GitLab is the latest tech company to face layoffs, with CEO Bill Staples announcing a restructuring on Monday that will cut an unspecified number of jobs by June 1. The software firm, which employed 2,580 people as of January, saw its shares fall 7% in after-hours trading following the news.
Staples described the move as a response to “the agentic era,” a shift toward more autonomous, AI-driven software development. The restructuring aims to flatten the org chart by removing “up to three layers of management so leaders are closer to the work.”
The company’s research and development teams will be reorganized into roughly 60 “smaller, more empowered teams with end-to-end” ownership. A voluntary separation window is being offered as part of the plan, which Staples acknowledged “creates real uncertainty for our team over the next few weeks.”
The layoffs come amid a broader wave of tech downsizing, as companies race to streamline operations and invest in AI capabilities. GitLab’s plan to conduct the layoffs “openly” is unusual, with the CEO detailing the process in a company-wide memo.
No specific number of affected employees has been disclosed, leaving workers in a prolonged state of limbo until the June 1 deadline. The outcome will depend on how many staff accept voluntary separation and how the new team structure takes shape.