SINGAPORE - Property portal 99 Group is hiring around 100 additional technology staff over the next 12 months to boost its tech workforce.

These include positions such as front- and back-end engineers, app developers, product managers, user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) designers and data analysts, said the Singapore-based firm on Wednesday (Sept 2).

Some of the job openings for positions in Singapore and Indonesia are listed on its 99.co website.

In addition, the firm announced that it has appointed Mr Shivkumar Krishnan as its Chief Technology Officer. He brings with him over two decades of experience in the tech industry, said the portal.

Prior to the appointment, Mr Krishnan was the director of engineering at Circles.Life and the engineering leader at Grab. He has also spent more than 10 years in the United States at tech giants including Microsoft and eBay, as well as at start-ups.

The CTO appointment and hiring plans are meant to "accelerate the property portal's tech innovation for an evolving real estate industry", as property hunting increasingly shifts online, said the firm.

It added that the push to expand its pool of tech professionals is "all the more important" as the Covid-19 pandemic has hastened digital transformation in the property buying and selling process.

Property portal brands under the start-up includes 99.co, iproperty.com.sg and rumah123.com. It also operates in Indonesia.

Calling the Covid-19 a "game changer", its chief executive Darius Cheung said the firm is leveraging technology to deliver a better experience for property seekers.

"As an increasing portion of the entire home search and purchase process shifts online, our platform has facilitated many transactions through tools such as live video viewings," he said.

The firm said it had received five times the number of video listings on its platforms in the first half of this year.

Even after Singapore eased the circuit breaker measures in June and physical home viewings were resumed, home seekers continue to show high interest in such video listings on its platforms.