Lesley Stones

Information Technology Editor

AMAZON.COM, the world’s most successful online retailer, has opened a development centre in Cape Town and is recruiting software programmers to man it.

Nasdaq-listed Amazon.com has already recruited about a dozen of the country’s best developers, luring them with a wage packet that includes "meaningful" share ownership in the company and the kudos of working for the darling of the internet.

The developers will design the software that other retail companies can use to build their own links to the core Amazon.com websites. They will also focus on network engineering and information security features.

Seattle-based Amazon.com has a market capitalisation of about $14bn.

Heading the local operation is South African-born Chris Pinkham, who has worked for Amazon.com for five years and has returned to Cape Town to launch the centre.

This is only the third foreign centre that the company has created, with others based in India and Scotland.

"We are looking for places with sufficient software engineering talent, and although SA has a small pool, the depth and quality among the top people is fabulous," Pinkham said. He would not say how much is being invested in the Cape Town operation, but most of the cash would be soaked up by salaries.

Candidates for jobs should have experience designing and building complex systems "in about one third the time most competent people think possible", Pinkham said.