Amazon to hire ‘thousands more’ in Euro expansion
The retailer recently revealed plans for a new UK head office and a new datacentre region centred on this country. The UK datacentre region will supplement existing centres in Frankfurt and in Dublin.
Amazon EU retail vice president Xavier Garambois said strong growth prospects had sparked the investment. “We are seeing stronger demand than ever from our customers all across Europe, and we see lots more opportunity across Amazon’s businesses to invent and invest for the future,” said Garambois.
‘Created over 10,000 new jobs’
“We created over 10,000 new jobs in 2015 and plan to create several thousand more in 2016 at all education, experience and skill levels, from speech and linguistic scientists to digital media experts to fulfillment centre and customer service associates.”
The business planned to invest in its European Fulfilment Network, increase EU-based research and development, and build new infrastructure to support its growing cloud-computing business, among other initiatives.
As part of its expansion plans, Amazon planned to recruit more computer scientists and software development engineers across its European network of 12 research and development centres. Centres in the UK Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Spain.
Amazon also confirmed plans to continue investment in its drone delivery service Prime Air – promoted last month by former Top Gear TV star Jeremy Clarkson.
Amazon jobs
“We created over 10,000 new jobs in 2015 and plan to create several thousand more in 2016 ... ”.
- Xavier Garambois, Amazon
New job creation record
The retailer claimed to have set a new job creation record in Europe last year, with more than 10,000 new permanent jobs, bringing the company’s total European workforce to over 40,000.
It claimed to have invested more than £11.5bn (€15bn) in Europe since 2010 on infrastructure and operations for fulfilment and customer service, AWS datacentre regions, research and development, and other items.
Meanwhile, last September, Amazon chose Birmingham to launch its long-awaited Amazon Fresh Food delivery business in the UK.
A spokesman for the retailer told FoodManufacture.co.uk at the time: “Prime Now customers already benefit from ultra-fast delivery on everything from essentials like bottled water, coffee and nappies to must-have products like the latest video games and devices.
“We are excited to add a range of chilled and frozen food items to this selection, as we continue to expand the number and variety of products that can be ordered for delivery within 60 minutes.”
Read more about the 2,500 jobs due to be created in the UK here.
For the very latest jobs in UK food and drink manufacturing, visit FoodManJobs.
