Firm delighted with move to new Sunderland base
The first of a planned 300 new jobs for the city have been filled, after global grocery business Ocado Group moved into its new Sunderland home.
The world-leading ecommerce firm, which has taken two floors of THE BEAM – the first building to open its doors on Riverside Sunderland – has appointed 30 people to a range of customer service-based roles at its state-of-the-art office.
Recruitment is set to continue throughout the year as the business aims to assembles a 300-strong team to support its customer service function.
Debbie Wilson, head of service delivery support, said she was delighted to see the first employees move into its new base.
She said: “It’s wonderful to see our Sunderland team starting to take shape.
“There were so many things that attracted us to open a facility in Sunderland, but more than anything, the skilled people we believed we could access greatly appealed.
“It’s been fantastic to see all of our hopes being realised.”
She added: “The level of talent here has blown us away, and we’re really looking forward to building on that as we get up to full capacity.”
The firm will be running rounds of recruitment, as it works to assemble its full team.
Sunderland City Council revealed it had attracted Ocado Group to the city earlier this year, with the firm committing to a 15-year deal to let the top two floors of the building.
Coun Graeme Miller, leader of Sunderland City Council, said he was delighted to see Ocado Group moving into THE BEAM.
He said: “THE BEAM is a real flagship building for us, and attracting Ocado Group to move into it was a huge coup.
“It’s fantastic to see the company moving its team into this stunning new development that was sorely needed in the city centre.”
Coun Miller added: “We were always very confident that Ocado Group would be impressed by the talent and skill of Sunderland people, and I have no doubt the response they had to their recruitment process vindicated their decision.”