The online shopping giant has vowed to create more than 2,000 permanent jobs in the UK in 2019, with new roles within head office, R&D, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and operations. The recruitment drive will take Amazon UK’s total permanent workforce to more than 29,500 by the end of the year.

Amazon has invested over £9.3 billion in its UK operations since 2010 and Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond has said the announcement is “a clear vote of confidence” from Amazon in the British economy.

The positions available include engineers, software developers, data scientists, and cloud and machine learning experts, along with a number of entry-level positions. Amazon will see new additions join its head office and fashion photography studio in London; its new corporate office in Manchester; dozens of delivery stations across the country; and its growing  network of fulfilment centres.

Amazon believes the breadth of the roles available “reflect the range of expertise” the company has in the UK and the important role these employees play in developing new technologies.

Amazon UK country manager Doug Gurr said: “We are delighted to be able continue to invest and grow our UK business. The UK is a fantastic hub for global talent and the exciting, innovative work that takes place here benefits Amazon’s customers around the world. Whether you are looking for a highly-specialised role at one of our fulfilment centres or in a field such as machine learning or flight engineering, we offer a wide variety of opportunities.”

Of the jobs created, more than 170 will be at Amazon’s development centres in Cambridge, Edinburgh and London.

In Amazon’s Cambridge development centre, teams help to build and continually improve the knowledge systems within Alexa, the cloud-based voice service used on devices  such as Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, Fire TV, and Fire TV Stick. AWS also has a presence in Cambridge, designing and building the next generation of cloud storage.

In Edinburgh - which was established in 2004 as Amazon’s first development centre outside the United States - teams of engineers, scientists, designers and product managers work on  innovations that power Amazon’s capabilities in advertising technology,  personalised shopping recommendations, product relationships, and global talent  management.

Amazon’s London development centre employs software engineers and computer programmers working across its global Amazon Video service to support product development and design for ‘living room devices’, web, and mobile applications. AWS also has a significant team in London, and continues to grow.

Alongside the 2,000 new permanent roles announced today, Amazon revealed plans earlier this year for 1,000 new apprenticeships in the UK over the next two years. The apprenticeships will consist of nine programmes, lasting between 13 months and four years, across IT, software engineering, robotics, leadership and technology, as well as safety and human resources. Alongside these roles, more than 90 new graduate and postgraduate apprentices will also become qualified over the next two years as part of the programme, through on-the-job and  classroom training, focusing on software development engineering, senior  leadership and automation.