Amazon Dartford Welcomes New Site Leader

Amazon has appointed a new site leader at the fulfilment centre in Dartford.
John McEwen will oversee operations at the Dartford fulfilment centre, which opened its doors in 2021.
Before joining Amazon, John became a Pilot through a university specialising in aerospace. Growing up on Air Force bases, John was well versed in aviation from a young age and was excited by the prospect of making travel the focus of his career.
Just before he took off on a long-term aviation contract, John was approached by Amazon about a new and exciting role that he couldn’t turn down. The role was launching one of the first Amazon Robotics fulfilment centres in the US, located in Baltimore. John was drawn to Amazon because as a people person, life alone in the cockpit for hours on end wasn’t appealing to him so he sought a new challenge away from aviation.
John started his career at Amazon in the US in 2015 before moving to the UK in 2017.
In the US, John had worked on several Amazon Robotics projects and an old colleague, who was now based in the UK, approached him to see if he’d be interested in making the move to launch a new Robotics site. Intrigued by the potential of supporting a relatively new area of the buisness in another country, John jumped at the chance and joined the UK operation. Soon after he made the move, John met his fiancé in London, bought a house and started to settle here.
He joined the launch team of Amazon in Tilbury as an operations manager, initially overseeing the robotics department at the largest Amazon fulfilment centre in the EU.
As his Amazon career progressed, John transferred to the Amazon fulfilment centre in Hemel Hampstead to take up the role of site leader before most recently taking on the same title at Amazon in Dartford.
During his time at university, John studied for over a year in South Korea after receiving the United States State Department Critical Language Scholarship and now speaks Korean as a second language. This sparked his interest in learning more languages, and now, alongside his continuous study of Korean, John is studying to learn Chinese and Portuguese.
John continues to be passionate about exploring different cultures. He’s travelled all over the world and has only one continent left to tick off his on his visit list. In his spare time, John also competes in CrossFit competitions and trains multiple times a week.
Speaking about his new role at the Amazon fulfilment centre in Dartford, John said:
“This is a very exciting time for me and I’m glad to be taking the next step in my career with Amazon. The Dartford site is fast-paced and busy, which is a working environment I enjoy, and I’m looking forward to working with the team at the fulfilment centre to achieve great things together.”
“I’ve already had a sense of the fun things that happen here. Recently, some of our team  filmed on the roof of the warehouse, announcing Amazon Prime Day to customers around the world. We’re also proud supporters of community organisations through volunteering which is a lot of fun and very rewarding.”
Discussing the approach he will take to the role and to his new team, John added:
“I place a lot of importance on the fact that every day is a school day and that you should be open to learning new things and bettering yourself. It’s in the interest of the team around me that I create a space that enables them to do the same. This way we can grasp the opportunities provided for us here at Amazon and create a strong and successful team.
“The thing I enjoy most about working at Amazon is that our teams are motivated and diverse. There’s a balance of problem solving and then sharing learning experiences with the team around you, and I’m excited to see how this plays out in my role at Amazon in Dartford.”
Following the Amazon Prime Day sales event, and coinciding with the building’s second anniversary, the 2,500 employees and their families will come together to celebrate at a carnival-themed summer party.
The Amazon site in Dartford creates jobs and supports the local community through charity and school donations. Some of the causes supported by Amazon in Dartford include Home Start, Temple Hill Primary Academy and Bexley’s Women’s Aid.
The Dartford area has also had a positive impact on John. He added: “I really like Dartford; it’s great to be by the river and the people are really friendly. I love the open-air feel of the town and I really enjoy how diverse it is.”
When asked on how Dartford compares to Baltimore, John said: “Both places have their own unique charm. Baltimore is very powerful with a lot of history, while Dartford is beautiful and spacious. I love them both, but Dartford is my home now.”
Pay at Amazon’s fulfilment centre in Dartford starts at £12 per hour and employees are offered a comprehensive benefits package, including private medical insurance, life assurance, income protection, and an employee discount as well as a company pension plan.
Amazon employees can also take advantage of Amazon’s pioneering Career Choice programme, which pre-pays 95% of tuition for courses in high-demand fields, up to £8,000 over four years, regardless of whether the skills are relevant to a career at Amazon.

Amazon also provides opportunities to improve existing skills or learn new ones through internal career progression opportunities such as cross-training, transferring to a different department and promotion into a managerial role.

To find out more about a career with Amazon, visit Amazon Jobs.