Samwise High Tech Recruiting Newsletter
Monday, September 7, 2026
Uber cuts 3,300 employees — 10% of workforce — and tightens return-to-office rules
Uber is cutting approximately 3,300 employees — 10% of its global workforce — in its third restructuring of 2026, targeting management layers across engineering, product, and operations. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told staff that rapid growth had produced “more layers, more coordination, more fragmented ownership.” The company has reduced employees seven or more layers from the CEO by 20% and nearly halved managers of micro-teams. Uber is also reducing its fully remote workforce to roughly 1% and reinforcing a three-days-in-office requirement. The cuts follow HR/recruiting org reductions in June and a 10% customer service cut in July.
Sources: HR Executive
NVIDIA agrees to acquire Hugging Face for $12.93 billion
NVIDIA has agreed to acquire Hugging Face for $12.93 billion, CEO Jensen Huang announced September 3. Hugging Face’s platform hosts three million AI models, one million applications, and half a million datasets, used by 18 million developers. NVIDIA says the deal gives it a major position in the model, dataset, and developer-platform layer of the AI ecosystem. Huang said Hugging Face will continue to support open-source and open-weight models and that the deal “will expand access to AI for developers and institutions worldwide.” The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2027, subject to regulatory approvals.
Sources: TechCrunch
Challenger: August job cuts hit 52,881 — quietest August since 2022 — as hiring plans surge 725%
Employer-announced job cuts hit 52,881 in August — up 58% from July but down 38% from a year ago, making it the quietest August since 2022, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Technology continues to lead all industries in year-to-date cuts, though AI was not the top driver of August’s reductions for the first time since February; restructuring took the top spot at 31%. AI has now driven 116,175 cuts in 2026. The positive signal: hiring plans surged to 12,325 in August, up 725% from August 2025 and the highest August hiring total in four years.
Sources: HR Executive
Marsh: Employer health benefits costs to rise 8.2% in 2027 — biggest jump in 24 years
Employer health benefits costs per employee are projected to climb 8.2% in 2027 — the highest increase since 2003 — with costs potentially rising as much as 11% for organizations that don’t actively manage them, according to Marsh. The spike would mark the fifth consecutive year of elevated growth, following this year’s projected 6.7% rise. Marsh cites several factors: health system consolidation, AI-driven claims increases, and GLP-1 medications — which the firm estimates add a full percentage point to growth. For tech hiring teams, Marsh warns the pressure could force companies into “slowing hiring and wage growth,” directly tightening labor market competition.
Sources: HR Executive
Zscaler cuts 3% of global workforce (~261 employees) to fund sales expansion
Zscaler is cutting approximately 3% of its global workforce — roughly 261 employees — to reallocate spending toward its sales organization, the company disclosed on September 3 in an SEC filing. The cuts will free funds for specialty account executive teams targeting specific products and geographies, as well as salespeople focused on smaller enterprise customers. CEO Jay Chaudhry cited a strategy to capitalize on enterprises’ accelerating AI-driven security spending. Zscaler expects to incur $30 to $33 million in severance and related charges, with most recognized in the first half of fiscal 2027. The moves mark a personnel realignment rather than a cost-reduction measure.
Sources: GovInfoSecurity
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