US technology giant Amazon says it will create more than 1,000 apprenticeships in the UK over the next two years.

The company said the apprenticeship pay-scale will range from an entry level starting salary of between £9.50 and £10.50 an hour, up to £30,000 a year.

The apprenticeships will consist of nine programmes, lasting between 13 months and four years, across IT, software engineering, robotics, leadership and technology as well as safety and human resources.

Amazon said that more than 90 new graduate and postgraduate apprentices will also become qualified over the next two years as part of the programme, through on-the-job and classroom training, focusing on software development engineering, senior leadership and automation.

Qualified apprentices then will work across Amazon’s UK corporate and operations sites which including its UK head office and three development centres in London, Cambridge and Edinburgh.

“We want to give people opportunities to succeed in the digital age, regardless of their background,” said Doug Gurr, Amazon’s UK country manager.

“Our fully-funded apprenticeship programme, from entry level through to degree level, will provide an exciting path to becoming Amazon’s future team leaders, engineers and innovation drivers.”

The Amazon UK apprenticeship applications will open on March 4.

Minister for Digital, Margot James, said: “It is great to see global tech giants, like Amazon, continue to invest in the UK and create high-skilled jobs for the next generation.

“Our booming digital sector is one of the fastest-growing industries in the country and this is a vote of confidence in our world-leading skills in tech innovation.”

The announcement comes after the company said it would create an additional 2,500 “permanent” jobs in 2018, as well as open a new office in Manchester, taking its UK workforce up to 27,500 by the year-end.

At the time, Amazon said that growing investments in British research and development and increasing customer demand were factors behind the expansion.

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