Amazon is on course to create 10,000 new permanent jobs during 2020 across its UK operations in order to meet growing consumer demand.

The new roles will take Amazon’s total UK workforce above 40,000 employees and it has already filled 3,000 of the planned 10,000 jobs across its fulfilment operations. 

Approximately half of the remaining 7,000 roles will be recruited for the retailer’s three new warehouses in Durham, Nottingham and Darlington, while those remaining will be spread across the UK and include jobs ranging from engineers to finance and IT specialists.

The retailer has said that many of the staff who took on temporary roles during the spike in trading triggered by the coronavirus pandemic will be given the opportunity to transition into permanent positions as a result of this recruitment drive.

Amazon will also hire a further 20,000 seasonal employees across the UK during the Christmas trading period, as well as opening a further three pop-up fulfilment centres to cope with anticipated demand. 

Amazon’s vice-president of European customer fulfilment Stefano Perego said: “We’re proud to be creating 10,000 new permanent roles across our UK network of fulfilment centres, sort centres and delivery stations offering competitive wages and comprehensive benefits starting on day one.

“Our people have played a critical role in serving customers in these unprecedented times and the new roles will help us continue to meet customer demand and support small and medium-sized businesses selling on Amazon.”