Amazon™s decision to establish new headquarters in Northern Virginia and New York is expected to help create up to 37,850 jobs by 2034, the Washington Business Journal reports.
Over the next two years alone, the tech giant plans to to hire 1,200 people in the Greater Washington area to work in Crystal City, Va. The average salary for these new positions could reach $150,000, says the Washington Business Journal. The Greater D.C. area is home to a number of federal contractors working with government agencies to grow the region into an important tech hub for artificial intelligence, big data, and machine-learning.
In a statement, Amazon Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos said, œThese two locations will allow us to attract world-class talent that will help us to continue inventing for customers for years to come. Amazon is investing $5B in the development of the headquarters, reports ExecutiveBiz.
Lynn Dugle, the CEO of Engility Holdings, and a two-time Wash100 winner, recognizes the importance of competing with Amazon to attract the best talent. Dugle told the Washington Business Journal that the best way to acquire top talent is improving compensation offers and working with the government to speed-up the clearance cycle.
œThat™s especially important if you want to recruit a highly technical workforce, especially those coming out of college. Speed is foundational. They want to get in, they want to get on mission, they want to do good work, and they don™t want to wait six months, nine months, a year or more at some of the three-letter agencies to get cleared, Dugle said.
GovConWire previously reported that the 4M-square-foot facility being built in Crystal City could double over time. The expansion of high-paying tech jobs is expected to generate over $3B in incremental tax revenues in two decades. Amazon is also projected to adjust downward grant payments if more than 10 percent of the company™s new jobs support federal contracts.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, the majority of jobs listed by Amazon over the past year are software development engineers, managers, and solutions architects. The company™s expansion into the Greater Washington, D.C., area could change the recruitment model to find the best talent in the software development and engineering field.
