Israeli startup moguls accuse Amazon of poaching staff
Four Israeli tech leaders speak out against the internet giant's hiring practices in the Jewish state
Four Israeli tech leaders have spoken out against marketing giant Amazon’s hiring practices in their country, which they say includes poaching their best developers.
CTECH, an Israeli online tech news journal, reported Wednesday that the criticisms were launched when Shai Wininger, the president of the Israeli insurance start-up, Lemonade, posted his complaint on Facebook.
“Just learned that Amazon.com is actively trying to poach Lemonade employees,” Wininger said on Tuesday. “Game on!” He tagged Werner Vogels, Amazon’s chief technology officer. Amazon, according to CTECGH, is seeking 100 Israeli employees to focus on functions for Alexa, its cloud-based voice service.
Vogels replied that the problem might be with the headhunters it had hired to find tech developers. He said it was against company policy to hire staff from clients; a number of Israeli clients use Amazon’s cloud.
“I find that sourcing from our customers would be extremely counter-effective,” he said.
Liad Agmon, the CEO of Dynamic Yield, a web developer joined in the Facebook exchange and said he was considering taking his business elsewhere. “It’s a data point I’m seriously considering as part of our internal debate whether to stick with Amazon or switch to Google cloud,” who said he spent $2 million a year on Amazon Web Services.
Also accusing Amazon of unscrupulous hiring practices were Amir Konigsberg of Twiggle, a commerce site, and Eyal Gura, the president of Zebra Medical Vision, a medical imaging service.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
