Tech giant Amazon announces 1,000 new jobs in Dublin

DUBLIN, Ireland - In a bid to boost its cloud computing business, global tech major Amazon announced the opening of a new headquarters in the Irish capital on Monday.

The company has said that its new office in Dublin, located on Burlington Road, will be focussed on its cloud computing business, Amazon Web Services.

Further, Amazon has also announced 1,000 new highly skilled technology jobs in the country.

Mike Beary, Country Leader for Ireland said that recruitment for various roles is already underway.

Beary said in a statement, "In addition to opening our new headquarters building in Dublin today, we are excited to announce that we are adding 1,000 new highly skilled technology jobs for Amazon and Amazon Web Services in Ireland over the next two years. Already we have posted 200 jobs on our website and more will be posted there over the next few weeks and months."

According to the company, it is looking for big data specialists, software and network engineers among other roles.

Reports noted that Amazon’s new jobs will be based at the firm’s current operations in Blanchardstown, Tallaght, the city centre, and north Co Dublin.

Commenting on the announcement, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar welcomed the new jobs.

Varadkar said in a statement that the company’s announcement was a vote of confidence for Ireland. 

He said, “The genius of Amazon is that it’s never finished changing and adapting. By opening this building and announcing 1,000 jobs you are helping us meet our ambition to make Dublin the tech capital of Europe.”

The Taoiseach also added that the highly skilled full time jobs that Amazon had announced were exactly what Ireland was looking for.

He added that the company had played a role in developing Ireland’s data centre infrastructure, which he said were the backbone of the cloud revolution.

Varadkar also acknowledged that the construction of data centres was not universally welcomed and pointed out, “There is a balance to be struck and we need to take account of community concerns.”

Beary meanwhile, noted in his announcement, “Today, we have more than 2,500 Amazon employees in Ireland supporting customers from Ireland and around the world. 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.”

Amazon Web Services is a subsidiary of online giant Amazon and offers cloud services spanning computer power, database storage, content delivery and other functionality. 

Amazon is one of the world’s fastest growing companies for hosting businesses online through its Amazon Web Services (AWS) division.

Currently, Amazon has over 1,000 employees in Cork and about 1,500 in Dublin, where it focuses on cloud services.