Amazon is hiring 40 South Africans — including two chief data centre engineers
Amazon currently has 40 permanent job openings in South Africa, predominantly in software development, operations, IT, and support engineering for its cloud business, Amazon Web Services.
The US tech giant has retrenched over 30,000 people in several rounds over the last year, including cuts in its e-commerce, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and human resources divisions.
The reduction is a cost-cutting measure helping to mitigate against its investments in data centres and artificial intelligence (AI).
The AI ramp-up was anticipated to help offset the impact of these retrenchments. In South Africa, Amazon has continuously advertised vacant positions throughout periods of retrenchments.
While that does not mean it was not cutting jobs in the country, it signalled that South Africa remained a key market for its business.
AWS’ history in South Africa dates back to the early 2000s, when a team led by Chris Pinkham in Cape Town developed its Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2).
The system was key to making AWS the world’s top cloud hosting service. Its core capability is enabling users to rent secure, scalable compute capacity in the cloud.
Since its success with EC2, Amazon has maintained a strong presence in Cape Town for more than two decades.
In addition to its AWS offices, the city houses the headquarters of Amazon’s African operations and of Amazon.co.za’s e-commerce marketplace.
Globally, AWS accounted for about 60% of Amazon’s operating profit, despite representing only about a fifth of its total revenue.
MyBroadband checked Amazon’s careers page for positions available in May 2026 and found 40 positions open, an increase from the 37 on offer at the start of the year.
The most in-demand positions were in software development, where Amazon was also seeking several engineers and managers. Operations, IT, and support services also had six positions open.
Among the senior roles available were two chief engineer positions in AWS’s cloud data centre engineering operations.
To be considered for these positions, applicants must have a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field.
They must also possess 5 years of project management experience in data centres or comparable critical infrastructure.
| Tech or tech-adjacent positions at Amazon — 18 May 2026 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Role | Location | Application link |
| Software development (7) | ||
| Software Development Engineer — EC2 | Cape Town | Click here to apply |
| Software Development Engineer — AWS Kumo Last-Mile | Cape Town | Click here to apply |
| Software Development Manager | Cape Town | Click here to apply |
| Software Development Manager — EC2 | Cape Town | Click here to apply |
| Software Development Manager — EC2 Instance Placement | Cape Town | Click here to apply |
| Software Development Manager — EC2 Managed Fleets | Cape Town | Click here to apply |
| Software Development Manager – Managed Fleets | Cape Town | Click here to apply |
| Operations, IT, and support services (6) | ||
| Chief Engineer, Data Centre Engineering Operations (2) | Cape Town | Click here to apply |
| Critical Infrastructure Mechanical Engineering, Mechanical Field Engineering | Cape Town | Click here to apply |
| Data Centre Engineering Operations Internship | Cape Town | Click here to apply |
| Engineering Operations Technician | Cape Town | Click here to apply |
| HV MV specialist, Data Centre Engineering Operations | Cape Town | Click here to apply |
| Fulfilment and Operations (4) | ||
| 3PL Area Manager | Durban | Click here to apply |
| FC Supervisor, ZA Operations | Cape Town | Click here to apply |
| Last Mile Operations Manager, ZA Operations | Waterfall City | Click here to apply |
| Packaging Executive, ROW Packaging Programs | Johannesburg | Click here to apply |
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