Amazon to create 400 new UK jobs in Cambridge to bolster AI and drone delivery business

Since 2010, the sprawling Seattle-headquartered group has invested £6.4bn across the UK

Once the new centre is open, an existing facility in Cambridge will largely be used for research and development related to Amazon’s Prime Air (Rex)

Amazon is continuing its fierce expansion in the UK, unveiling plans to hire 400 people for a new development centre due to open in Cambridge in autumn.

The retail giant said on Thursday that it was recruiting “extensively” for machine learning scientists, knowledge engineers, data scientists, mathematical modellers, speech scientists and software engineers to staff the new facilities and work on products like the Kindle, Fire tablet, Fire TV Stick, Echo, Echo Dot and the new Echo Look.

Once the new centre is open, an existing facility in Cambridge will largely be used for research and development related to Amazon’s Prime Air – a delivery system which aims to get parcels to customers in 30 minutes or less using drones.

Last week Amazon announced that it was creating 1,200 new jobs at a site in Warrington under plans announced in February to expand its UK workforce by 5,000, despite uncertainty stemming from Brexit.

The UK has for some years been a major market for Amazon and in March the sprawling Seattle-headquartered group launched Amazon Business for the UK, aimed at doing for businesses what it already does for individual customers, by offering a marketplace where companies can buy everything from industrial machinery to paper clips and janitorial equipment, even in bulk.

Amazon has said that after this year’s expansion drive, it expects to have a total UK workforce of 24,000.

“Amazon's increased investment in developing cutting-edge technology in Cambridge is another vote of confidence in the UK as a world-leading centre of invention and innovation," said Matt Hancock, Minister of State for Digital and Culture.

Amazon now has three development centres in the UK, 12 so-called fulfilment centres, where goods are received, stored, packaged and prepared for shipment to customers, and 41 delivery stations. Since 2010, it has invested £6.4bn across the UK.