Maximum Media will create 20 jobs in a new office in Galway from early 2018. The expansion will take the group’s workforce above 150, according to the Irish digital media company behind the JOE, SportsJOE, Her and HerFamily websites.

The company said it would also further expand its operations in Manchester and London. Some 40 of its employees are based in Britain, where Maximum Media launched the SportsJOE brand in 2015.

The jobs in Galway will be a mix of creative, copy writing, design, journalism, sales and client service roles.

Maximum Media founder Niall McGarry, who is from Castlebar in Co Mayo, lives in Galway and travels to its offices in London, Manchester and Dublin.

“Galway has a huge amount to offer,” he said. “Although big media outlets need to be headquartered in capital cities, we want to give people further afield the same opportunities to work in large-scale national media, while living in the regions.”

The company’s managing director, John Burns, described Galway as a “bustling hub” for arts and creativity and said he expected “a wealth of incredible applicants” for the available roles.

Maximum Media last week hired Maria Scannell, previously of Digicel, as its new chief commercial officer, replacing Daragh Byrne who was recently promoted to chief executive.

It has spent 2017 reinventing itself from being a website publisher into a “digital broadcaster” with a series of Facebook Live video shows and podcasts.

The company, set up in 2010, made a profit of €466,000 in the year to the end of April 2016, its most recently published accounts show. Most of its revenues comes from branded content, often referred to as native advertising, and other media partnerships. It has signalled it will invest “heavily” in 2018.