Software company picks Santa Rosa for expansion

A Virginia software and consulting company announced plans Wednesday to open a Santa Rosa office, starting small but aiming to make it a West Coast hub.

Métier plans to open an office with 10 employees in Railroad Square next month to work with clients in the western United States that purchase the company’s project management software and services.

To meet growing demand, however, Métier is negotiating for a larger space that could house 75 or more workers next year, said Doug Clark, a founder of the 11-year-old company based in Arlington, Va.

“This is a temporary space for us. It’s enough to get a team out there and get us up and running,” Clark said. “We’re going to ramp up. Most of that will happen next year.”

The company is currently recruiting workers to staff its Santa Rosa office, Clark said.

Métier’s core software product, named WorkLenz, is used by companies and government agencies to manage scheduling, budgeting and other aspects of large projects. Métier also has consultants manage projects at client offices or through live chat, e-mail and phones.

Privately owned, Métier has 65 employees. The company has made Inc. magazine’s list of the 5,000 fastest-growing privately held companies in the U.S. for four of the past five years. It rang up $5.8 million in revenues in 2007, up 54.8 percent from the previous year, according to the most recent Inc. survey.

A growing high-tech company bringing good-paying jobs to Santa Rosa is welcome news in a still gloomy business climate, said Nancy Manchester, the city’s economic development program specialist. Sonoma County has lost 9,000 jobs over the past year, driving unemployment up to 9.5 percent in May.

“It’s nice to have the new jobs coming into town. It’s nice to have a positive story about someone who wants to be here,” she said.

Métier employs software engineers and business professionals for sales and consulting work. Most salaries are in the $40,000 to $80,000 range, Clark said.

With strong sales growth, Métier officials began planning to expand a year ago with a focus on California. The Bay Area’s deep pool of tech talent was a draw.

But the company steered clear of the South Bay and San Francisco tech centers due to higher salaries and cost of living in those areas, Clark said.

“We’re 11 years old, but we’re very conscious about stuff like that,” Clark said.

Santa Rosa rose to the top of the company’s list as the largest city in a county with more affordable housing and lower commercial real estate costs, particularly compared with the Washington, D.C., region, Clark said.

“Santa Rosa has done really well in all of our research,” he said. “You’re not going to wait for any better time. Now’s the time to make this move.”

Downtown Santa Rosa was a particular draw, Manchester said.

“They wanted something downtown, something with a little personality. They didn’t want a generic office building. They liked the feel of the Railroad Square area,” she said.

City economic and community development officials attempted to woo Métier representatives during several meetings. The city had no financial incentives to offer, Manchester said.

Métier expects to open its 3,000-square-foot office in Railroad Square in early August. Company officials are negotiating to lease 25,000 square feet in the city and hope to make a more permanent move next year, Clark said.

“Now we’re on both coasts. We can support all of the time zones,” he said.

The company gets its name from the French word for an area or activity in which one excels, according to Inc. magazine.

“We came up with it over a bottle of wine and a thesaurus,” Clark told the magazine.