Indy IT firm planning to add up to 400 workers

Knowledge Services, an information technology consulting firm based in the Castleton area, plans to expand its headquarters and add as many as 400 new jobs by 2018, the firm announced Tuesday morning.

The company plans to invest $842,500 to lease and equip 5,500 square feet of additional space at its existing 18,000-square-foot corporate headquarters at 5875 Castle Creek Parkway. The expanded space, which will be operational by November, will house Knowledge Services' software development and client support services.

All 400 of the workers are expected to be hired in Indiana, with about 25 to 35 percent slated for central Indiana. Knowledge Services plans to hire employees across the company, including for software development, accounting, customer support, training and business development.

Founded by CEO Julie Bielawski in 1994, the firm has been one of the city’s fastest-growing companies in recent years.

Under Bielawski, it has grown from an IT adult-education company into a multimillion-dollar operation that helps other businesses deal with project management, contingent labor and related issues. The company reported revenue of $71.8 million in 2011.

"No one else in the state, and few in the country, have succeeded in providing these kind of complete, integrated services, and that's what's fueling our growth," Bielawsky said in prepared comments issued on Tuesday.

The company currently has about 1,100 employees, including more than 310 full-time workers in the Indianapolis area. Its clients have included the state of Indiana, city of Indianapolis, Ivy Tech, Advantage Health, OneAmerica, Lenscrafters, Papa John’s and Oracle.

In July 2011, Knowledge Services said it planned to add 200 local workers by 2015 to the 150 it had at the time. The IEDC offered the company $2.7 million in conditional tax credits and $25,000 in training grants in return for the job commitments. It more than exceeded those goals within two years.

For the firm's most recent plans, the Indiana Economic Development Corp. has offered up to $2.35 million in tax cxredits and $200,000 in training grants. The tax credits are performance-based, meaning the firm isn't eligible to claim them until workers are hired.