Amazon to launch 1,000 new UK apprenticeships

Applications for the new apprenticeships open on March 4, 2019. Successful applicants will be paid anywhere between £9.50/£10.50 an hour, up to £30,000 a year.

The apprenticeships will consist of nine different programmes lasting between 13 months and four years. They will cover roles in IT, safety and HR, through to software engineering, robotics, leadership and technology.

The US etailer said over 90 new Amazon bachelor and masters degree-level apprentices will also be available over the next two years as part of the programme. These will focus on software development engineering, senior leadership and automation.

Amazon said 20 per cent of the new apprenticeships will be offered exclusively to its existing workforce, which would provide “a route from working on the shop floor through to working on cutting-edge software development, robotics technology and senior leadership roles in the business”.

Amazon UK country manager Doug Gurr said: “Our fully funded apprenticeship programme, from entry level through to degree level, will provide an exciting path to becoming Amazon’s future team leaders, engineers and innovation drivers.”

The news comes as Amazon continues to increase its investment in the UK. 

Last October, it unveiled ambitions to bolster its research and development teams across the UK by opening a corporate office in Manchester employing 600 people.

As part of that announcement, the company said it would also expand its research and development centres in Edinburgh and Cambridge, adding 250 and 180 new roles respectively.