GitLab to lay off 30% staff to invest in AI, starts hiring for over 20 roles in India

GitLab, an American software company, has joined the list of tech firms that are laying off workers. In a memo, GitLab CEO Bill Staples announced that the company was going to reduce its workforce by as much as 30 per cent in certain markets. But at the same time, it appears that GitLab is actively hiring workers in India.

To give you some context, GitLab had a global workforce of 2,580 employees as of January 2026. Though the company has not revealed the exact number of workers who will be impacted.

In the memo, Staples mentioned that GitLab hoped to save costs by reducing its workforce, and then invest more in AI. He wrote, “We intend to reinvest the vast majority of savings back into the business to accelerate our unique opportunity in the agentic era.”

Bill Staples added that this restructuring would happen openly, including a voluntary separation window – a timeframe for employees to leave the company by their own choice.

Now, it may seem that GitLab plans to follow other companies such as Meta or Amazon, who have laid off thousands of workers recently. However, the American software company may be planning to hire more people.

GitLab has vacancies in India despite layoffs

On LinkedIn, GitLab has over 20 job listings for roles based in India. Do note that these roles are remote, and not Work From Office (WFO). The listings include roles for Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE), AI Engineer, and Customer Success Engineer.

Users on X were quick to point this out. One person wrote, “The [GitLab] CEO is writing essays on shifting to AI agents, but a quick search on LinkedIn is showing multiple open jobs in India.”

The user questioned whether AI was actually the reason for the layoffs. They added, “Is this actually just another company using AI as an excuse in 2026?” Previously, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had claimed that some companies were using AI as an excuse to cut jobs.

Though keep in mind that GitLab also has job postings for other regions, including the US.

While GitLab is planning to lay off workers, it is possible that some regions like India and the US are less impacted, as the company focuses on reducing the number of countries where it operates. It is expected that impacted employees will be informed shortly as GitLab aims to complete the restructuring by June 1, 2026 – a day before its quarterly earnings report.