Quitoruns on a handful of strong industries. If you’re job-hunting or weighing a move, here’s where the opportunities (and the big-name employers) are.
Top industries & employers
Oil, energy & services
Petroecuador, Schlumberger, Halliburton, Sinopec, Enap Sipetrol
Ecuador is an oil exporter and the industry's corporate, engineering and contracting layer sits in northern Quito even though the fields are in the Amazon. It remains one of the largest sources of professional employment in the city.
Government & international organisations
Ministries and the Asamblea Nacional, UNASUR legacy institutions, UN agencies, IDB, embassies
Quito is the seat of government and the diplomatic capital, and the concentration of ministries, multilaterals and NGOs makes the public and development sectors unusually large employers here compared with Guayaquil.
Banking & finance
Banco Pichincha, Produbanco, Banco Guayaquil, Banco Internacional, cooperativas de ahorro y crédito
Banco Pichincha is Ecuador's largest bank and is headquartered here. Alongside the banks sits an unusually large cooperative savings sector, which serves a big share of the population and operates under its own regulator.
Agro-export & flowers
Expoflores members, Hilsea, Florecal, Nevado Roses
The high-altitude plateau around Quito, particularly Cayambe and Tabacundo, produces the roses that made Ecuador one of the world's leading cut-flower exporters — a genuinely Quito-region industry built on twelve-hour equatorial days.
Technology & services export
Kruger Corporation, Yuxi Global, Tata Consultancy Services, Uber and Rappi regional operations
A modest but real software and services sector, boosted by dollarisation removing currency risk for foreign clients. Salaries are low by international standards, which is why nearshore contracting has grown.
Tourism & hospitality
Metropolitan Touring, Quito Turismo, Galápagos operators, Casa Gangotena
Quito is the gateway to the Galápagos and to the Andean circuit, and the historic centre supports a substantial hotel and tour-operator sector. Much of the Galápagos industry is administered from here rather than from the islands.
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