It sounds like the dream job for a soccer fanatic, but applicants should know that they also need to be strong on maths.

Like so many vacancies in the current employment market, technology or maths skills are needed.

The position of soccer trader is among the 72 jobs currently being advertised by online gambling kings Paddy Power at its Dublin HQ. While excellent soccer knowledge is essential, a third-level qualification in mathematics/statistics or business is also desirable for a job that involves compiling odds and managing risk and liability.

In recent years, Paddy Power has mushroomed from being a retail-based business into an online powerhouse in the betting and gaming sector. It means that technology is central to all its business, and critical to its future development. It means that its staff must have the necessary skills.

What started as a modest Irish firm also has a growing international dimension -- only last week it launched its online betting in Italy -- with much of the technical back-up provided from Dublin. That growth means that Paddy Power is one of the most active recruiters on the Irish market, currently taking on about 30 people every month.

In the last two years, its head count in Ireland has jumped from over 300 to 700, while overall employment has grown from 1,500 in 2007 to 3,400 in 2012. Despite their rapid-fire recruitment, Paddy Power, communications director at the company, said there were some jobs that they found difficult to fill. He said this was because of the challenge in finding enough people with the required IT or maths skills. "What we are looking for and still need are people with IT skills; that is where we have the most vacancies," he said.

The Dublin office now employs staff of 28 different nationalities, some of whom came to Ireland especially to take up a job with Paddy Power and fill a skills gap in the firm.

Katherine Donnelly Irish Independent