Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) is going on a hiring spree in Canada.
The online retailer has announced that it will hire 3,500 Canadians in British Columbia and Ontario as it expands its operations in those provinces.
Amazon revealed Monday that 3,000 of the jobs will be in Vancouver, where it is growing its footprint, and another 500 will be in Toronto, home of a brand-new Amazon office location.
The new corporate and tech jobs will include software development engineers, user experience designers, speech scientists working to make the Alexa artificial intelligence device smarter, cloud computing architects, and sales and marketing executives.
The bulk of the jobs will be in a Vancouver building where Amazon will take over an extra 63,000 square metres of office space. By 2023 it will be operating across 18 floors that it is leasing in the building's north tower and 17 in its south tower.
Vancouver has long been seen as an attractive Canadian outpost for companies because of its proximity to the U.S. and major tech hubs including Silicon Valley and Amazon's headquarters in neighbouring Seattle.
The company will also welcome new workers in Toronto, where it will lease 12,000 square metres over five floors at a downtown building that is not far from investors on Bay Street. It hopes workers will be in the building next summer.
Amazon's renewed interest in its corporate and tech workforce within Canada comes after focusing the bulk of its efforts in the market on its network of 16 fulfilment centres - 13 already in operation and another three coming in Hamilton, Ajax and Ottawa, Ontario.
To date, Amazon has invested more than $11 billion in Canada, including infrastructure and compensation, delivered $9 billion to the country's economy and created 67,000 jobs, according to the company.
