300 job openings hailed as ?a great signal? to the world about business in Vancouver
Derrick Penner
The Vancouver Sun
Online retail and technology giant Amazon has been coy about its ambitions for growth in Vancouver, but the careers section of its Canadian website tells part of the story — more than 300 employment postings for skilled tech-sector jobs in the city.
It hints at a significant expansion of one of Vancouver’s bigger tech players, at the same time the city’s startup sector is gaining momentum and trying to draw the same types of skilled workers.
However, key voices in the sector view the signs of Amazon’s expansion as a welcome sight for the city’s overall industry, even if it increases competition for them.
“The reality is I would rather have Amazon setting up shop here than somewhere else,” said Shafim Diamond Tejani, president of startup incubator Victory Square Labs.
“Them being here and expanding their presence creates really good (well-paying) opportunities in the innovation ecosystem.”
The Seattle-headquartered corporate giant established its main Vancouver tech beach-head on several floors of the Telus Garden on Georgia Street in downtown Vancouver when the building opened in 2015.
Amazon did not respond to Postmedia’s request for an interview, but the positions the company is advertising for now, most of which have been listed since the start of this year, carry titles such as software development engineer, research scientist, data engineer and manager of database administration.
The roles explained in job descriptions relate to the development of Amazon Web Services’ cloud-computing business, operations of its fulfilment-centre warehouses and developing systems for its recruiting infrastructure.
A few of the salaries for jobs with those titles listed on the recruiting website Glassdoor range from $89,171 per year for software-development engineer I, $111,465 per year for a software engineer II to $155,553 for a senior product manager.
“This is the influx of a remarkable job engine and a remarkable business,” said Michael Dingle, an advisory partner with the consulting firm PwC.
Dingle, a former tech entrepreneur and PwC’s practice leader in technology financing, said Amazon’s interest probably comes from a couple of directions.
Canada is attractive to the behemoth as a marketplace, to start with, both for customers ordering books and clothes on Amazon Prime and businesses using its cloud-computing products through Amazon Web Services.
Amazon’s growth trajectory is no surprise to Vancouver Economic Commission CEO Ian McKay.
“Growth is the name of the game,” Dingle said, but growth that depends on CEO Jeff Bezos’ drive for constant innovation.
Amazon’s profit picture has appeared erratic over the past year. It posted a profit of US$197 million for its financial quarter ending June 30, compared with US$857 million for the same quarter a year ago.
The company’s revenue, however, continues an upward climb, hitting $38 billion for the first quarter, up 25 per cent from the same period a year ago.
Canada’s major cities, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, also have growing reputations as places to build technology companies, Dingle said, which is something else that draws big players like Microsoft and Amazon.
Vancouver’s geography and being on the same time zone as bigger technology hubs in Seattle and Silicon Valley outside of San Francisco also helps attract technology firms, said Ian McKay, CEO of the Vancouver Economic Commission.
And perched on the edge of the Asia-Pacific Gateway, with governments that have been willing to facilitate the migration of skilled individuals from abroad is another factor in the city’s favour, McKay said.
As for Amazon, McKay said outside estimates (the company doesn’t publicize numbers) have the firm at about 1,000 employees locally.
“The notion of 300 job openings (at Amazon) doesn’t surprise me,” McKay said. “This is a great signal to the rest of the world that this is a place people need to be.”
“And people don’t always stay with their original employers. Sometimes they reach a level then spin off and create startups. That’s nothing but good for a (technology sector) like ours.”
Tejani added that labour also tends to be cheaper in Vancouver than places such as Seattle and Silicon Valley, which can be a help to companies that can “build here in Canadian dollars, live in Canada, but still be able to generate (sales in U.S. dollars).”
Tejani acknowledged that the issue of high housing costs has emerged as a recruiting concern for some employers, but he looks at it as another challenge to overcome.
And Vancouver is still a cheaper place to live than other hubs such as Silicon Valley.
“I think we have all the check marks, other than affordable housing, of a great place to build a tech company,” Tejani said.
Vancouver’s tech sector still “punches above its weight, in every respect,” Dingle said, and Amazon’s hiring spree helps give it more critical mass.
“I can’t help but think of the concept of a rising tide lifts all boats,” Dingle said.
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