Amazon is hiring in South Africa – here are 5 top jobs to check out

Amazon.com is expanding its presence in South Africa as it looks to continue its regional battle with cloud computing rival Microsoft.

According to a report by Reuters, Amazon is set to be the sole tenant in a new, modern eight-story office building that’s due for completion in August.

The company is also advertising a number of jobs in Cape Town, which played a key role in the early development of its Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud-computing business, said Reuters.

“As more South African customers and partners continue to choose AWS as their cloud provider we continue to hire more staff into our offices in Cape Town and Johannesburg,” Geoff Brown, AWS’ Sub-Saharan Africa regional manager, told Reuters in a statement.

A look at its official jobs portal shows 77 full-time positions open, with jobs advertised in categories that include everything from software development to customer service.

Most of the job postings feature a list of basic and preferred qualifications, as well as an in-depth description of the duties you are expected to perform in the role.

Amazon also notes that it is an equal opportunities employer, and welcomes applications from all members of society irrespective of age, sex, disability, sexual orientation, race, religion or belief.

“Amazon is strongly committed to diversity within its community and especially welcomes applications from South African citizens who are members of designated groups who may contribute to Employment Equity within the workplace and the further diversification of ideas,” it added.

Below BusinessTech at some of the most recent job postings, and what exactly Amazon is looking for.

Software Development Engineer – Test Specialist

You will be responsible for defining and designing our testing processes and developing repeatable and automated test systems.

You will work with product managers, software development managers and software development engineers on our teams to identify use cases, define test strategies and implement automated test cases in order to report to stakeholders on the quality and reliability of our products.

Basic qualifications 

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or related field;
• 3+ years’ professional software development experience;
• Knowledge of test processes, methodologies, tools, and technology;
• Experience in black and grey box functional and UI testing (both manual and automated);
• A deep understanding of web technologies including HTML, the DOM, HTTP, JavaScript etc;
• Experience with Java, C# or other object-oriented language, and with scripting languages like Ruby or Python;
• Strong customer focus, written and verbal communication skills and analytical abilities.

AWS Customer Service – Program Manager

As a Program Manager for AWS Support, you will be responsible for leading medium to large scale projects from initiation through delivery within larger business change programs.

Gathers requirements from appropriate business owners, writes clear and detailed functional specifications, prioritizes features, and drives technical scoping as needed. leading and developing complex global programs, projects, tests and research in order to drive organization-wide and customer-centric solutions.

Basic qualifications 

• A bachelor’s degree in business, statistics, applied mathematics, computer science, or engineering is required. An advanced degree from a highly respected academic institution is strongly preferred;
• 5+ years’ experience developing organization-wide and customer-centric solutions that drive business decisions and actions;
• 5+ years developing programs, projects, tests and research that work with diverse groups across the organization;
• Proven track record of being able to learn, develop and implement new technologies, ideas and initiative;
• Six Sigma and/or LEAN Green Belt Certification;
• Formal Project Management Certification (PMP / Prince2;
• Extensive hands-on experience working across multiple disciplines presenting findings to an executive audience and publishing findings in written format.

Kindle Direct Publishing Support Analyst (includes positions for Italian, Spanish, French, Chinese, and German speakers)

Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) is a service for self-publishing books to the Amazon Kindle store.

The KDP Support Specialist will be the front line interface between Amazon and publishers/content providers who use the KDP tool to upload content they want to put up for sale on the Kindle store.

Basic qualifications 

• Proven additional language and English verbal and written fluency skills;
• 1+ years of previous experience in a contact center environment;
• Demonstrated verbal and written communication skills with external/internal parties;
• Proven ability to understand complex issues.

Senior Product Manager: Event Management

The AWS Kumo Product Management team is looking for a smart, customer-focused, and creative leader with a strong background in product innovation to define, develop and deliver the product strategy for our Event Management team and own our Personal Health Dashboard.

The Personal Health Dashboard keeps customers informed of the health of their AWS resources. In AWS we look for strong owners to lead the definition and delivery of their product space. We have a large team of personable and tenured product managers to partner with.

Basic qualifications 

• 5+ years of experience in a technical leadership role within e-commerce, online advertising or other related domains;
• Strong track record of shaping business strategy for technical products or services;
• Experience in setting product definitions and roadmaps;
• Experience working cross functionally with development, design, and marketing teams;
• Excellent oral and written communication skills with the ability to influence others internally and externally;
• Ability to analyze data, problem-solve, and scope business requirements.

Operations Manager: AWS Customer Service

The Operations Manager will set the vision, direction, and culture of their teams by managing individual and team performance expectations and goals, providing individual coaching feedback sessions, maintaining singular focus on ensuring and improving customer satisfaction, monitoring real time service levels and schedule adherence, and serving as leaders and point of contact for escalated contact resolutions.

Basic qualifications 

• 5+ years relevant experience managing customer service team (from associates to managers);
• Direct experience in Contact Center Operations (Customer Service, Technical Support, Sales, or Collections);
• Strong oral (speaking, listening, interpretation) and written communication skills;
• Able to work in an ambiguous, internet-speed environment;
• Absolute passion for ensuring a great customer experience with every contact;
• A record of driving projects to improve support-related processes;
• Flexible work schedules (weekends and/or evenings).

Read: Amazon has global plans for medical-supplies marketplace