Online retail behemoth Amazon has quietly been advertising more than a dozen roles based in Auckland and Wellington, raising the possibility of a New Zealand-based office.

 

Amazon has advertised 13 job listings ranging from sales representative roles to specialised technology roles on its website.

 

There are 11 jobs based in Auckland and two in Wellington.

 

One of the roles based in Auckland, a territory sales representative, has been described as shaping the "future of New Zealand businesses by using Amazon Web Services".

 

Amazon has been contacted for comment. 

 

AWS is a cloud services platform offering data storage and is a separate business inside of the larger Amazon company.

 

Companies like Netflix use the service for its storage of content.

 

Amazon has played up New Zealand's unique characteristics to prospective employees, describing the Land of the Long White Cloud as a young country and host to a "distinctively biodiverse ecosystem. . . that evolved during the island's long isolation".

 

Last year Amazon set up its first Australian warehouse in Melbourne, and its second in Sydney in September.

 

After its Australian launch the retail giant spurred rumours New Zealand would be next, with Hamilton's city councillor Angela O'Leary calling for the the company to set up its first Kiwi warehouse in the city.

 

Amazon is valued at about $US1 trillion (NZ$1.49t).

 

First Retail Group managing director Chris Wilkinson said Amazon opening an office in New Zealand was the logical next step for the company's global expansion into the Southern Hemisphere.

 

"It's the absolute lateral progression. We've expected it, to be honest this is probably later than was expected.

 

"It's logical they would be looking to enter the New Zealand market. For the past couple of years, Amazon's focus has been on building its logistics systems, with the warehouses in Australia. Because of the geographical distances between New Zealand and the United States, it would make sense for them to have a base here to better understand what customers want in the Southern Hemisphere," Wilkinson said.

 

He said possible locations for the office could be Newmarket and Ponsonby in Auckland.

 

Amazon executives met last week with Economic Development Minister David Parker to express their concerns about a lack of studio capacity in Auckland. 

 

Both parties were tight-lipped about the high stakes negotiations.

 

The reported "crisis meeting" with Amazon TV executives came as the network threatens to pull plans to film the Lord of the Rings television series in New Zealand.

 

At US$1 billion, it is touted as the most expensive television series in history – and accordingly, the most lucrative for the country where it is filmed. 

Good news? I dont see any downsides to this? More jobs are always good.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/109613172/could-amazon-be-setting-up-a-kiwi-office?