On hiring spree: Amazon to hire 800 tech engineers in latest expansion

Amazon.com Inc. says it will hire an additional 800 engineers in Austin, Texas, the company’s first major U.S. office expansion since backing out of a corporate campus in New York.

In February, the online retailer abandoned plans for a campus in Queens, New York, amid opposition from local politicians and labor groups.

Amazon said it will distribute the 25,000 jobs formerly bound for New York among some 17 research and development offices in North America, including Austin. As part of the Austin expansion announced on Thursday, which Amazon says was in the works before the withdrawal from New York, the company will occupy an additional 145,000 square feet of office space in the city.