BREAKING: Credit Karma to add 600 Charlotte jobs
Charlotte bolsters 'fintech' presence with yet another new jobs announcement; $157,000 average pay; an expansion in Ballantyne
Good afternoon! Today is Tuesday, May 25, 2021, and we’re coming to you with HOT BREAKING NEWS.
Financial technology jobs keep coming; Charlotte called ‘the dominant future force of fintech’
by Tony Mecia
In yet another addition to Charlotte’s growing financial technology sector, Credit Karma announced that it is adding 600 jobs in Charlotte.
At an online news conference held by government leaders this afternoon, Gov. Roy Cooper said Credit Karma would invest $13M in creating the company’s East Coast technology headquarters.
Kenneth Lin, the company’s CEO, said Credit Karma opened an office in Charlotte four years ago with about 200 workers, and “we fell in love with the skillsets, the people and the community itself. … We are so excited to be able to help the city of Charlotte and be part of the city of Charlotte.”
The average pay is around $157,000. Most workers make in the range of $70,000 to $300,000 in base salary, officials said.
Why Charlotte: Lin said the company chose Charlotte after an “extensive search” of about a dozen cities for the expansion and selected Charlotte because of its skilled and educated tech-savvy workforce. Officials said most of the jobs would be in engineering, data science, machine learning and product management.
The company and government officials complimented each other on working together and said they looked forward to a long and prosperous partnership.
What is Credit Karma? It’s a website that directs consumers to financial products such as credit cards, car loans and mortgages, and it makes money by collecting commissions from banks when a customer completes a purchase. It is a business model that is similar to that of other Charlotte-area fintech companies, such as LendingTree and Red Ventures, which owns Bankrate and CreditCards.com. They market themselves as consumer-friendly guides to financial information and products, and they make money by leading consumers to companies who compensate them.
[Related Ledger article: “In plain English, here’s what Red Ventures actually does,” 🔒, Sept. 16, 2020]
Last year, Credit Karma was bought by Intuit, which owns financial products including TurboTax and QuickBooks.
In Charlotte, Credit Karma has offices in Ballantyne. Officials said they intend to stay in the Ballantyne area, though they have not pinpointed a specific location. Asked about the future of office work, Lin said “being in the office is fundamentally important to the connectivity as well as to the product we are building.”
Earlier, the N.C. Department of Commerce voted to award Credit Karma up to $21M in state economic incentives, the Charlotte Business Journal reported, and the city is offering incentives totaling $186,000.
Tuesday’s announcement is the latest in a string of expansions or relocations to Charlotte involving financial technology jobs — a list that includes AvidXchange, Better.com, LendingTree and Robinhood.
“To include Credit Karma in that list, it’s getting hard not to make the argument that Charlotte is the dominant future force of fintech nationwide,” said Tariq Bokhari, a City Council member and founder of the Carolina Fintech Hub, in a news release.
Although the Triangle area is thought of as North Carolina’s technology center, Charlotte is surpassing the Triangle in terms of technology-related jobs. Many of the tech jobs here are in finance, drawing on Charlotte’s strength as a banking center. That has led to the creation and relocation of similar financially related tech jobs.
Need to sign up for this e-newsletter — or for one of our other original local newsletters about Charlotte? We offer free and paid subscription plans:
➡️ Learn more about The Charlotte Ledger
The Charlotte Ledger is a locally owned media company that delivers smart and essential news through e-newsletters and on a website. We strive for fairness and accuracy and will correct all known errors. The content reflects the independent editorial judgment of The Charlotte Ledger. Any advertising, paid marketing, or sponsored content will be clearly labeled.
Like what we are doing? Feel free to forward this along and to tell a friend.
Change newsletter preferences: Go to ‘My Account’ page
Social media: On Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Sponsorship information: email editor@cltledger.com.
Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Contributing editor: Tim Whitmire, CXN Advisory; Reporting intern: Lindsey Banks