Amazon bringing 3000 new jobs to Vancouver

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday that Amazon is expanding its Vancouver tech hub with a new headquarters.

This is expected to bring an additional 3,000 high tech jobs to the city in fields including e-commerce technology, cloud computing, and machine learning.

The new headquarters will be located at the old Canada Post headquarters, at 349 West Georgia Street where Monday’s announcement was made. It is expected to open in 2022.

This is in addition to Amazon’s current Vancouver offices – including its 156,000 square-foot location in TELUS Garden which opened to Amazon employees in 2015. On top of Monday’s announcement, Amazon also confirmed last November its plans to expand into another downtown site on Dunsmuir Street, which will open in 2020.

“Amazon is excited to create 3,000 more highly skilled jobs in Vancouver,” said Alexandre Gagnon, vice-president of Amazon Canada and Mexico. “Vancouver is home to an incredibly talented and diverse workforce, and these thousands of new employees will invent on behalf of our customers worldwide.”

Amazon already employs more than 6,000 people in Canada. It employs more than 1,000 researchers and engineers in Vancouver.

“Our vibrant cities, which are home to some of the best talent in the world, are poised to attract premier investment that creates the jobs of tomorrow. Canadians share your passion for invention and your commitment to excellence – and that’s why we are excited to see Amazon grow here in Vancouver,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Monday.