Amazon UK to create 2,500 jobs across the country over the next six months

Victoria Woollaston June 6, 2018

Amazon has announced it plans to create 2,500 permanent jobs in the UK this year to help support businesses across the country and bolster the economy.

Amazon UK to create 2,500 jobs across the country over the next six months

The new roles will be across industry and include software developers, engineers and technicians, as well as entry-level positions and apprenticeships. According to Amazon, these jobs “reflect growing investments in British research and development” and are said to be a result of a growing appetite in the UK for Amazon’s ever-increasing range of services, including AmazonFresh, Amazon Business, Amazon Fashion, Prime Now, Prime Video, Amazon Music, Amazon Echo and AWS.

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In particular, more than 650 permanent jobs will be created in the company’s development centres in Cambridge, Edinburgh and London, its customer service centre in Edinburgh, within AWS, its head office and fashion photography studio in London, and 16 of its fulfilment centres, including sites in Coventry and Bolton.

In a press release, Amazon said it had invested more than £9.3 billion in its UK operations since 2010 and, once all these vacancies are filled, it will have more than 6,500 corporate, research and development and AWS roles in the UK by the end of 2018.

The move comes amid ongoing claims of poor working conditions at Amazon centres in the US. These claims have reached such a fever pitch that Amazon was recently named one of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health’s (NCOSH) “most dangerous places to work.”

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The report highlighted that since 2013, seven Amazon employees have died at work due to the company’s “relentless demand to fill orders”. In response, Amazon told Alphr “it has created over 130,000 jobs in the last year alone and now employs over 560,000 people around the world, with safety metrics and audits.”

It added, as part of today’s announcement, “all permanent Amazon employees, whether working in UK fulfilment centres or corporate offices, receive competitive pay and stock grants that vest over the course of their careers in the business.”

Employees are also offered private medical insurance, life assurance, income protection, discounts and a pension.

Elsewhere, the company is currently recruiting 170 apprentices in UK fulfilment centres and all its roles, as they become available, will be listed on the Amazon Jobs page.