We are delighted to announce the official opening of our newest UK corporate office in Central Manchester.
Based in the iconic Hanover Building in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, the site will be home to 600 employees. We have already begun recruiting for talented new candidates to fill both technical and corporate roles across Amazon.
Over time, the Manchester office will be home to highly skilled tech and non-tech employees including software development engineers, solutions architects, applied scientists, business development specialists and finance analysts.
This office will result in Amazon employing more than 6,000 people across the North West and helps us to provide more job opportunities and more support for small businesses and tech startups in the local community.
New opportunities for students
The new office opens up opportunities for graduates, including the Retail Graduate and Business Development Graduate roles working with key brands across Amazon’s Retail and Merchant Services businesses.
We have also launched the Amazon Future Engineer Bursary for students at the University of Manchester to support those from low-income backgrounds who are studying computer science. This bursary will provide selected students with £3,500 a year to support their studies.
Professor Robert Stevens, Head of Computer Science at The University of Manchester, said: “The University of Manchester is delighted to be part of the Amazon Future Engineer programme and welcomes the support Amazon is providing to fund two undergraduate students studying computer science. We hope that this initiative, together with several other outreach programmes that the University delivers, will help inspire and enable more students to study computer science and pursue tech careers.”
Securing jobs for Amazon Web Services (AWS) re/Start students in Manchester
The AWS re/Start programme launched in the UK in 2017 and has expanded globally, with cohorts in America, France and the Netherlands. It is a 12-week course which blends theory and practical work with soft skills and employability development to prepare young learners to start a career in cloud computing.
The first cohort of students from Manchester will graduate at the opening of the new office and will begin working for high-profile UK organisations, including FibreNation and Isosec, as well as exciting local start-ups like Mission Labs.
Applications for the February 2020 AWS re/Start programme are currently open.
Supporting local businesses
AWS will also launch an initiative designed to support the development of Manchester-based start-ups: AWS Startup Garage. The initiative will bring various start-ups of different sizes and industries together to network, share practices and gain direct insight from AWS experts. The initiatives will be hosted in the new Manchester office throughout 2020.
AWS is already working with many Manchester based start-ups, including:
- Wondrwall: a technology company dedicated to changing the way we live and how we use energy by combining AI-powered home automation with clean energy production and super-efficient heating systems
- Mission Labs: a company which aims to take on traditional telecommunications industry by re-thinking how communications solutions are built, delivered, and used
- DigitalBridge: a guided design platform that enables retailers to help their customers design and buy their dream bathroom or kitchen
Creating local jobs
The new corporate office in Manchester will enable Amazon to boost employment in the North West by creating around 600 new jobs and increasing our employee headcount to more than 6,000 people across the North West. This includes the staff currently working in fulfilment centres, delivery stations and the sortation centre.
Supporting the local community
Increasing our presence in Manchester will allow us to expand a range of existing initiatives, helping us to continue our support for the local community. These initiatives include:
- Amazon Future Engineer: a childhood-to-career education programme that aims to inspire children and young people to consider a career in computer science
- Clicks & Mortar: in 2019, Amazon partnered with Enterprise Nation to launch the first Clicks & Mortar store in St Mary’s Gate, Manchester. The pilot programme enables small online businesses to test physical retail for the first time
- AWS Support: AWS operates two Edge Locations in Manchester as part of its global content delivery network, to securely deliver data, videos, applications and APIs to customers globally with low latency and high transfer speeds
The opening of this office is part of our long-term commitment to the UK, where we have already invested more than £18 billion since 2010 and now employ more than 29,500 across the UK.
“I am delighted we’re opening our first corporate office in the North of England today,” said Doug Gurr, UK Country Manager, Amazon.
“Manchester offers an incredible talent pool, a thriving hub of fast-growing UK tech start-ups and is a centre of academic and intellectual excellence. We are already actively hiring from all a range of skillsets for our new Manchester office, so if you’ve always wanted to build the future, come and build it with us.”
For vacancies currently available in Manchester, please visit our jobs page.
