EPAM Systems has grown from a small Belarusian software shop into a publicly traded IT services giant. Founded in 1993 by Arkadiy Dobkin and Leo Lozner in Princeton, New Jersey, with development centers in Minsk, Belarus, EPAM has always bridged Eastern European engineering talent with Western enterprise clients.
The company went public on the NYSE in 2012 and has since grown to over 55,000 employees across more than 50 countries. Revenue reached $6.3 billion in 2023, making it one of the top IT services firms globally. EPAM’s client list includes Google, Adobe, Microsoft, and numerous Fortune 500 companies.
EPAM’s core strength is software engineering. Unlike some IT services firms that focus primarily on staff augmentation, EPAM positions itself as a product development partner that takes on complex engineering challenges. Their work spans custom application development, cloud migration, data engineering, AI/ML, and digital platform builds.
The company has a significant presence in its engineering hubs across Eastern Europe, India, and Latin America. However, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 forced EPAM to undertake a massive relocation effort, moving thousands of employees out of Ukraine and Belarus and accelerating its geographic diversification into India, Central Asia, and Latin America.
EPAM has acquired dozens of companies to expand its capabilities, including Continuum (UX/product design), MindK (Ukrainian development firm), and several data and cloud consulting firms. Their training programs, including EPAM University, develop engineering talent at scale.
What distinguishes EPAM from the Indian IT services giants is its engineering-first culture and a reputation for tackling technically complex projects rather than competing purely on cost.
