrote code for big-name clients like Google and Microsoft.

In 16 years, EPAM has become the largest local tech company, employing over 10,000 specialists — the army that develops software for companies around the globe, from British clothing brand Burberry, Spanish spirits company Bacardi to U.S. consumer goods company Procter & Gamble.

One of the world’s most popular game developers, Epic Games, has even hired EPAM to work on its hugely popular video game “Fortnite,” which has over 350 million players worldwide.

Like other tech firms that work in Ukraine, EPAM sells its services abroad — to the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia.

The pool of employees across EPAM’s 13 Ukrainian offices is even larger than in its native Belarus.

Last year Belarusian tech companies, including EPAM, even relocated some of their workers to Ukraine and Poland as the country was engulfed in mass protests against self-proclaimed Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. Some of the tech specialists who took part in protests were arrested.

Ukraine is safer and more open for technology companies than Belarus, chief executive of EPAM Yuriy Antoniuk told online tech community Dou.ua in November 2020. “It’s chaotic here, but it is favorable for growth,” he said.

At the same time, global companies are willing to work with Ukrainians because it is cheaper, while the services are of the same quality, tech experts said.

Despite the success on the global market, Antoniuk doesn’t want Ukraine to stay perceived as the world’s “outsource hub” forever.

Last year outsource of services brought Ukraine over $5 billion in export, but when the country has more startups, it can boost the economy even more, he said.

To promote tech in Ukraine, EPAM invests in the education of tech specialists — it works with local universities and has courses for young techies within the company.

EPAM’s specialists can work in any Ukrainian city, even if the company doesn’t have an office there.

EPAM has continued to hire people even during the pandemic when many companies suffered from financial losses and layoffs. At the moment, the company has about 900 vacancies.

Antoniuk, who’s been leading the company in Ukraine since 2005, told the Kyiv Post that the company had several goals when it started operating in Ukraine: to hire talented techies, to improve education and to build the brand that people can trust.