GitLab to lay off staff as budget redirected to develop AI

GitLab, a software development company, is reportedly restructuring its business and plans to lay off a number of employees through redundancies as part of its transformation into a leading platform for software development in the AI era. The management stressed, however, that the reductions are not solely driven by aims to cut operating costs.

GitLab CEO Bill Staples said the restructuring is not the same as the AI-driven redundancies seen in the tech industry headlines of late. ‘The restructuring process isn’t what you might read about in the news. AI is indeed changing how we work and is part of the transformation, but this is not an AI-optimisation or cost-cutting exercise,’ Staples said in an official statement.

He added that the savings from the workforce reductions would be allocated to support business development. The investment will focus on strengthening infrastructure and AI-based technology.

Citing a report from The Register, GitLab has also opened a voluntary redundancies option while simplifying its organisational structure. The company regards the current management structure as overly complex, with eight layers of organisation hindering decision-making.

‘We are streamlining the organisation because too many management layers slow us down,’ Staples said.

Additionally, GitLab plans to reduce its global operational footprint. The company will trim the number of countries hosting small teams by up to 30 per cent. Currently, GitLab operates in around 60 countries worldwide.

Management has instructed managers to speak directly with each employee about their future role. These discussions will cover whether employees will stay in their roles or choose to leave the company. However, at present there are no official criteria for who will be affected by the policy.

As of now, the exact number of employees to be laid off has not been disclosed by management. GitLab says full details will be announced alongside the first-quarter financial report for fiscal year 2027 on 2 June.

Based on data from analytics firm Unify, GitLab is currently estimated to have around 1,800 employees, with the majority located outside the United States.