Samwise High Tech Recruiting Newsletter
Friday, August 7, 2026
Salesforce Cuts 133 Jobs Across Two Cities as President Tallapragada Steps Down
Salesforce cut 133 positions across two cities this week: 74 employees at its San Francisco headquarters at 415 Mission Street, and 59 across its Seattle and Bellevue offices. The workforce reductions coincide with a C-suite shake-up. President and Chief Engineering and Customer Success Officer Srini Tallapragada stepped down effective August 6, transitioning to a Special Advisor role through August 6, 2027. Miguel Milano was also promoted to Chief Operating Officer on August 6. Salesforce filed WARN Act notices with Washington state covering the Puget Sound positions. Both announcements cited organizational restructuring as the driver of the changes.
Sources: GeekWire · SF Business Journal
Google Chief Scientist Jeff Dean Departs After 27 Years to Found AI Research Startup
Google’s Chief Scientist Jeff Dean is departing after 27 years, joining Google colleagues Sanjay Ghemawat, Quoc Le, and Oriol Vinyals to found Discovery Loop, a public benefit corporation focused on AI for scientific and engineering research. Alphabet is investing as a founding investor; the venture is co-led by Radical Ventures and Khosla Ventures. Dean’s departure triggered a Google DeepMind leadership reshuffle: Demis Hassabis steps back to Chair, while Koray Kavukcuoglu becomes Senior Vice President, reporting to CEO Sundar Pichai and owning Gemini development. Current and former employees told Bloomberg that losing Dean will make AI recruiting harder for Google.
AI Skills Required in 79% of Tech Job Postings as Agentic AI Demand Surges 250%, Dice Reports
Artificial intelligence skills now appear as requirements in 79 percent of U.S. technology job postings as of July 2026, up from 75 percent in June and 144 percent higher than July 2025, according to Dice’s August 2026 Tech Job Report. Tech job postings fell 10 percent month-over-month in July, though they remained 10 percent ahead of the same period last year. The fastest-growing skills include Organizational Change Management (up 42 percent), Responsible AI (up 21 percent), and Agentic AI and AI Agents, up more than 250 percent year-over-year. The insurance industry led month-over-month gains with a 66 percent increase in tech job postings.
Etsy Cuts 220 Jobs — 12% of Its Workforce — as New CEO Reshapes Company
Etsy is eliminating approximately 220 positions — about 12 percent of its workforce — as new CEO Kruti Patel Goyal reorganizes the company to accelerate growth. Patel Goyal, who took over as CEO at the start of 2026, said in a letter to employees that cost reduction is a byproduct, not an objective, of the restructuring. Most cuts fall on product and engineering teams. Etsy will recognize approximately $35 million in charges, with the process wrapping up before Q3 closes. Upon completion, the company will have approximately 1,600 employees. Departing staff receive a minimum of 16 weeks of severance plus continued healthcare coverage for up to 12 months.
Tech Layoffs Cross 174,000 Workers in 2026 as Summer Wave Continues, TrueUp Tracker Shows
Technology sector job cuts have reached 174,661 workers across 519 separate events in 2026, according to TrueUp’s real-time layoff tracker, updated through August 7. That pace represents approximately 798 affected workers per day year-to-date. The most recent TrueUp log includes August 6 reductions at Salesforce’s San Francisco headquarters (74 workers) and its Seattle and Bellevue offices (59 workers). The tracker monitors tech companies and startups globally. The sustained pace of reductions across enterprise software, e-commerce, and consumer technology has continued to expand the pool of displaced technical talent available to recruiting teams actively hiring.
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Curated by JD · samwise.agency
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