Amazon expands Toronto Tech Hub and announces plans to create 600 new tech jobs

Amazon opens a new 113,000 sq. ft. office in downtown Toronto to accommodate the company's continued job creation in Ontario

With this expansion in Toronto, Amazon has this year alone announced plans to create more than 6,000 new jobs in Canada, from cloud computing and engineering roles to customer fulfillment positions

Amazon now has over 10,000 employees across Canada and has invested over $3 billion in the country since 2011, including infrastructure and compensation

SEATTLE, Dec. 18, 2018 /CNW/ - (NASDAQ: AMZN)— Amazon today announced an expansion of its Toronto Tech Hub and plans to create 600 new tech jobs in fields including software development, machine learning, cloud computing, digital advertising, and artificial intelligence. To accommodate the company's continued growth in Ontario, Amazon has opened a new 113,000 square foot office in Scotia Plaza in downtown Toronto, owned by KingSett Capital and AIMCo. Amazon currently has more than 800 corporate employees in Toronto, primarily focused on research and software development for customer fulfillment technology, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Alexa, as well as business development for Amazon Advertising and AWS.

"Amazon is excited to create hundreds of new highly-skilled jobs in Toronto," said Tamir Bar-Haim, Amazon's Toronto Site Lead and Head of Amazon Advertising in Canada. "Toronto has a well-educated and diverse workforce, and there's a real culture of innovation here. We look forward to continuing to invent for our customers in Canada and globally, and welcoming top-tier talent to fill exciting roles across Amazon."

"Amazon's long-term commitment to our province is a vote of confidence in our skilled workforce and competitive business environment," said Ontario Premier Doug Ford. "It sends a clear signal to the world that Ontario is Open for Business."

"Canada is recognized globally as a leader in the innovation economy, and Amazon's expansion of its Toronto tech hub is proof that Canada's talented and skilled workforce has what it takes to compete and succeed.  We welcome Amazon's investment in Toronto and the jobs they have created all across Canada," said Bill Morneau, Minister of Finance & Member of Parliament for Toronto Centre.

"Amazon's expansion of its Toronto Tech Hub underscores the incredible tech talent we have in our city, and jobs like these allow us to retain and attract high tech talent locally," said Toronto Mayor John Tory. "Thank you Amazon for choosing to grow in Toronto, and we look forward to working with you as a key partner in Toronto's innovation ecosystem."

Amazon's Toronto Tech Hub is one of the company's 18 Tech Hubs outside Seattle in North America, which together employ more than 20,000 people building new products and services for Amazon customers. The Toronto-based teams support the company's global logistics and operations network by creating cutting-edge technology to enhance the delivery experience for customers. Additionally, the AWS team enables customers in the Greater Toronto Area including the Art Gallery of Ontario, Flynn Group of Companies, The Globe and Mail, Porter Airlines, theScore, the Toronto International Film Festival, and the Toronto Star, to build in the cloud.

Amazon continues to invest heavily across Canada. With this expansion in Toronto, Amazon has this year alone announced plans to create more than 6,000 new jobs in Canada, across new corporate offices in Vancouver and Toronto and four new customer fulfillment centers in Ottawa, Caledon, Tsawwassen First Nation, and Edmonton. These new job opportunities are for candidates with all types of experience, education, and skill levels—from engineers and cloud computing specialists to those seeking entry-level positions and on-the-job training. Amazon now has more than 10,000 employees in Canada, across its Toronto and Vancouver Tech Hubs, the AWS infrastructure region in the Montreal area, and customer fulfillment facilities in Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario. Since 2011, Amazon has invested more than CAD $3 billion in Canada, including customer fulfillment and cloud infrastructure, research facilities, and compensation to our employees.

Building the future together in Canada

Named #4 on LinkedIn's 2018 Top Companies list for Canadian employers, Amazon provides comprehensive benefits to its employees, from the company's most senior executives to its hourly associates – including highly-competitive pay, benefits, and a group RRSP plan. Amazon's customer fulfillment associates can also take advantage of its innovative Career Choice program, which pays 95 percent of the cost of tuition to pursue continuing education courses in in-demand fields, regardless of whether the skills are relevant to a career at Amazon. To date, more than 16,000 Amazonians globally have used the job-retraining program. Some of the most popular areas in Canada include computer programming, information technology, and healthcare. 

Additionally, as part of the company's ongoing commitment to the communities where our employees live and work, the Amazon Future Engineer program recently donated CAD $525,000 to Canada Learning Code to help inspire students of diverse backgrounds—especially women and underrepresented groups—to pursue careers in the technology sector. Amazon is also working to expand its AWS Educate initiative globally. More than 50 Canadian institutions, including Ryerson University and the University of Toronto, are accelerating the education and training of the next generation of IT and cloud professionals through AWS Educate.

With more than 610,000 employees worldwide, Amazon ranks first on Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies, second in Fortune's World Most Admired Companies, and first on The Harris Poll's Corporate Reputation survey. To learn more about working at Amazon, click here. Candidates interested in applying for open roles at Amazon's Toronto Tech Hub can visit amazon.jobs/toronto-canada.    

About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews

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