WitFoo offers UC student first Christchurch job, expands sponsorships

WitFoo has offered a University of Canterbury student its first Christchurch-based job after a sponsored final-year project, and will double its project backing in 2027. The cybersecurity company also plans a PhD scholarship as it builds its international operations in Christchurch.

Why it matters: - The hire gives a UC student a direct path from a final-year project into a cybersecurity job in Christchurch. - WitFoo is deepening its presence in Ōtautahi by expanding sponsorships, moving international commercial operations to the city and backing graduate research. - The partnership links UC students, faculty and industry on real security problems, with potential spillovers into law, evidence handling and local tech growth.

What happened: - WitFoo offered Dylan Costello a Junior Software Engineer role after sponsoring his final-year project in UC's Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering. - Costello's project focused on making WitFoo's Analytics platform run as a coordinated cluster across multiple machines. - WitFoo also sponsored Matthew Schwartfeger this year, and Schwartfeger worked on caching and mapping strategies to improve graph processing performance while keeping memory use predictable. - A third student, Ben Irvine, used WitFoo open data to evaluate research provenance-graph intrusion detection systems on the Precinct 6 Cybersecurity Dataset. - WitFoo will sponsor four UC final-year projects in 2027, up from two this year. - WitFoo has committed to fund a PhD scholarship in computer science at UC, expected to begin in 2027.

The details: - WitFoo first attended the UC showcase as a guest in 2025 and sponsored its first two projects this year. - The company's New Zealand subsidiary, WitFoo Limited, is based at 47 Salisbury Street in Christchurch Central. - WitFoo is moving its international commercial operations to Christchurch. - UC said the Precinct 6 Cybersecurity Dataset was produced in collaboration with its Computer Science and Software Engineering department. - Irvine said WitFoo rebuilt the dataset after his suggestions so the systems could be evaluated on more realistic operational data. - Associate Professor Etienne Borde coordinates the department's software engineering research projects course with industry. - ChristchurchNZ General Manager of Innovation and Business Growth Martin Cudd said the city grows when the university and local companies work closely together. - The UC CSSE Final Year Project Showcase 2026 is set for Friday 16 October, 9am to 6pm, at Novotel Christchurch Cathedral Square. - Irvine is scheduled to present at 10:30am, and Costello and Schwartfeger from 2:30pm to 3:30pm. - WitFoo said its software reads an organisation's security data, reduces telemetry volumes by more than 90% without losing evidence, and shares findings with analysts, boards and law enforcement. - WitFoo, founded in 2016, is headquartered in Dunwoody, Georgia, and sells its Conductor, Analytics and Reporter products through channel partners. - UC, established in 1873, is a research university in Christchurch with work across cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, software engineering and human-computer interaction. - UC points partners to its new Research Connect portal for access to expertise and capabilities.

Between the lines: - The job offer suggests WitFoo is using UC projects as a recruiting pipeline, not just a sponsorship program. - The larger sponsorship commitment signals the company sees more value in the Christchurch talent pool than in a one-off university partnership. - The law-school collaboration points to a broader cybersecurity question set, especially around privacy and the use of machine-generated evidence in policing and courts. - Herring framed Christchurch as a potential innovation hub, but the concrete signal is the company's decision to build operations and hire locally.

What's next: - WitFoo's expanded sponsorships will begin with four UC projects in 2027. - The company expects the PhD scholarship to start in 2027. - UC and WitFoo are exploring interdisciplinary research on cybersecurity evidence with UC's Faculty of Law. - The showcase on 16 October will give the company another chance to recruit and review student work.

The bottom line: - WitFoo is turning a university partnership into a local talent and research strategy in Christchurch.