Amazon to hire 100 in Detroit for new tech hub

Charles E. Ramirez
The Detroit News

Online retail giant Amazon.com Inc. said Tuesday it will put a tech hub in Detroit and five other U.S. cities. The move is expected to create 3,500 jobs in total.

Company officials said they will invest more than $1.4 billion in the new offices in Detroit, Dallas, Denver, New York, Phoenix and San Diego. They did not provide any information on when or where the hubs will operate.

In Detroit, the company plans to acquire more than 25,000 square feet of office space to provide space for 100 jobs.

"People from all walks of life come to Amazon to develop their career – from recent graduates looking for a place to turn their ideas into high-impact products, to veterans accessing new jobs in cloud computing thanks to our upskilling programs,” said Beth Galetti, senior vice president, human resources at Amazon.

“These 3,500 new jobs will be in cities across the country with strong and diverse talent pools. We look forward to helping these communities grow their emerging tech workforce.”

The offices will host teams that will support Amazon's businesses, including AWS, Alexa, Amazon Advertising, Amazon Fashion, OpsTech and Amazon Fresh. The company plans to hire for a variety of roles, from cloud infrastructure architects and software engineers to data scientists, product managers, and user experience designers to staff the offices.

Since 2010, Amazon has invested more than $2.5 billion in Michigan. It employs more than 13,000 workers across the state.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan praised Amazon for its expansion in his city.

“Amazon’s expansion of its Detroit Tech Hub is another vote of trust to our city and the creativity, hard work and resilience of its people. We are proud to see our vibrant tech workforce continue to grow and thrive in Detroit,” he said.

The news comes a week after Duggan announced the potential sale of 142 acres of the former fairgrounds at Eight Mile and Woodward, a site being eyed by Amazon for a distribution center. Real estate developers and investors Hillwood Investment Properties, along with the Sterling Group, plan to purchase the land for $9 million, the appraised value. 

Columnist Daniel Howes contributed.