Software firm Atlassian to cut 1,600 jobs in AI pivot
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Atlassian has seen a steep sell-off in 2026, losing more than 50 per cent of its market value through regular trading on March 11.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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BENGALURU – Atlassian on March 11 said it would lay off around 10 per cent of its workforce, or 1,600 employees, to push into artificial intelligence and enterprise sales.
Shares of the enterprise software company rose nearly 2 per cent in extended trading after Atlassian said it plans to “rebalance” its resources to focus on the “future of teamwork in the AI era”.
The company said the majority of impacted employees are in North America, amounting to 40 per cent, followed by 30 per cent in Australia and 16 per cent in India.
“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. It does,” chief executive Mike Cannon-Brookes said in a memo to employees.
The move comes as investors increasingly scrutinise software firms amid fears that advances in AI could disrupt traditional software business models, though some analysts say the sector-wide sell-off may be an overreaction.
Top executives at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in January said that while jobs would disappear, new ones would spring up, with two telling Reuters that AI would be used as an excuse by companies that were already planning layoffs.
Atlassian has seen a steep sell-off in 2026, losing more than 50 per cent of its market value through regular trading on March 11. It derives a majority of its revenue from its collaboration tools, including Jira software for planning and project management and Confluence for content creation.
“Software companies such as Atlassian have an opportunity to make their business more efficient by adopting AI tools, especially within their product development,” said Mr Gil Luria, a D.A. Davidson analyst. “By reorganising that way, they can reduce the resources necessary to deliver their current business and grow more profitably.”
The company said Mr Rajeev Rajan will step down from the role of chief technology officer, effective March 31, after almost four years with the company.
It expects to incur about US$225 million (S$287 million) to US$236 million in charges related to the layoffs and office space reductions, according to a regulatory filing.
Atlassian expects the restructuring plan to be substantially complete by the end of the fourth quarter. It expects a smaller number of job cuts in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Japan and the Philippines. REUTERS
