Brightcove Looking to Reverse Previous Personnel Cuts

Written by Ryan Lawler

Monday, July 20. 2009 at 04:15 PM EDT Post a comment

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Remember back in December, when online video firm Brightcove reduced headcount by about 15 percent? Well, it looks like times have changed, as the company plans to reverse those cuts by hiring 30 new employees. UPDATED 7/20 5:30 PM

In a blog post today, Brightcove director of corporate communications Josh Hawkins wrote that the company is looking to fill 30 new positions throughout all departments in the company, including engineering, customer support, operations, sales, and business development.

To start, the company posted 12 new positions on its job board, most of which are focused on engineering and business development. So far, all but one of the positions are for the company's headquarters in Cambridge, Mass. (If you have no particular sales or engineering experience, or don't happen to live in the Boston area, have no fear, as the company plans to post more job openings soon.)

The opening of 30 new positions comes as a sharp reversal to personnel cuts that happened less than eight months ago. Back in December, the company reduced headcount by 25 employees, or about 15 percent of its 172-person workforce.

So what's changed in that time?

Well, the company has become profitable, for one thing. 2009 was supposed to be the year that Brightcove reached profitability, but it appears that the company is ahead of its plans. The online video company has also been expanding pretty aggressively overseas, with large new wins in the U.K., Japan, and Latin America.

UPDATE: Brightcove wants to make clear that it isn't "backfilling" jobs that were cut in December, and that the company is hiring for new positions that have been created by recent growth.

The following statement, attributed to Josh Hawkins, just popped up in our inbox:

We've been growing rapidly over the past year, nearly doubling our customer base, opening new offices, and ramping global sales and marketing initiatives. We're at a point where we need to scale nearly every part of our business to keep up with demand and take advantage of our leadership position in the category. Our widely-adopted platform and laser-focused execution has propelled our company to profitability and we are investing in growth opportunities.