Founded in 1994 and headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Amazon has grown to be a Fortune 100 company. With a mission “to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices,” Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished, and used items in categories such as books; movies; music & games; digital downloads; electronics & computers; home & garden; toys; kids & baby; grocery; apparel; shoes & jewelry; health & beauty; sports & outdoor; and tools, auto & industrial.

Amazon's Fulfillment Centers, provide fast, reliable shipping directly from Amazon’s retail websites, and Customer Service Centers, which provide 24/7 support. In addition, Amazon’s technology teams are located in Seattle and in International Development Centers designed to tap the world’s best technical talent. Hundreds of thousands of world-class retail brands and individual sellers increase their sales and reach new customers by leveraging the power of the Amazon.com e-commerce platform. Over 2 million third-party sellers participate in Amazon where they offer new, used, and collectible selections at fixed prices to Amazon customers around the world.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides Amazon’s developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon’s own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. Some examples of the services offered by Amazon Web Services: Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) • Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) • Amazon SimpleDB • Amazon Simple Queue Service (Amazon SQS) • Amazon Flexible Payments Service (Amazon FPS) • Amazon Mechanical Turk • Amazon CloudFront.

Amazon in California/Silicon Valley
Lab126, which designed Amazon's ground-breaking Kindle e-reader and works on the company's Kindle Fire tablets is located in Cupertino and in Moffett Towers, an office complex in Sunnyvale, California. In addition to the Kindle, Lab126 is developing other "easy-to-use, highly integrated consumer products to serve Amazon customers".

Finding a Contract Job at Amazon

Amazon hires contingent workers and temps through staffing agencies and consulting companies but does not publish their preferred vendor list. As OnContracting's mission is to be the 'Earth's most contractor-centric company', we gather this information for you. Check out the list of preferred staffing agencies that provide contractors to Amazon and connect with the recruiters at these agencies to find your next contract job at Amazon.
 

Types of Contractors Amazon hires

IN THEIR OWN OFFICE LOCATION (HQ AND REMOTE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT CENTERS)

strong>Contract Software Developers
A typical SDE at Amazon would "Develop object oriented, multi-threaded applications in Java using Eclipse IDE on Linux environment.  Design and developing multi-tiered, distributed software applications, Write Ruby scripts/Java applications for database back-fill operations among others"
Pay rate- $50/hr-$100/hr on W2 (in other words $100K-$200K annual salary)

strong>Contract Software Design Engineer in Test
 An example of the kind of work a test automation contractor does would be as an ex contractor says "I designed and implemented the test framework/harness using Java, Selenium, testNG, concordion (BDD framework) and Coral services (Amazon web service framework), I developed the Selenium Firefox extension using Object Oriented Javascript using prototype.js, require.js and jQuery. I had to plan, organize and communicate with resources on manual testing assignments, Track and handle code coverage, all the bugs and tickets in production and own the QA(beta) environment - configure, deploy, test, then work with oncall for the deployment to production"
Pay Rate for these kind of roles are between- $40/hr-$70/hr on W2

strong>Contract Recruiters
Given the high attrition at Amazon (18-24 months) and the high bar, it needs to keep hiring at a high pace. It often uses contract sourcers, recruiters and recruiting coordinators. Here is a sample fo the work involved " Responsible for sourcing a variety of technical positions: Technical Program Managers and Software Development Managers, Create and implement recruiting strategies, Strong Boolean search skills, Work with hiring manager"
Pay rate: $25-70/hr on W2

Contract Catalog Specialist, Data Verification and Localization
Amazon also uses contractors for localization, data verification, testing, etc. For catalog specialists the work involves " Working with the Amazon Instant Video catalog features, library, and functionality. Navigating internal tools to maximize efficiency within the X-Ray application". A real review of what it is like to work as a contractor at Amazon by one of the contract employees there.
Payrate- $10-$20/hr

strong>Contract Security Guards
Security Guards "Security monitor gates customer service welcoming people and employees and visitors in to the warehouse"
Pay Rate- $10-20/hr

strong>PHONE SUPPORT- ONSITE AND WORK FROM HOME
Customer Service Associate - Onsite at a Amazon call-center
Grand Forks, ND, Winchester, KY, Kennewick, WA, Huntington, WV
Amazon hires Customer Service Associates for a critical part of its mission to deliver timely, accurate and professional customer service to all Amazon customers. This vital position requires an action-orientated, flexible problem-solver who will assist customers in resolving any and all customer facing problems. Associates may communicate with customers via phone, email and chat. Associates will utilize a variety of software tools to navigate customer accounts, research and review policies and communicate effective solutions in a fun, and fast paced environment.
Pay rate- $11/hr
Requires- High School Diploma and basic computer and Internet skills
You can apply directly for work at an Amazon call center here

strong>Customer Service Associate - Work from Home
Must live in Arizona, Kentucky,Texas, West Virginia,Delaware, Florida,Georgia, Kansas,North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia
Amazon also ocassionally hires work-from-home customer service associates for their virtual contact center. However, they are typically for part time evening shifts and limited full time evening shifts. These shifts run from 3am-midnight Pacific Time. In order to be considered for this position you must live in one of the following states: Arizona, Kentucky,Texas, West Virginia,Delaware, Florida,Georgia, Kansas,North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. This is likely because Amazon doesn't want to have operations in other states which would make their customers in those states liable for sales tax (its complicated). In short, you need a home address in one of these states to get this kind of job!

What this job involves: This is a Seasonal Work From Home Customer Service Associate position. The ideal Seasonal Work from Home Amazonian is internet savvy and has technical aptitude when it comes to online tools and research. You will think outside the box, solve problems, answer questions, and resolve concerns presented by our Amazon customers. Our customers contact us primarily by phone and we hope you can help us deliver customer obsessed results.
This is an hourly position, pay rate nation wide is $10.00 per hour and you will have a bonus opportunity, an employee discount, and dedicated resources to support your ongoing growth and development. Seasonal employees may remain with Amazon in a temporary capacity for up to six months, depending on business need. There may be opportunities for regular long term employment. Hours for all staff increase substantially during peak season (Thanksgiving through mid-January).  A few weeks before and after December 25 is the busiest time. To apply for this job directly, go to Amazon's contract job application website
 

strong>AMAZON WAREHOUSE JOBS
Amazon Fulfillment/ Warehouse worker
While Amazon hires directly for many of these jobs, they also utilize staffing agencies sometimes. A common example for this kind of job is the Fulfillment Associate whose work involves "pick customer orders on all levels of a multi-level mezzanine, pack and ship orders, and troubleshoot problems to resolution. They are expected to understand all aspects of production; and adhere to strict safety, quality, and production standards."

The different jobs in the warehouse include stockers, pickers, packers, giftwrappers and truck loaders

The following are Amazon's preferred staffing agencies for warehouse jobs
1. Integrity Staffing The preferred staffing agency for Amazon Warehouse/Fulfuillment jobs at Shepherdsville, KY, Indianapolis IN , Sumner, WA, Dupont WA, Kent WA, Chattanooga TN, Cleveland, TN , Avenel NJ, Phoenix AZ, Hazleton, PA, Jeffersonville, IN, Las Vegas, NV, Fernley NV, Richmond, VA, Petersburg VA, Shepherdsville KY, New Castle, DE, Middletown, DE , Lexington KY, Reno NV, Scranton, PA, Goodyear, AZ, Chester, VA, Petersburg, VA, New Albany, IN, Charelstown IN, Scottsburg IN, Middletown, IN. You can apply for the jobs in person at the office or online here
2. Staff Management SMX is the preferred staffing agency at San Bernardino, CA and other locations in CA and you can apply for jobs here.
3. ISS is the staffing vendor in Allentown, PA. You can apply for their jobs in person or online here
 

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