Uber Technologies is going to cut around 3,300 jobs globally - or about 10 per cent - in its biggest workforce cut since the COVID-19 pandemic. The restructuring, which CEO Dara Khosrowshahi announced on 2 September, aims to streamline Uber’s organisational structure, remove layers of management and free up the company from the need to put money into startups and the big picture.
The job cuts are anticipated to affect Uber’s global employees. At the end of 2025, the company had 34,000 employees, according to its last annual report, but another recent filing estimated the number of employees at about 36,600 at June 30, 2026, and then at most 30,000 at the end of 2025. This year's reduction will take Uber's employee count to less than 30,000.
Khosrowshahi told his employees the aim is to make the business simpler and faster. Uber has grown dramatically in the past few years into ride-hailing, food delivery and retail delivery, and more. That rapid growth has also bred more layers of management and more complicated organisational structures. The new restructuring is intended to remove those layers and make decision-making more efficient.
A big part of the restructuring is management positions. Uber will be reducing the number of employees in seven or more reporting layers below the CEO by around 20% and will also eliminate or merge many of its small “micro-teams” and teams of only one or two people. Reports suggest that the number of such teams might be reduced by half. Some managers will move to work as individual contributors and others lose their jobs.
Uber says the changes are not only about reducing costs. The company wants to use those dollars to pursue areas it believes will be essential in the future -- ride-hailing, delivery, autonomous mobility. The rise of robotaxis is reshaping the competitive landscape in transportation and Uber is one of them— more and more vehicles from companies developing driverless vehicles are coming into markets where human drivers are the only ones.
The autonomous-vehicle transition is very important for Uber’s long-term goal. Rather than designing an autonomous driving system entirely on its own, Uber is now using its platform as a marketplace where riders may find autonomous vehicle operators and technology companies to connect with. That’s why it has said the restructuring will give them the capacity to invest in the future, and that is when we’re going to do autonomous transportation.
And the company is already making big changes to its workplace policy. Uber is going to concentrate more employees around its major hubs— in San Francisco and New York. Most of the workers who are working remotely will be expected to return closer to the company offices, according to sources. Fully remote work is still expected to be available to fewer than 1% of Uber staff and the company’s hybrid structure of working three days a week at the office will remain.
The job losses are Uber’s largest since the pandemic workforce cuts in the early days. When COVID-19 caused a dramatic drop in transportation demand in 2020, Uber laid off thousands of workers to try and cut costs and adjust to a sudden contraction in its core business.
Uber’s decision comes at a time when the technology industry is in deep labor restructuring in the midst of another phase of workforce restructuring for the world. Companies in the sector are looking to become more efficient, but a lot of companies are also investing heavily in artificial intelligence, automation and other emerging technologies. But Khosrowshahi did not specifically blame artificial intelligence for Uber’s layoffs. He emphasized organisational complexity, management layers and the need to make the company more efficient.
The restructuring also attracted investor interest. When Uber shares initially shot higher following the layoffs, investors wondered if a leaner organisation would help them to be efficient and free for strategic investment. At the same time, Uber is in competition with increasingly fast and more autonomous transportation companies, making investments important for the future.
But for affected employees, the restructuring is a big deal. Uber said that employees affected by the cuts have been notified, but employment procedures can be different for different countries because of local requirements. The company has not released a country-by-country breakdown of the approximately 3,300 positions affected.
All of Uber’s workforce reductions are part of a much broader shift in the company’s strategy in the larger picture of priorities. Uber's latest personnel reduction indicates the company is trying to move to a less structured and less hierarchical structure with fewer layers of management in place, focusing on more efficient management and decision-making, core services, and autonomous transportation options.
The efficiency gains from this restructuring will depend on whether Uber can achieve these improvements without sacrificing the products and services that have made it one of the world’s largest mobility platforms.
The 3,300 job cuts therefore represent more than a mere reduction in headcount. They are a major organisational reset at Uber as they prepare for an evolving transportation industry that is automated and autonomous-driven, which is changing consumer expectations and competition from autonomous mobility solutions.
