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People take their seats prior to an announcement Feb. 15, 2019, that Google is expanding its Chicago office. Google announced that it will be hiring hundreds of new employees for its finance team.
Jose M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune
People take their seats prior to an announcement Feb. 15, 2019, that Google is expanding its Chicago office. Google announced that it will be hiring hundreds of new employees for its finance team.
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Google plans to create “hundreds” of new jobs in Chicago this year, expanding the office it already calls its Midwest headquarters.

The tech giant employs more than 1,000 people at its Chicago office, which opened as a sales outpost in 2000 and has grown to include engineers and other tech workers. The new jobs are a result of the company’s decision to expand its finance team here as well, said Rob Biederman, head of government relations and public affairs for Google in the Midwest.

Biederman declined to disclose specific hiring numbers, beyond the hundreds of new positions this expansion is expected to create this year.

“It’s more proof you don’t have to move to the West Coast to have a career in technology,” he said.

Google’s recent real estate grabs have hinted toward significant growth in Chicago. In October, the company confirmed it had leased about 132,000 square feet in a Fulton Market district building, and that it planned to start moving employees in next fall.

That space, plus its 10-story headquarters at 1000 W. Fulton Market, give Google the capacity to double its Chicago workforce by the end of the year.

Most of Google’s finance team is currently located in the Bay Area. This will be an expansion of that team, which works on accounting, financial forecasting, compliance and project management. Google expects to start posting the roles next month.

Google plans to fill the roles mostly with local talent, and relocate some employees from the West Coast, said Karen Sauder, vice president of sales and the site lead of Google’s Chicago office. She said Google employees are curious about what teams will be located in Google’s newly leased space, but the company hasn’t figured that out yet.

Chicago has the talent pool for Google to pull from, Mayor Rahm Emanuel told the Tribune. As Google has grown in Chicago over the years, the city has “exceeded their expectations” in talent, affordability and transportation offerings.

“You can raise a family here, it’s affordable, there’s a lot of advantages,” he said. “And they have a big footprint already they can build and get synergy off of.”

Google has been expanding the types of talent that work out of Chicago, adding hardware designers and cloud engineers in recent years. It first started building its engineering presence in Chicago in 2005, and now engineers comprise about 25 percent of the office.

New jobs, especially in the tech industry, are always a win for city, which is working to bolster its standing as a tech hub. Though Emanuel has been a champion for the technology industry throughout his tenure, tech and business leaders have come together in recent months to figure out what Chicago is doing well and what it needs to improve.

Google’s growth in Chicago hasn’t just focused on talent. It opened its first Chicago pop-up store in the Bucktown neighborhood for the holiday season, as it moved to increase its investment in hardware. The Tribune reported last summer that it is planning a two-level flagship store in the Fulton Market district.

Google formally announced the expansion at its office Friday, at an event for its philanthropic arm’s Impact Challenge Illinois. Through that program, Google awarded grants to 10 Illinois nonprofits. Emanuel attended, and stressed the responsibility growing companies in Chicago have to give all city residents employment opportunities.

“The real potential is to make sure the people who can see the Google building, if they’re not a part of that economy today, they have a chance at becoming a part of that economy,” he said.

amarotti@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @AllyMarotti