Atlassian lays off 1600 employees in AI push; CEO reveals 3 types of employees safe from job cuts

The layoffs will affect staff across multiple regions. Roughly 640 employees in North America are set to lose their jobs, along with about 480 in Australia and 250 in India.

Software company Atlassian has revealed plans to cut nearly 10 per cent of its workforce – around 1,600 jobs – as part of a broader shake-up aimed at ramping up investment in Artificial Intelligence. The move also includes a change in the company’s chief technology leadership. As of June 2025, more than half of Atlassian’s 13,813 full-time employees were working in software engineering and design roles.

According to details shared with The Guardian, the layoffs will affect staff across multiple regions. Roughly 640 employees in North America are set to lose their jobs, along with about 480 in Australia and 250 in India. The remaining cuts will be spread across Japan, the Philippines, Europe, West Asia, and Africa.

In a message to employees released on Wednesday, CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes offered an unexpectedly positive signal for fresh graduates at a time when entry-level job prospects are under pressure. According to Business Insider, he outlined three groups the company was keen to retain despite the downsizing: strong performers, graduates, and workers with skills that could be applied across different roles.

“Guided by company-wide principles and a disparate impact analysis, we made some structural org changes and focused on retaining Atlassians with the skills to help us thrive as an AI-first company — this included strong performers, graduates, and Atlassians with transferable skills,” Cannon-Brookes wrote.

While keeping top performers and adaptable employees was widely expected, the emphasis on holding on to graduates stands out against growing concerns that AI is shrinking opportunities for early-career professionals.

According to Business Insider, research has suggested that younger workers in AI-exposed industries are already feeling the impact. A study by Stanford researchers found that employees aged 22 to 25 in such fields saw a “16% relative employment decline.” Meanwhile, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has warned that AI could eliminate up to half of entry-level white-collar roles within the next one to five years.

Interestingly, Atlassian had only recently indicated it was increasing its hiring of new graduates compared to the previous two years, citing a need to strengthen its research, development, and engineering capabilities.

Cannon-Brookes said the restructuring reflects how AI is reshaping the company’s talent requirements and operational priorities. The goal, he noted, is to improve financial resilience and “self-fund further investment in AI and enterprise sales”.

He also addressed speculation that AI was directly responsible for the layoffs, saying: “Our approach is not ‘AI replaces people’. But it would be disingenuous to pretend AI doesn’t change the mix of skills we need or the number of roles required in certain areas.”

Software company Atlassian has revealed plans to cut nearly 10 per cent of its workforce – around 1,600 jobs – as part of a broader shake-up aimed at ramping up investment in Artificial Intelligence. The move also includes a change in the company’s chief technology leadership. As of June 2025, more than half of Atlassian’s 13,813 full-time employees were working in software engineering and design roles.

According to details shared with The Guardian, the layoffs will affect staff across multiple regions. Roughly 640 employees in North America are set to lose their jobs, along with about 480 in Australia and 250 in India. The remaining cuts will be spread across Japan, the Philippines, Europe, West Asia, and Africa.

In a message to employees released on Wednesday, CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes offered an unexpectedly positive signal for fresh graduates at a time when entry-level job prospects are under pressure. According to Business Insider, he outlined three groups the company was keen to retain despite the downsizing: strong performers, graduates, and workers with skills that could be applied across different roles.

“Guided by company-wide principles and a disparate impact analysis, we made some structural org changes and focused on retaining Atlassians with the skills to help us thrive as an AI-first company — this included strong performers, graduates, and Atlassians with transferable skills,” Cannon-Brookes wrote.

While keeping top performers and adaptable employees was widely expected, the emphasis on holding on to graduates stands out against growing concerns that AI is shrinking opportunities for early-career professionals.

According to Business Insider, research has suggested that younger workers in AI-exposed industries are already feeling the impact. A study by Stanford researchers found that employees aged 22 to 25 in such fields saw a “16% relative employment decline.” Meanwhile, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has warned that AI could eliminate up to half of entry-level white-collar roles within the next one to five years.

Interestingly, Atlassian had only recently indicated it was increasing its hiring of new graduates compared to the previous two years, citing a need to strengthen its research, development, and engineering capabilities.

Cannon-Brookes said the restructuring reflects how AI is reshaping the company’s talent requirements and operational priorities. The goal, he noted, is to improve financial resilience and “self-fund further investment in AI and enterprise sales”.

He also addressed speculation that AI was directly responsible for the layoffs, saying: “Our approach is not ‘AI replaces people’. But it would be disingenuous to pretend AI doesn’t change the mix of skills we need or the number of roles required in certain areas.”