The position became vacant, following the resignation of its leader, Ed Miliband, under whose watch the party suffered its worst electoral defeat in decades.
“I am pleased today to be announcing that I will be standing for the leadership of the party,” Umunna, 37, said in a video posted on Facebook.
“Some have actually suggested over the last few days that somehow this is now a 10 year project to get the Labour Party back into office … I think the Labour Party can do it in five years, I want to lead that effort.”
Umunna, a lawyer and centre-left politician, last week won re-election into the British House of Commons, with a wide margin at his London Streatham Constituency.
He specialises in business policy and has been Labour business spokesman since 2011
He was first elected MP in 2010 and he is one of the bookmakers’ favourites to win the job of party leader.
On Sunday, Umunna said that during the election campaign his party had concentrated its policies too much on the poorest and the richest, ignoring the majority of people in-between.