LEWISTON — The jobs are here. Early.

Six months after Carbonite announced it was moving jobs from India to a new tech call center in Lewiston, the company has hired 150 people, full time. In May, it forecast hiring that many by the end of 2012.

Carbonite, headquartered in Boston, specializes in online data backup with customers in more than 100 countries. Employees answer phone calls and e-mails that ask for help retrieving lost files.

“Being able to do it early and being able to continue to grow shows our commitment to the local economy,” Vice President of Services Rich Surace said Friday during a visit to the Lewiston office in the Mollison Way business park.

“Our customers at Carbonite love the fact that we are repatriated back to the states,” Surace said. “It’s come back in our customer feedback, as well as our surveys. Making that investment was the right thing for us to do.”

Surace credited good recruiting, the local work force and easy relationships with local vendors for being able to ramp up relatively quickly. The company has moved all of those jobs out of India.

Peter DelGreco, president and CEO of Maine & Co., called achieving so much “truly remarkable.” Maine & Co. started talking to Carbonite in January.

“To be able to take a building that was being unused, re-purpose it and put 150 people to work doesn’t happen very often,” DelGreco said. “What they were able to do in such a short timeline is a testament to their vision and to the ability of our work force and our culture to get things done. All the partners across the state really pitched in. This is the kind of company we want here.'”

Carbonite refitted former TD Bank space above the Sparetime Recreation bowling lanes for the new office. The call center is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday and four hours each day on the weekend. Surace said those hours would expand, based on customer needs. Employee salaries and benefits start at $35,000.

The company launched three training sessions for new workers in October. Ten members of the management team were hired in June and have been promoted into their new roles, said Christine Phaneuf, director of human resources.

She said some part-time hiring may take place in the future.

At the announcement in May, Carbonite CEO David Friend projected as many as 250 jobs by the end of 2012. Asked if that projection still stood, Surace said: “This is our home. As we continue to grow, this is going to be the first place we look to grow. That’s going to be something based on our business plans in the future.”

kskelton@sunjournal.com

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