New Amazon office for Manchester as firm expands

Amazon is to create more than 1,000 more research and development jobs across England and Scotland.

As part of the plans, a new office will be opened in Manchester, where 600 highly-skilled workers will focus on software development, machine learning and research and development.

The site will be at the Hanover Building in the city's Northern Quarter.

Sites at Edinburgh and Cambridge will also get extra workers - 250 and 180 respectively.

Workers in Edinburgh will focus on advertising technology and personalised shopping while those at Cambridge will be working on Amazon devices such as the Echo.

Doug Gurr, Amazon's UK country manager, said: "With (Other OTC: WWTH - news) the UK taking a leading role in our global innovation, we are delighted to announce plans to create capacity for over 1,000 new highly-skilled roles across the country.

"These are Silicon Valley jobs in Britain, and further cement our long-term commitment to the UK."

Secretary of State for International Trade, The Rt Hon Liam Fox MP, said: "Ensuring that the world's best and brightest companies continue to invest and innovate in the UK is at the heart of our Global Britain agenda.

"Amazon's decision to create hundreds of highly-skilled jobs in Manchester, Edinburgh and Cambridge is an enormous vote of confidence in the UK and a signal to the world that the UK is very much open for business."

Amazon says it has invested more than £9.3bn on its operations in the UK since 2010.

The online giant is also set to employ a total of 27,500 employees by the end of this year.