Amazon is adding 1,000 new jobs to its Vancouver workforce.
Whether that augurs well for Vancouver’s bid to host Amazon’s HQ2 is a matter of intense speculation.
“I have absolutely no idea about HQ2 but I’m as excited as everyone to find out,” Jesse Dougherty, a general manager of Amazon's web services and site manager of Amazon’s current Vancouver headquarters, said to the press following Friday morning’s announcement.
Amazon spokesperson Allison Reader says plans for the second office have been in the works for “quite some time” and are independent of the city’s bid.
“Amazon goes where the tech talent goes. Vancouver is one of those places,” she said, citing “fabulous” education resources and tech workers. “It’s about wanting to go where the talent is rather than make the tech talent come to us.”
“What drives us is the availability of awesome talent,” said Dougherty, a UBC grad who grew up on the Sunshine Coast and, after moving away for his career, has fulfilled his dream of being able to work in the tech industry close to home.
The second office, which is slated to open 2020, will take over 150,000 sq.ft. at Oxford Properties' site at 402 Dunsmuir Street. The majority of new hires, Dougherty says, will be software engineers, both tech and non-tech.
Ninety per cent of Amazon’s current Vancouver work force are software development engineers.
Dougherty’s not concerned about Amazon’s ability to attract new talent. “We’ve found that we’ve had a lot of opportunities by offering exciting jobs.”
Mayor Gregor Robertson said that regardless of whether Vancouver gets the estimated 50,000 jobs and $5 billion investment associated with the second headquarters that Amazon wants to build in North America, the decision to open the second office shows that “Amazon is serious about Vancouver.”
He concedes that HQ2 would put a lot of pressure on the city. “The growth would be a challenge to absorb,” he said, adding that the build-out for HQ2 would take place over several years, not all at once, and require support from across the entire metro region.
“We need to show the world we mean business,” the mayor said, and that includes improving housing opportunities and public transit.
Carla Quantrough, the federal minister of public service and procurement, referenced Canada’s goal to raise the annual intake of immigrants by 13 per cent by 2020.
“Canada welcomes the world’s brightest minds, no matter where they’re from,” she said during the formal half of the press conference.
Noting that two-thirds of Canadians have post-secondary education, she also highlighted the federal government’s $2 billion, multi-year investment in research infrastructure in colleges and universities.
Another speaker was Kevin Pasco, a co-founder of Nested Naturals, which is based near Amazon’s current office at Telus Gardens. Four years ago, he and his partner started selling a natural sleep aid on Amazon. It soon became the platform’s number one sleep aid and Nested Naturals has branched out to other products. “The growth has allowed us to do some really cool things,” Pasco said. “Today we have 30 products and $10 million in sales. That started with launching one product on Amazon in 2014.”
Amazon announced a $25,000 grant to B.C. First Nations Technology Council to purchase laptops that successful graduates will be able to take with them when they launch their careers.
“It’s a substantial start to ensure our participants leave with the skills they need to keep going,” said executive director Denise Williams.
