Amazon ramps up UK investment with commitment to over 1,000 new jobs

E-commerce giant Amazon is set to further cement its commitment to the UK, after it revealed plans tonight for a new research centre in Manchester and expansion in Edinburgh and Cambridge which will create over 1,000 new highly-skilled jobs in the country in 2019.

Labelled by the firm as “Silicon Valley jobs in Britain”, the new offices in Manchester will create 600 roles to work on software development, artificial intelligence and research for new products.

Additionally, new jobs and office expansion allocated to existing research centres in Edinburgh and Cambridge will house work on products such as Amazon’s voice assistant Alexa, its range of Echo smart speakers and Prime Air, a future delivery service to get packages to customers in 30 minutes or less using drones.

Read more: Amazon hands pay rise to 37,000 UK staff

Trade secretary Liam Fox said Amazon’s fresh investment represented “an enormous vote of confidence in the UK, and a signal to the world that the UK is very much open for business”.

The news follows the opening of a new Amazon headquarters and development centre in Shoreditch last year, housed inside the new Principle Place building, and a move to hike the salaries of all UK staff over the Living Wage rate.

London staff will receive a wage increase to a minimum of £10.50 per hour from 1 November, including both its 17,000-strong full-time staff and its 20,000 temp agency staff across the UK.