Amazon UK is hiring 10,000 new permanent employees this year, most of which will be based in Amazon warehouses.
The hiring program of Amazon UK will bring the company’s total headcount in the country to over 40,000.
According to Amazon, it had already recruited 3,000 new permanent staff for its warehouses, delivery stations, and sorting centers this year. The company will welcome additional 7,000 roles by the end of 2020 across more than 50 UK sites, including corporate offices and two new warehouses that will run in the coming months in the North East and in the Midlands.
Meanwhile, the Amazon jobs that will be filled include health and safety specialists, engineers, as well as workers who pick, pack, and ship items to Amazon’s customers.
The e-commerce giant said most of the people that it hired for temporary roles during the pandemic will be able to land in permanent roles.
In a statement, Stefano Perego, Amazon’s vice president of European customer fulfillment, said that “The new roles will help us continue to meet customer demand and support small and medium sized businesses selling on Amazon.”
He noted: “We are employing thousands of talented individuals in a diverse range of good jobs from operations managers and tech professionals through to people to handle customer orders.”
In a separate statement, Business Secretary Alok Sharma stressed that Amazon’s recruitment plan “is a clear vote of confidence in the UK economy as we build back better from the pandemic.”
Amazon plans to hire 20,000 people in temporary roles to help the company manage the increasing demand in the lead up to Christmas.
“We prepare year-round for the festive season and we’re also excited to have over 20,000 seasonal positions available this year to help delight our customers,” said Perego.
Last month, Amazon announced that it is planning to create 3,500 new tech and corporate jobs across six major U.S. cities.
The Seattle-headquartered firm has over 876,000 employees across the world, with 600,000 staff hired by the company since 2010.
Appointments at Amazon
Alicia Boler Davis has become the first black woman to join the Amazon's senior leadership team.
Davis, who was hired by Amazon in 2019, was appointed as the company’s vice president of global customer fulfillment, effectively becoming the fourth female and first black woman to join the firm’s esteemed senior leadership group or “S-team.”
Two other executive appointments were made alongside Davis, namely David Treadwell as vice president of the eCommerce Foundation and John Felton as vice president of global delivery services.
The appointments were made following Amazon’s announcement on Friday that Jeff Wilke, chief executive officer (CEO) of Amazon Worldwide Consumer, will be retiring in the first quarter of 2021.
Amazon US
Amazon also announced in August its plan to hire 3,500 additional workers in cities across the US as part of its expansion initiative amidst the pandemic.
In a blog post, Amazon said the additional workers will be added to its efforts in cloud computing, advertising, smart assistants and grocery delivery, among other areas.
They will be part of office expansions in New York, Dallas, Detroit, Denver, Phoenix and San Diego, which will entail over 905,000 square feet of additional office space and $1.4 billion in investment.
