Deliveroo serves up over 300 'high-skilled, high-tech' jobs

Deliveroo, the app-based restaurant delivery service, is ramping up its expansion through the creation of more than 300 tech jobs.

The company said it was seeking experienced software and hardware engineers to help it innovate as it prepares to move this summer to a new London headquarters, incorporating its technology base.

Deliveroo, which employs over 1,000 people including drivers and 125 in its tech team, said it was making the investment as it grappled with a 650% rise in global orders last year from 20,000 restaurants.

Its announcement contained no detail on profitability or where its growth was concentrated.

The firm provides a delivery service for customers who want food from restaurants or food outlets that would not normally offer delivery.

Its business model is different to that of larger rival Just Eat (Frankfurt: A1100K - news) , which provides an online platform and delivery drivers for restaurants that pay for the service.

Commenting on the recruitment drive, chief executive Will Shu said: "London is where I founded this company and it's from our headquarters here that we export our British-born technology around the world.

"That's why we're now on the lookout for over 300 people to join our engineering team.

"When so many of the success stories in the on-demand economy have been grown from America, I am particularly proud to be doing this here in Britain."

The company's growth has not been seamless.

It remains embroiled in the debate over the rights of workers in the so-called gig economy, with the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain announcing in November that it was seeking recognition on behalf of Deliveroo delivery staff in north London.

While the union argued the workers had no employment rights as independent contractors, a law firm has also been mulling a case related to riders' rights on issues such as holiday pay and the national minimum wage.

Deliveroo was forced to back down last summer in a row with riders over proposed changes to how they were paid.