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Online giant Amazon will offer “hundreds” of opportunities in engineering, logistics and warehousing roles

Amazon is set to create 5,000 new jobs in the UK this year as it works to offer faster delivery and a wider selection of products.

The full-time roles - which range from entry-level positions to software engineers - will be spread across a number of divisions including logistics, innovation and customer service.

About half of the jobs will be in Amazon’s three fulfilment centres due to open this year in Tilbury, Doncaster and Daventry, as announced in 2016.

Three in 10 of the new roles will be based at its Amazon Web Services office in London and its three development centres in Cambridge, Edinburgh and London, which work on innovations such as Alexa and drone delivery.

The remaining jobs will be spread across its London head office, customer service centre in Edinburgh and fashion photography studio in Shoreditch as Amazon prepares to launch its own-label clothing range.

The recruitment drive will take its UK workforce to 24,000 - up from 15,500 at end of last year.

Amazon also today announced the launch of an apprenticeship scheme, which it said would offer “hundreds” of opportunities in engineering, logistics and warehousing roles in fulfilment centres.

“We are creating thousands of new UK jobs including hundreds of apprenticeship opportunities as we continue to innovate for our customers and provide them with even faster delivery, more selection and better value,” said Amazon UK country manager Doug Gurr.

Amazon has steadily increased its presence in the UK over the past two years with the rollout of services such as Prime Now and Amazon Fresh. This year, it will open a new 600,000 sq ft head office in Shoreditch, East London, which will run alongside its existing premises in Holborn.