Phorest is a Dublin-headquartered software platform for hair and beauty salons, spas and aesthetic clinics, with around 450 staff worldwide. It is creating 25 new jobs over the next three years in a fully remote team covering software engineering, product management, customer support and testing — and every one of those roles can be done from anywhere in Northern Ireland. Invest NI is backing the move with £162,500, and the company chose Northern Ireland over Croatia, Portugal, North America and Estonia to do it.
Phorest compared several locations and chose Northern Ireland on skills, technology ecosystem and connectivity. A Northern Ireland business growing its own technical or specialist team is now competing with employers like this for the same people.
What Invest NI announced
Invest NI's Dublin team first engaged with Phorest back in 2018, and this announcement is the result of that relationship building to an expansion decision. The 25 roles span software engineers at every level, including graduates, alongside product managers, customer specialists and test engineers, all delivered through a fully remote structure rather than a Belfast office. Anne Beggs, Chief Commercial Officer at Invest NI, said Phorest's decision "further strengthens our reputation as a leading location for software and digital services." Sylvie McDermott, Chief Operating Officer at Phorest, said Northern Ireland "impressed us with its highly skilled talent pool, strong technology ecosystem and excellent connectivity" when the company weighed it against Croatia, Portugal, North America and Estonia.
The release gives no salary bands for the 25 roles, no breakdown of how many are filled in year one, and no detail on whether Phorest will run its own UK payroll for these hires or use an agency. A Northern Ireland business growing a remote team has to answer the same questions.
Employer National Insurance and the £10,500 Employment Allowance
Once someone is actually working from home in Northern Ireland, where the employer is headquartered stops mattering for payroll purposes — they are a UK-based employee, and employer National Insurance applies exactly as it would for a hire made down the road. For the 2026/27 tax year, employer Class 1 secondary National Insurance is charged at 15% on everything an employee earns above a £5,000 secondary threshold, with no upper limit. Most employers can then claim the Employment Allowance, which reduces that bill by up to £10,500 a year. The allowance is a fixed amount per business, so it covers a smaller share of the bill as a team grows.
Putting illustrative numbers on a growing remote team
Take an illustrative £38,000 average salary across a mixed team of engineers, product staff and support roles — entirely hypothetical, not Phorest's own figures, which Invest NI's announcement does not break down by role or pay band. The table shows what the Employment Allowance is worth as that kind of team grows.
| Illustrative remote team, £38,000 average salary, 2026/27 rates | 1 hire | 5 hires | 10 hires |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salaries | £38,000 | £190,000 | £380,000 |
| Employer NI before Employment Allowance (15% above £5,000) | £4,950 | £24,750 | £49,500 |
| Employment Allowance used (capped at £10,500) | £4,950 | £10,500 | £10,500 |
| Net employer NI payable | £0 | £14,250 | £39,000 |
| Total employment cost | £38,000 | £204,250 | £419,000 |
On the first hire, the Employment Allowance covers the entire employer NI bill, so the cost is the salary alone. By five hires the £10,500 allowance is used up, and £14,250 of employer NI is payable on top of £190,000 in salaries. By ten hires, net employer NI has grown to £39,000, because the allowance does not grow with the team. Claim the allowance from the first hire, because it is worth most on the earliest appointments.
What it means for a Northern Ireland business
If you are planning your own first few technical or remote hires, the Employment Allowance can cover the entire employer NI bill on those early appointments. Check it has been switched on in your payroll software. A company whose sole director is its only employee above the secondary threshold cannot claim the allowance at all, so a one-person limited company making its first proper hire needs that hire in place, not just planned, before relying on the figure. If you are instead competing for the same specialist talent Phorest is now recruiting into Northern Ireland, candidates are comparing you with employers anywhere, and the employer NI figures above apply in the same way.
What to do this week
If you are about to make your first or next hire, confirm the Employment Allowance is actually switched on — our payroll and pensions team can check eligibility and get it applied before the first payroll run rather than reclaimed afterwards. If this is a new PAYE scheme, HMRC's own guidance at gov.uk/register-employer sets out the registration process and the rule that it must happen before the first payday. If Invest NI support might apply to your own expansion, its support for business hub lists current funding by sector.
For how a different Invest NI jobs announcement's headline salary turned into a real employer cost, see our piece on what an Invest NI jobs announcement actually costs an employer, and for the basics of taking on your very first member of staff, payroll for your first hire.
What is still uncertain, and when we'll know
Invest NI's release does not give salary bands for the 25 roles, does not say how many will be filled in year one against the full three-year window, and does not state whether Phorest will run UK payroll itself or work through an agency or umbrella arrangement for its Northern Ireland hires. It also does not break down how the £162,500 of support is structured. The clearest way to track progress is Phorest's own careers page as the roles are advertised, and its accounts filed at Companies House in Ireland, which will eventually show the scale of the Northern Ireland team once it is built out.
Our payroll team can set up your Employment Allowance claim from your first hire.
