Amazon is coming — Marketplace hiring spree in South Africa

Amazon appears to be committed to its plans to launch a South African marketplace, and the company is currently advertising 30 full-time positions in the country, a fair portion of which are marketplace-related.

The online retail giant is looking for a marketplace manager, B-BBEE programme manager, marketing head, ER and HR compliance manager, and several vendor managers.

This is despite massive job cuts across its global operations towards the end of 2022 and early 2023.

“Amazon has weathered uncertain and difficult economies in the past, and we will continue to do so,” CEO Andy Jassy said in a January memo to staff.

“These changes will help us pursue our long-term opportunities with a stronger cost structure.”

The job cuts and weakening economic conditions raised questions over whether Amazon would scrap its plans for a South African marketplace.

However, a source close to the project said Amazon has paused its Nigerian rollout but is progressing with its South African plans.

MyBroadband first reported that Amazon was shopping for warehouse space in South Africa in January 2022.

Confirmation of the online retail giant’s plans to launch in South Africa then surfaced in June 2022, when leaked documents revealed Amazon’s plans to expand to five new countries in Africa, South America, and Europe.

The African plan — codenamed “Project Fela” — included an anticipated February 2023 launch date for a South African marketplace.

Plans included offering the Fulfilment by Amazon service for third-party sellers and Amazon’s Prime membership programme in the country. However, Amazon delayed the launch due to the tech industry slump.

In late May 2023, a document on Amazon’s Carrier Central webpage for South Africa revealed that Amazon plans on having at least one fulfilment centre in Johannesburg and another in Cape Town.

It also showed that the fulfilment centres can handle 7-ton trucks for palletised deliveries, with a maximum pallet height of 160cm.

The fulfilment centres will also be able to accept deep-sea import containers.

The company first started advertising marketplace-related positions in South Africa in August 2022. These included two managerial roles for the “ZA marketplace”.

Amazon now appears to be boosting its hiring efforts for marketplace-related roles.

Amazon hiring spree in South Africa

Amazon is currently advertising 31 full-time positions in South Africa, several of which are marketplace-orientated managerial positions.

These include:

• Marketplace Manager
• Head of Marketing
• Principle Business Developer
• B-BBEE Programme Manager
• ER and HR Compliance Manager
• Associate Vendor Manager
• Vendor Manager
• Senior Vendor Manager
• Catalogue Specialist

These positions require varying degrees of experience, with the highest requirement being more than ten years of sales, technical, business and product and programme management experience when it comes to the Marketplace Manager and B-BBEE Programme Manager roles.

Candidates should have the relevant qualifications to match their experience.

The table below summarises some of the latest positions available at Amazon in South Africa.

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