Amazon is hiring for 107 jobs in South Africa – here is where to apply
Global eCommerce and technology giant Amazon is looking for South Africans to fill numerous positions, including marketing, support, and technical positions.
Amazon, founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos as an online marketplace for books, has a long history in South Africa dating back 20 years.
In 2004, Amazon Web Services (AWS) set up a development centre in Cape Town under the guidance of South African Chris Pinkham.
Pinkham was well-known in South Africa’s tech circles for founding the first commercial ISP in 1993 – The Internetworking Company of Southern Africa (Ticsa).
In late 2003, Pinkham and his colleague Benjamin Black presented an internal paper that shared a vision for Amazon’s retail computing infrastructure.
He received approval to return to South Africa and hire engineers from the Cape Town community to work on the project.
“We did that in late 2004 or early 2005. We had our first engineers on board in the Constantia area in Cape Town,” he said.
This was the genesis of Amazon’s presence in South Africa and the team that worked on developing EC2.
It grew its local presence in 2010 when it opened customer service operations in Cape Town. This division now employs thousands of individuals.
AWS opened an office in Johannesburg in 2015, and two years later, the Amazon Global Network expanded to Africa through AWS Direct Connect.
Another big development was in April 2020, when Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced that its Cape Town region had gone live.
The launch of this local region is great news for South African developers and companies, which could now access low-latency links to AWS services and cloud-based applications.
Until the beginning of the year, Amazon’s presence in South Africa was focused on AWS and related technical services.
This changed in May 2024, when Amazon South Africa launched its marketplace, offering local shoppers a range of products.
The eCommerce giant is giving local shoppers the option of door-to-door delivery or using one of 3,000 pickup points.
Amazon has partnered with Pargo and The Courier Guy to meet local delivery and logistics needs.
Amazon hiring in South Africa
As part of its expansion in South Africa, Amazon is looking for over 100 South Africans to join the company.
The global technology giant is looking for 98 new employees in Cape Town, 10 in Waterfall in Gauteng, 3 in Johannesburg, and 3 in Craigieburn.
The positions range from support agents to serve international Kindle clients to technical professionals to work on its web services products.
There are 32 positions in operations, IT, and support engineering, 18 in software development, and 15 in project and product management.
There are also eight customer service jobs, seven in buying, planning, and in-stock management, and five in marketing.
The other positions range from sales and advertising to human resources, administrative support, and research science.
The new Amazon retail division in South Africa is looking for 16 new employees, all based in Cape Town.
The positions include a brand manager, marketing managers, programme managers, product managers, a retail associate vendor manager, and vendor managers.
Amazon South Africa is also seeking new people to join its eCommerce Foundations, Amazon Entertainment, and Selling Partner Services.
The qualifications required for the positions vary depending on the job description. However, there are common trends among the jobs.
Amazon wants employees who can work cross-organisationally to drive consensus and results, with a sense of ownership, deliver results, and think big.
Amazon highlighted that it is an equal-opportunity employer and values people’s passions for discovery, inventing, simplifying, and building.
“We welcome applications from all members of society irrespective of age, sex, disability, sexual orientation, race, religion or belief,” it said.
Amazon added that it is “strongly committed to diversity within its community and especially welcomes applications from South African citizens who are members of designated groups”.
“In this regard, the relevant laws and principles associated with Employment Equity will be considered when appointing potential candidates,” it said.
How to apply
South Africans who wish to apply for Amazon jobs in South Africa should visit the company’s career website and apply online.
Amazon pointed out that it is required by law to verify applicants’ ability to work lawfully in South Africa.
“Amazon requires that you submit a copy of either your identity document or your passport and any applicable work permit if you are a foreign national,” it said.
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