This Month's Latest Tech News in Raleigh, NC - January 31st 2026 Edition

In This Update

• January at a Glance: Raleigh Shifts From Hype to Execution
• BuildOps Brings 291 High-Paying Software Jobs to Downtown Raleigh
• Genentech Doubles Down in Holly Springs Biomanufacturing
• Novartis and Wake County's $2B Bet on Biomanufacturing
• BioCryst’s $700M Deal Validates Triangle Biotech Momentum
• AI Supercycle: Triangle Startups Shift to Performance Engines
• NC State and UNC Spinouts Take Research to Market
• JetZero's Triad Bet and Charlotte's Fintech and HQ Momentum
• D-Wave Picks Florida Over North Carolina, a Competitive Warning
• State Cybersecurity Push and Raleigh’s Ask Raleigh Technology Win
• Wake Tech Hires an Industry Leader to Strengthen the Talent Pipeline
• Private Upskilling, Recruiters and HR Platforms Power Growth
• Practical Moves for Tech Workers: How to Plug Into the Momentum

BuildOps Brings 291 High-Paying Software Jobs to Downtown Raleigh

Los Angeles-based software firm BuildOps chose downtown Raleigh in January as the site of its East Coast operations hub, committing to create 291 jobs in Wake County with average salaries of about $111,000. The deal, detailed in a June announcement from NC Commerce, marked one of the most consequential pure-software wins for the city in recent years.

State officials emphasized that the average compensation at BuildOps would sit well above the county’s overall wage, reinforcing Raleigh’s position as a magnet for higher-earning tech workers rather than just back-office jobs. Local reporting noted that Raleigh beat out other Sunbelt contenders for the project, with a WRAL video report underscoring the strategic significance of landing a growth-stage SaaS company that serves construction and field-service contractors across the country.

Roles and skills in demand

For engineers and operators, the BuildOps hub translated directly into hiring demand across core product and go-to-market functions:

• full-stack and back-end developers experienced with SaaS architectures and cloud platforms
• DevOps and site reliability engineers versed in AWS or GCP
• product managers with backgrounds in construction tech or field operations
• solutions engineers and GTM roles that blend technical fluency with customer-facing work

Downtown and ecosystem impact

Because the new hub sat in the urban core rather than on a suburban campus, it promised to feed demand for coworking, meetups, and startup services within walking distance of downtown’s transit and amenities. For mid-career talent at incumbents like Red Hat or regional consultancies, BuildOps represented a “growth-stage but not tiny” employer: established enough to feel stable, but early enough that equity and influence still matter.

Genentech Doubles Down in Holly Springs Biomanufacturing

Genentech deepened its bet on Holly Springs in January, announcing that it had doubled its planned investment in a large-scale biologics plant and would add roughly 100 additional jobs, bringing total projected headcount at the site to more than 500. The expansion, which state and local officials confirmed around January 20, positioned the facility as one of the largest single biomanufacturing footprints in the Triangle.

The Holly Springs plant is slated to produce complex biologic medicines at commercial scale, integrating advanced purification, sterile filling, and quality systems into a single campus. Analysts tracking the market have described the broader Raleigh-Durham corridor as a biomanufacturing “powerhouse,” with Holly Springs emerging as a key node in what Capital Analytics called a rapidly evolving life sciences cluster anchored by global pharma names.

For Triangle workers, the headcount jump translated into demand not only for bioprocess and validation scientists, but also for automation engineers, plant IT staff, and data specialists to keep highly instrumented lines running within strict GMP standards. That created on-ramps for software, mechanical, and electrical engineers willing to pick up domain skills through biomanufacturing certificates or short courses.

The move also fit into a broader pattern of large pharma and CDMO projects across North Carolina, which outlets like Yahoo Finance noted had begun to reshape industrial real estate and workforce planning throughout the Triangle.

Novartis and Wake County's $2B Bet on Biomanufacturing

In Wake County, Swiss pharma giant Novartis quietly turned a big bet into a bigger one, lifting its planned biomanufacturing investment to about $2 billion and targeting an estimated 500-700 new jobs. Local economic-development officials treated the move as a cornerstone in the county’s industrial strategy, placing a long-term, research-adjacent manufacturing campus within commuting distance of downtown Raleigh and Research Triangle Park.

Building a biomanufacturing spine

The Novartis project sat alongside large-scale facilities from FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies and Amgen in Holly Springs, forming a biomanufacturing “spine” stretching across southern Wake County. Together, those plants contributed to roughly $10.8 billion in life sciences projects committed statewide over the past year, a buildout that observers said was transforming everything from power demand to industrial real estate pricing.

Jobs, suppliers, and policy implications

For talent, the Wake County site expansion translated into sustained demand for GMP-savvy process engineers, controls specialists, and software and data professionals able to manage validated systems. It also pulled through work for regional CDMOs, utilities, and construction firms, echoing the broader job-creation wave tracked by the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina.

Wake County leaders, who had already highlighted a string of corporate wins in recent updates from the county’s economic development office, framed the Novartis commitment as proof that targeted incentives and predictable permitting - rather than micromanaging biotech itself - could attract global-scale projects without distorting the market. A recent announcement from Wake County government underscored that approach, emphasizing job creation and capital investment over prescriptive industrial policy.

BioCryst’s $700M Deal Validates Triangle Biotech Momentum

Late in January, Durham-based BioCryst Pharmaceuticals closed a roughly $700 million transaction tied to one of its rare disease drugs, a deal local biotech reporters noted as one of the Triangle’s largest recent licensing-style wins. The structure brought in substantial non-dilutive capital while allowing the company to keep operating independently, signaling strong market conviction in both the underlying asset and the region’s drug-development talent.

Instead of relying on public subsidies, BioCryst’s deal flowed from private-sector appetite for commercial-stage rare disease therapies, reinforcing the Triangle’s reputation as a place where high-value intellectual property can be developed, de-risked, and scaled. For the local ecosystem, that money translated into follow-on demand for contract development and manufacturing organizations, clinical research organizations, data scientists, and regulatory specialists able to execute complex global trials from Raleigh-Durham.

Deals in the BioCryst mold also validated the broader translational pipeline running from Triangle labs into industry. University programs such as NC State’s Office of Research Commercialization, which regularly showcases spinouts and licensing wins in its commercialization news hub, have helped normalize the idea that homegrown IP can attract global partners without leaving the region.

For engineers and scientists in Raleigh-Durham, the message was straightforward: rare disease and other specialty-drug work in the Triangle no longer stopped at Phase 1. With large, market-driven transactions now on the table, there was a clearer path from bench work and data analysis jobs in local labs to scaled products reaching patients worldwide.

AI Supercycle: Triangle Startups Shift to Performance Engines

Across founder meetups and the NC Economic Forecast 2026 event in downtown Raleigh, the conversation in January shifted from what large language models can do to how fast they could be wired into revenue and operations. Local investors at the forecast, covered by ABC11’s broadcast of the NC Economic Forecast 2026, described an AI investment “supercycle” as capital chased startups that put models to work inside real workflows.

Early-stage financing data reflected that mood. Triangle-based AI companies raising pre-seed rounds were reportedly commanding valuations in the $10-15 million range - lofty by historical local standards but in line with national froth around infrastructure and horizontal AI platforms. Rather than thin “wrapper” apps, many new ventures focused on data pipelines, orchestration layers, and sector-specific agents that could plug into existing SaaS and ERP stacks.

From prototypes to performance engines

Several Raleigh- and Durham-founded startups spent the month touting deployments of tens or even hundreds of millions of AI agents handling outbound outreach, customer support, and internal back-office work. One company positioned its product as “100 percent AI workers,” a telling sign that the region’s founders were comfortable framing automation not as an experiment but as a core performance engine measured in cost per task, conversion lift, and response time rather than just benchmarks.

GTM engineers and AI-native teams

That shift reshaped roles as much as balance sheets. Local coverage in the News & Observer’s feature on the “GTM engineer” highlighted a new hybrid job that blends software skills, analytics, and go-to-market ownership - exactly the profile AI-powered SaaS companies in the Triangle said they needed to translate model capabilities into pipeline and revenue. For engineers and operators, the clear signal was that those who learned to design systems around AI co-workers, not just use chatbots, would be the ones outpacing their peers as this supercycle played out.

NC State and UNC Spinouts Take Research to Market

On the research side of the Triangle economy, January spotlighted how NC State and UNC-Chapel Hill were turning lab breakthroughs into venture-ready products, not just journal articles. At CES 2026 in Las Vegas, NC State-affiliated startups such as ClearSens (wearable ultrasound), Vibrapower (energy harvesting), and Onda Vision (hydration monitoring) shared floor space with global hardware brands, signaling that Raleigh-origin technologies were ready for commercial scrutiny.

NC State: Hardware and deep tech at CES

Triangle Business Journal’s CES coverage noted that these NC State spinouts pitched concrete use cases: continuous health monitoring without bulky scanners, self-powered industrial sensors, and hydration tracking for athletes and first responders. Each emerged from the university’s commercialization pipeline, which NC State’s Office of Research Commercialization regularly showcases through pitch events and licensing announcements on its research commercialization news hub.

UNC: 3D brain organoids and drug discovery

UNC-Chapel Hill, meanwhile, unveiled a 3D sensor that wraps around brain organoids, designed to give researchers richer insight into how neural tissue responds to drugs. Innovate Carolina framed the device as a potential accelerator for psychiatric and neurological drug discovery, with the university’s commercialization arm positioning it for future startups or partnerships, according to an in-depth feature on UNC’s 3D organoid sensor.

Together with UNC’s January launch of a new NSF I-Corps cohort to validate markets for faculty technologies, these moves underscored that both campuses were feeding a pipeline of IP-heavy companies into the Triangle’s broader AI, medtech, and biomanufacturing economy.

JetZero's Triad Bet and Charlotte's Fintech and HQ Momentum

While Raleigh’s headlines centered on AI and biomanufacturing, January also underscored how much of North Carolina’s growth story was being written in the Triad and Charlotte. In Greensboro, JetZero’s plans for a next-generation aircraft factory were projected to support more than 14,500 jobs over time, adding to an aerospace cluster that already included HondaJet and Boom Supersonic. For Triangle workers, that meant a surge in demand for simulation, digital-twin, and industrial software skills that could be exported west via hybrid and remote work.

A multi-polar economy takes shape

Further south, Charlotte continued to lean into its role as the state’s financial and logistics capital. Scout Motors moved ahead with a new headquarters expected to create about 1,200 jobs, while Maersk North America prepared to shift its HQ to the city, reinforcing the Queen City’s status as a hub for supply-chain, trade, and fintech operations. Together with the Triangle’s software and life sciences strength, these bets pointed to a multi-polar economy rather than a single dominant metro.

The statewide development pipeline remained robust. A recent new-and-expanding report from Wake County Economic Development, hosted at wakerdu.com’s economic dashboard, counted dozens of active projects across sectors, while separate analysis put North Carolina’s prospect list at around 59,000 potential jobs going into 2026.

For Raleigh engineers and founders, the message was that competition - and opportunity - increasingly ran within the state as much as between states. The NC TECH Association’s 2026 Preview webinar stressed that cross-regional collaborations, not zero-sum rivalries, would determine whether North Carolina could supply enough talent, infrastructure, and capital to keep JetZero-scale factories and Charlotte HQs from looking elsewhere.

D-Wave Picks Florida Over North Carolina, a Competitive Warning

The one conspicuous setback in January arrived from the quantum-computing front. On January 29, D-Wave Quantum confirmed that it had selected Florida over North Carolina for a planned 100-job HQ, even after serious talks with Triangle recruiters and state officials. For a region that prides itself on being a magnet for frontier R&D, losing a marquee quantum firm stung more symbolically than numerically.

Why a 100-job loss loomed large

The D-Wave decision landed in a state that already hosts one of the world’s largest research parks, where hundreds of companies cluster across AI, life sciences, and advanced materials in Research Triangle Park. That made the loss a useful reality check: even with top-tier universities and a dense innovation district, close calls can still tip on incentives, tax treatment, and perceptions of regulatory predictability.

Economic-development insiders framed the episode as a reminder that other Sunbelt states were willing to move quickly and aggressively to land advanced-computing logos, especially in sectors - like quantum and AI - that carry prestige beyond immediate payrolls.

A warning shot on policy drift

The episode also intersected with a month in which state leaders highlighted cybersecurity and privacy, including a gubernatorial proclamation marking Data Privacy Day that emphasized protecting citizens while fostering innovation, as outlined by Governor Stein’s office. For founders and investors, the competitive warning was clear: North Carolina’s edge rests on keeping that balance intact - fortifying digital defenses and basic protections without layering on the kind of heavy-handed tech regulation that could push the next D-Wave-style HQ to another state.

State Cybersecurity Push and Raleigh’s Ask Raleigh Technology Win

From state government down to city hall, cybersecurity and digital government quietly moved up North Carolina’s priority list in January. The state named a former Google executive to lead its centralized cybersecurity efforts, signaling that Raleigh and the broader Triangle would increasingly interact with a more sophisticated, enterprise-style security office when building tools, sharing data, or bidding on contracts.

State coordination over new mandates

That appointment coincided with stepped-up coordination among agencies. The State Government Utility Coordinating (SGUC) group convened its 2026 Winter Quarterly Executive Committee meeting to align on IT and infrastructure, a reminder that much of the state’s cybersecurity posture is being built through standards and shared services rather than sweeping new regulation, as outlined in meeting materials on NC’s enterprise IT portal. For Triangle vendors, that approach pointed toward more RFPs for security engineering, incident response, and managed services instead of prescriptive tech rules.

Ask Raleigh shows what “good” looks like

Closer to home, the City of Raleigh’s IT team picked up a “Best of North Carolina Technology Award” for its Ask Raleigh platform, a resident-engagement and CRM system built on ServiceNow. The tool consolidated service requests and provided real-time status updates, turning what had been fragmented phone calls and emails into structured, analyzable data. City leaders highlighted that off-the-shelf enterprise software and configuration, not expensive bespoke code, powered the win, according to the city’s announcement on RaleighNC.gov’s open data and apps hub.

For Triangle technologists, the throughline was clear: government was moving to modern cloud and security practices, opening space for vendors and engineers who can secure systems and configure platforms, without yet veering into the heavy-handed regulation that can chill innovation.

Wake Tech Hires an Industry Leader to Strengthen the Talent Pipeline

Wake Technical Community College moved to tighten the link between classrooms and the Triangle’s job market in late January by naming longtime IBM and Lenovo executive Tim Humphrey as provost for IT, business programs, and its RTP Campus. The appointment, announced by the college on Wake Tech’s news site, brought more than three decades of global tech-industry experience into one of the region’s most important workforce engines.

College leaders framed the hire as a deliberate bet on industry-aligned leadership. As executive vice president of programs Dr. Nicole Reaves put it, “Tim brings a rare and powerful combination of industry leadership, data analytics expertise and a deep commitment to North Carolina and public higher education… his experience leading large, complex organizations and building strong partnerships will be invaluable.” - Nicole Reaves, Executive Vice President of Programs, Wake Tech

Humphrey, who spent 30+ years at IBM and Lenovo, emphasized purpose over prestige, arguing that community colleges sit at the center of economic mobility: expanding access to education, preparing the workforce, and strengthening local communities. For Raleigh-Durham’s employers, his portfolio matters because it spans precisely the disciplines where demand is spiking - cloud and security operations, biomanufacturing technicians, data analytics, and entry-level software roles that feed into companies from Genentech to Google’s Durham hub.

The move also reinforced a broader shift toward market-driven upskilling. Rather than designing programs in a vacuum, Wake Tech has increasingly aligned its certificates and two-year pathways with the needs of staffing and consulting firms that place talent directly into high-growth sectors. National providers such as Actalent’s engineering and sciences division have highlighted how tightly targeted credentials in areas like automation, QA, and IT support can shorten hiring cycles. With Humphrey in place, local founders and hiring managers gained a clearer single point of contact to shape those pipelines instead of relying on slower, top-down workforce initiatives.

Private Upskilling, Recruiters and HR Platforms Power Growth

Outside the classroom, much of January’s real workforce development in Raleigh happened in the private market, as specialist firms quietly handled upskilling, recruiting, and HR so founders could stay focused on product and customers. Local operators pointed to development shops, growth agencies, and professional employer organizations (PEOs) as critical infrastructure for scaling without building huge back offices.

On the digital side, agencies such as Kingsmen Digital Ventures showcased how targeted expertise could still move the needle in a crowded web landscape. One Triangle client reported a 400% increase in site traffic and a 50% boost in mobile performance after a redesign, underscoring why many early-stage companies now lean on external teams instead of assembling full in-house marketing and engineering departments. Rankings of top Raleigh software developers on Clutch reinforced that the region had no shortage of boutique firms competing on measurable outcomes.

PEO and HR platforms took on a bigger supporting role as well. Providers like TriNet’s HR and payroll platform gave Triangle startups Fortune 500-grade benefits, compliance, and onboarding tools without building HR teams from scratch. Local executives described those stacks as decisive in recruiting senior engineers and sales leaders who expected robust benefits and remote-friendly policies from day one.

The common thread was that the Triangle’s tech boom increasingly relied on a dense web of private, specialized services. Instead of waiting for top-down workforce programs, founders and workers tapped into a market of upskillers, recruiters, and HR platforms that moved at startup speed and let capital flow toward core innovation rather than overhead.

Practical Moves for Tech Workers: How to Plug Into the Momentum

Looking ahead from January’s news, the key for Triangle tech workers was not simply that opportunity existed, but that it was becoming more specialized. With AI platforms, cloud hubs, and biomanufacturing plants all scaling at once, the most resilient careers were those that sat where software, data, and regulated industries intersect.

For software and cloud engineers, that meant moving beyond generic app development into roles that embed AI into revenue and operations. Skills in large-language-model integration, data pipelines, observability, and go-to-market analytics positioned developers for emerging titles like GTM engineer or AI platform engineer, while experience on enterprise stacks such as ServiceNow or Salesforce made it easier to plug into government and Fortune 500 contracts.

Founders and startup-curious employees could lean into the region’s dense networking calendar. Coverage from outlets like GrepBeat’s Monday Mix highlighted events such as One Million Cups and the Triangle Startup Collective, which gave operators regular access to investors, advisors, and early customers without leaving downtown Raleigh or Durham.

For those considering the leap into entrepreneurship or a sector switch, structured programs provided a bridge between lab ideas or side projects and fundable companies. UNC’s NC TraCS Institute, for example, scheduled an NSF I-Corps cohort in January aimed at helping faculty and students test market demand and refine value propositions, as listed on the institute’s January 2026 calendar. Taken together, these pathways showed that in the Triangle’s current cycle, the advantage went to workers and founders who treated skill-building and networking as part of the job, not an afterthought.