Meet three European logistics employees who’ve grown their careers at Amazon

When Manuela Zuschke first started working at Amazon’s fulfilment centre in Augsburg, Germany, in 2011, she was packing boxes on the night shift. When Ana-Maria Benga relocated from Romania to the UK and began working as a temporary associate, she had zero technical knowledge. And when Noemi Trifoglio moved from Italy to Barcelona for a new role, she spoke very little Spanish.

Today, Manuela coordinates volunteering activities for 2,400 employees as a general manager’s assistant. Ana-Maria maintains 1,600 robotic drive units as a qualified reliability maintenance engineering operator in Dartford, UK. And Noemi leads a sortation centre in Barcelona as a site leader—her fourth promotion in nine years.

Their stories, featured in an interactive exhibit at the recent Amazon Expo in Brussels, illustrate how our investment in employee development creates career pathways that extend far beyond entry-level roles. The exhibit complemented a Future of Work and Skills roundtable that brought together European policymakers and Amazon leaders to discuss addressing Europe’s skills gap.

From leading a team to leading an entire site

Noemi’s career trajectory took her across borders and business lines. After graduating university, she joined Amazon as an area manager at a fulfilment centre in northern Italy, where items are picked, packed and shipped to customers.

“I can tell you that the most difficult part at the beginning was the really early alarm—I was waking up at 4:30 in the morning,” Noemi recalled. “But when I joined the team and I started learning a lot about operations, about people management, feeling that I was really surrounded by super smart people, the early alarm was not a problem anymore.”

When Amazon asked her to move to Barcelona to work in a sortation centre—the middle mile of Amazon’s logistics network—Noemi hesitated. Her Spanish was limited. But her instinct told her it was the right opportunity.

“Amazon helps you in your career progression. I really felt a lot of support,” Noemi said. “For example, when I moved from Italy to Barcelona, when my Spanish was not so good, or when I was preparing for the interview for the next promotion, my manager was always there helping me in this process.”

Noemi used Amazon’s internal language training and participated in women’s leadership programmes and external coaching. Four years ago, she founded Women in Operations in Spain, an employee-led group that mentors women and partners with recruiting teams to bring more women into operations roles.

Building technical skills from the ground up

Ana-Maria’s journey began differently. She started as a temporary “green badge” associate, working as a picker in a fulfilment centre. Within months, managers saw her potential and offered her a permanent position.

“I wasn’t looking for a career at the time,” Ana-Maria admitted. “But lucky for me, the managers saw my potential.”

She progressed through roles of increasing responsibility: from picker to critical roles trainer, then pick lead—managing 200 employees during the beginning of COVID-19—and then outbound flow lead. But it was the technical side of operations that captured her interest.

“Before I joined Amazon, I had zero technical knowledge,” Ana-Maria said. “I wasn’t hoping that I would get into management and leadership for such a great international company. But while taking different roles, I started being more and more interested in the technical side of things.”

Through Amazon’s Career Choice programme, which pre-pays up to 100% of tuition costs for employees, Ana-Maria is now pursuing a BTEC Level 3 diploma in both mechanical and electrical engineering. The qualification supports her current role maintaining the robotic drive units that move products through the fulfilment centre.

“We don’t have the mentality of ‘I won’t teach you,’“ Ana-Maria explained. “We usually have the mentality of ‘I will help you to get bigger than I am.’ That’s the way it works. And that’s why I’m here.”

Returning after parental leave

Manuela’s path demonstrates how Amazon supports employees through major life transitions. After starting as a night shift packer in 2011, she took four years of parental leave following the birth of her second daughter.

When she returned in 2016, Manuela came back to the pack team but was ready for something different. “That’s when I started seeing Amazon as a place for a real career,” she said.

She moved into the hiring team, then became a receptionist in 2018. Through Career Choice, she took English-language courses to prepare for her next step. In 2022, Manuela became a general manager’s assistant in the Augsburg fulfilment centre, supporting a diverse population of 2,400 employees who speak 92 languages.

Now Manuela coordinates the site’s volunteering programme—75 days per year of community activities ranging from senior citizen festivals to tree planting to supporting fashion shows celebrating cultural diversity. She documents these moments on an Instagram account she manages, @my.job.at.amazon.muc3.

“Working at Amazon has improved my self-confidence and I’ve grown personally,” Manuela said. “I know that I can do things and make an impact.”

Upskilling as a business imperative

These three career journeys reflect Amazon’s broader approach to workforce development across Europe. Through Career Choice, more than 50,000 employees across Europe have pursued education and training since the programme launched in 2014.

The programme offers courses across more than 40 career paths, with classes held during work hours in partnership with local institutions. From language training to technical qualifications to degree programmes, Career Choice aims to remove barriers that prevent employees from pursuing further education.

“Upskilling isn’t just a social good—it’s a business imperative,” said Stefano Perego, vice president for international operations and global operations services at Amazon, speaking at the Future of Work roundtable in Brussels. “When you’re introducing new technology at this pace and scale, the skills your workforce needs are constantly evolving.”

For Noemi, Ana-Maria and Manuela, that commitment to skills development transformed entry-level positions into meaningful careers—proving that with the right support, it’s not just a job, it’s a career.