American Companies in Norway

Job hunting? Some major American companies have a significant presence in Scandinavia.

Finding a job in Norway is a real challenge for international job-seekers, especially those who don't yet speak Norwegian. One popular option is to seek out foreign companies that have a presence in the country.

Many large corporations offer job rotations so if you already work for one of these companies in the USA, you may be at the head of the queue.

Otherwise, most of the companies on this list will advertise available jobs on their main corporate website. It's just a case of waiting.

Of course, just because an American company has a presence in Norway doesn't mean it's necessarily any easier for foreigners to get jobs there.

That said, there are many Americans happily living and working in Norway. There's even American football played here! So finding a job as an American is possible, and these companies are a good place to start.

The daily working language of some of these companies will still be Norwegian but even if it isn't, hiring someone already learning Norwegian will be strongly preferred.

There are many American companies in Norway, and we've put together a list of some of the biggest and more intriguing options here to help with your search.

Tesla

Norway is one of the most important global markets for the American electric car manufacturer.

Electric cars (and hybrids) are incredibly popular in Norway, and that popularity only looks set to continue as the current coalition government has committed to keeping the various incentives in place for a few more years yet.

In addition to the main sales and service operation, Tesla operates 12 showrooms across the country including in the Oslo region, Drammen, Bergen, Stavanger, Trondheim, Tromsø, Kristiansand, Ålesund, and in Brumunddal just north of Hamar.

IBM

Once known as the builder of PCs, the modern IBM is an ICT behemoth with fingers in many pies from Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, security, analytics, and more.

The Norway division is based in Skøyen, Oslo, with smaller offices in Trondheim, Hamar, Bergen and Stavanger. At the time of writing, available jobs in Norway included cloud application development, SAP consultants, and security analysts and engineers.

Google

Google opened their Norwegian office in Oslo in May 2005 and as of 2013, it also represents YouTube in Norway. Principal roles available here including sales (of Google's advertising solutions), conversion rate optimisation, and some operations and technical roles.

Yahoo

One of the odd ones out on this list, Yahoo's Norway office is actually based in Trondheim.

Yahoo Technologies Norway is a team of 35 people, delivering the core technology behind Yahoo’s dynamic serving systems. The team uses C++, Java and Ruby, and works with a 64bit Linux environment.

Exxon Mobil

ExxonMobil Exploration & Production Norway is the third largest oil and gas producer on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

Read more: Chevron exits Norway

The company operates the Balder, Ringhorne, Jotun and Sigyn fields, and is a partner in more than 20 others.

ExxonMobil has an active Exploration program in Norway including near field exploration and sub basalt mapping. A wide range of roles are available, many on a project basis.

3M

3M describes itself as “the innovation company”. More specifically, it has interests in a wide range of markets including electronics, telecommunications, healthcare, transportation, and manufacturing. 3M's Norway office in the Oslo region employs around 130 people.

Microsoft

In Norway, Microsoft works closely with 2,000 partners that offer Microsoft services and devices to the market. Roles are based in Oslo and include software engineering and project & product management.

Cisco

Cisco designs, develops and markets systems and software for video, voice and data communication. Cisco Systems Norway (formerly known as Tandberg) is based in Lysaker near Oslo with career opportunities including software and test engineers, security, and account management.

ConocoPhillips

One of the world’s largest independent E&P companies has significant operations in Norway from its offices at Tananger, near Stavanger.

As one of the largest foreign operators on the Norwegian continental shelf, they operate the fields in the Greater Ekofisk Area, and have ownership interests in fields such as Heidrun, Visund, Oseberg, Grane, Troll, Alvheim and Huldra.

They offer a range of oil and gas jobs including both onshore and offshore opportunities.

The Chamber of Commerce

For more information on the above companies and a bigger list of US businesses in Norway, you can check out the American-Norway Chamber of Commerce (AmCham), focused on event facilitation, member-to-member business assistance, and advocacy initiatives for doing business in Norway and the USA.

For more information about the Chamber, check out our podcast interview with the managing director.

You can also get a better idea of the types of jobs available in Norway by reading our industry guides for job-seekers, available for free here.