Amazon to create 1,000 new UK jobs

Amazon is creating 1,000 new permanent jobs in the UK, on top of the 2,500 roles previously announced in January, as it gears up for its “biggest Christmas ever”.

The roles will be based mainly in London, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Manchester and Leicestershire and spread across a range of Amazon divisions, including head office and R&D (research and development).

The company will have more than 15,500 permanent employees by the end of year once the hires have been made.

Doug Gurr, UK country manager for Amazon, said: “We are creating thousands of new jobs to continue to deliver the experience our customers know and love during the festive season and beyond. We are hiring for all types of roles from software engineers, computer programmers and corporate managers in our R&D centres and head office, to operations managers, engineers, service technicians, HR roles and order fulfilment roles in our fulfilment centres.”

Gurr told the BBC that the UK’s vote to leave the European Union has not affected Amazon’s expansion plans.

"Our sales are in line with expectations. It's business as usual as far as we are concerned," he said. "We don't know what the impact [of Brexit] will be. As far as we're concerned right now, we're keeping our heads down and continuing to do what we do. We'll deal with whatever situation arises.”

Amazon, which claims to have invested more than £4.6bn in the UK economy since 2010, also said its Prime Now delivery service was available to more than 30% of the UK population.

The service offers one-hour delivery for more than 15,000 popular items and is now available in London, Birmingham, Newcastle, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Portsmouth, South Yorkshire and Surrey.

“One year ago we reinvented fast delivery with the launch of the Prime Now app that makes it easy for customers to discover over 15,000 items for one-hour delivery, or select a same-day delivery slot at no extra charge,” said Gurr. “We’ve delivered on our promise to rollout quickly with the service available to millions of people from Newcastle to Portsmouth, and we’re continuing to invest to bring ultra-fast delivery to more and more of the UK.”