Amazon announced that it is creating more than 1,000 permanent new jobs in Ireland over the next two years. In addition to central Dublin, where Amazon opened a new 170,000 square foot building, these highly skilled roles will be based in Amazon locations in north Co Dublin, Blanchardstown, and Tallaght. Creating 1,000 new jobs doubles the growth target committed to by Amazon in 2016, when the company pledged to hire 500 people in two years – and did so nine months ahead of schedule.

New roles include software development engineers

The new roles currently include software development engineers, network development engineers, data centre engineers, support engineers, solutions architects, systems engineers, optical deployment engineers, security specialists, big data specialists, DevOps engineers, and a range of technical management positions for both Amazon and Amazon Web Services (AWS). The jobs reflect Amazon’s growing investments in the country as a centre of excellence for software engineering, research, and customer services. “Today, we have more than 2,500 Amazon employees in Ireland supporting customers from Ireland and around the world,” said Mike Beary, AWS Ireland country manager. “There is an abundance of talent in Ireland which helped us to exceed our talent growth targets ahead of schedule. Ireland is a great place to do business, the country’s creative culture and diverse pool of technical skills make it an ideal location for our rapidly expanding business.” Taoiseach Leo Varadkar TD said: “This is excellent news for Dublin. Amazon's decision to bring another 1,000 jobs to Ireland underpins our mission to make this country an innovative, digital economy and a global leader for the tech sector. These are well paid, high quality jobs, in four locations across Dublin, meaning this announcement will bring tangible benefits right across the city.

Commitment to investing in research and innovation here

"The creation of these new jobs and the company's commitment to investing in research and innovation here is fundamental to maintaining Ireland’s reputation as tech hub for Europe. "It is also testament to Ireland’s reputation as a location for top talent and I would like to congratulate and pay tribute to the existing staff and management at Amazon in Ireland who have allowed the company to go from strength to strength here over the last 14 years.” Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphreys said: “We are absolutely delighted with this new investment by Amazon in Ireland. The company’s continued commitment to our country will help us to power the Irish digital economy into the future, which will impact positively on our people, businesses and communities. "This investment supports the notion that Ireland continues to be a sustainable international destination for tech infrastructure. We are very pleased to have Amazon here and look forward to tracking their ongoing success in the years to come.” Martin Shanahan, CEO at IDA Ireland, said: “Amazon has a long history of success in Ireland and today’s announcement is a testament to Ireland’s highly skilled, diverse workforce. "Tech talent and investment are fundamental to our country’s continued growth, and companies like Amazon are bringing even more energy, vision, innovation – and good jobs – to Ireland. We are proud to support these companies, who invest in our talent and the future of our economy, and create new opportunities for the country to succeed.”

Amazon’s long history of commitment to Ireland

After first opening an office in Ireland in September 2004, Amazon extended its commitment and investment in the country, and in April 2006 opened a Customer Service Centre in Cork. The Customer Service Centre now spans more than 47,500 square feet and employs more than 1,000 people in a variety of roles from instructional designers and support engineers, to operations managers and capacity planners. In November 2007, Amazon Web Services (AWS) opened its first EU region in Ireland. Since then AWS has grown the number of staff and the diversity of their roles. AWS now has highly skilled staff and teams of account managers, data centre engineers, logistics managers, mechanical technicians, professional services, security specialists, solutions architects, support engineers, technical account managers, and trainers based in Dublin. These teams are working with customers in every industry, across almost every imaginable use case. Today AWS’s teams in Ireland engineer new technologies to support Amazon’s businesses, including our retail operations, customer services, seller services, devices, and AWS. There are currently more than 2,500 Amazon employees across Ireland and more than 1,000 engaged in data centre operations.

Collaborated with IT Tallaght to fund a bursary programme for 20 students

In addition to creating new jobs, Amazon has collaborated with the Institute of Technology Tallaght (IT Tallaght) to fund a bursary programme for 20 students to study to become data centre technicians. During the programme students will have the opportunity to apply for paid internships at AWS’s data centres in Ireland and the academic credits earned will form part of IT Tallaght’s BSc IT Management allowing the students to progress to full professional level qualification through the institute’s full-time or lifelong-learning programmes. AWS is committed to promoting cloud learning. In addition to IT Tallaght, AWS is working with a number of Irish colleges and universities as part of its AWS Educate and AWS Academy programmes. AWS Educate supports tertiary institutes such as the Dublin Institute of Technology, Dublin City University, and the University of Limerick to provide students and educators with technology and training resources, at no charge. AWS Academy serves post-secondary institutions exclusively and offers an end-to-end curriculum, developed and maintained by AWS. It is designed to be delivered over a semester by AWS Academy Accredited Instructors. Institutions including the Institute of Technology Tallaght, Dublin Institute of Technology, Cork Institute of Technology, Limerick Institute of Technology, and Waterford Institute of Technology are all members of AWS Academy. People interested in applying for one of the roles with Amazon in Dublin, or any of Amazon’s offices across EMEA, can apply online at https://amazon.jobs/.