‘FIS has doubled down' on Jacksonville paving way for 500 high-wage jobs

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Five-hundred high-paying jobs at a Fortune 500 company will soon be up for grabs in Jacksonville.

That is the commitment by financial technology giant Fidelity Information Services, which has decided to build its new $145 million state-of-the-art headquarters on the banks of the St. Johns River.

FIS made the highly anticipated announcement Friday alongside Gov. Ron DeSantis and city leaders.

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The headquarters will take the place of a parking lot at 323 Riverside Ave. that’s currently owned by Florida Blue.

FIS became the world's largest financial technology firm in the world after buying e-commerce company WorldPay for $43 billion earlier this year.

CEO, Chairman and President Gary Norcross said he’s proud to call Jacksonville home.

“With that kind of growth, obviously there was an opportunity that we needed to expand,” said Norcross.

As part of the deal with the state and city, FIS plans to hire an additional 500 employees by 2029 which will bring the its Jacksonville workforce to 1,800.

“We have ease of recruiting people to the state,” said Norcross.

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The jobs are high paying with salaries in the $80,000 range.

“FIS has decided to double down on their commitment to Jacksonville,” said DeSantis.

To keep FIS, the city had to come to the table with incentives, including a grant of $1,200 per job for the 500 new jobs and a $3.5 million grant once improvements are finished.

The fintech firm has talent pipelines around the globe but Action News Jax wanted to know what the employment prospects are for locals.

Norcross said the company has had great success recruiting people from Jacksonville.

“We’re looking to find talent anywhere in the world,” said Norcross.

The ground breaking is expected to begin next year, and construction should wrap up by June 2022.

Cox Media Group