In a signal that office space still matters, Amazon expands tech jobs in Phoenix
Amazon.com Inc. said Tuesday it will create 500 new technology and corporate jobs in the Phoenix area, expanding its office space in the Valley by more than 90,000 square feet.
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The move is part of a national expansion to six different cities where the online retail giant will be adding a total of 3,500 new jobs and more than 900,000 square feet of office space.
The announcement comes just days after the company surveyed its Seattle employees about whether they’d be willing to work in other Puget Sound cities and suburbs.
The move is yet another example of Amazon’s rapid expansion during the pandemic. It comes as other tech companies are doubling down on their remote work policies after the Covid-19 pandemic proved that corporations can function with their workers scattered outside of central office spaces.
Amazon has said its employees can continue to work from home through Jan. 8. But the company’s expansion move Tuesday signals that Amazon is preparing to bring its employees back to the office and it still believes those spaces are a key part of its mission.
Valley presence
Amazon already has 150 tech and corporate employees in Phoenix. The Valley’s Tech Hub employees work on a wide range of Amazon projects including developing new technologies for the company’s sortation process as well as creating new tools for Amazon Photos.
Earlier this year the company leased space in the 18-story 100 Mill building, which is currently under construction in downtown Tempe.
“We’ve been able to hire great talent in Phoenix and our teams here have been developing some of Amazon’s latest inventions – now we want to double down on our hiring efforts in the city,” said Doug Welzel, the site lead at Amazon’s Phoenix corporate office, in a statement. “We look forward to continue working with the wider Phoenix community and local leaders to attract and develop the best innovators in the region and become a new source of growth for the city’s economy.”
It total, Amazon employs more than 17,500 people in Arizona. The company has seven fulfillment and sortation centers across the state, as well as four delivery stations and 10 Whole Food Market stores.
Amazon claims to have invested more than $11 billion into Arizona since 2010 and to have added $9 billion to the state’s GDP.
Amazon said it will also expand its tech hubs in Dallas, Detroit, Denver, New York City, and San Diego. In all, more than 900,000 square feet of new office space will be created at a cost of $1.4 billion.
The biggest expansion will be in Manhattan, where Amazon bought the Lord & Taylor Fifth Avenue building. Amazon plans to open 630,000 square feet of office space in the city and add 2,000 new jobs there.
The new jobs will support various Amazon businesses, including AWS, Alexa, Amazon Advertising, Amazon Fashion, OpsTech and Amazon Fresh. Among the new roles will be infrastructure architects, software engineers, data scientists, product managers and user experience designers.
The company said Tuesday it is currently hiring to fill a total of 20,000 positions in the U.S., including tech, corporate and fulfillment roles.
What’s next for Seattle?
Notably absent from the list of cities where Amazon is adding jobs is its headquarters of Seattle, where in recent years the company has been in the crosshairs of a “Tax Amazon” campaign to raise revenue for affordable housing.
Amazon has pitched itself into an all-out political battle over Seattle taxes. The company pumped a record $1.5 million into City Council races last year. Two years ago, Amazon even temporarily halted construction on one of its Seattle office towers in protest of a proposed payroll tax. Those efforts — and a broad backlash from much of the business community — managed to keep a Seattle payroll tax at bay until this summer.
Last month, however, Seattle City Council approved a new tax on the city’s largest employers, levying the payrolls of employees making at least $150,000 a year. The legislation provides emergency Covid-19 funding as well as money to build housing.
In February, Amazon announced that it plans to bring an additional 15,000 jobs to Bellevue, Washington. Many of the jobs, which the company said will materialize in “the next few years,” will be housed in a 600-foot-tall office tower planned for 110th Avenue in the city’s downtown.
Amazon employs about 50,000 workers at its Seattle headquarters, which includes more than 40 buildings sprawling across several blocks.
Last month, Amazon said it doubled its Q2 income compared to last year, bringing in $5.2 billion. In addition, the company said its Q2 sales were up 40% year over year to $88.9 billion.
With its earnings release, the company said it will grow its already colossal logistics square footage by about 50% this year. In Q2 alone, Amazon invested $9 billion in fulfillment, transportation and AWS capital projects.
Companywide, Amazon employs more than 600,000 people in the U.S. and 876,000 worldwide.