New role will focus on 'unlocking the potential of every Atlassian by pairing cultural and technological transformation together'
Atlassian's chief people officer is also stepping up as the company's AI enablement officer in a stronger indication of the company's direction when it comes to artificial intelligence.
Avani Solanki Prabhakar, who has been Atlassian's CPO since May 2024, announced that her role is "expanding" to chief people and AI enablement officer.
"In this role, I'll be focused on unlocking the potential of every Atlassian by pairing cultural and technology transformation together," Prabhakar said on LinkedIn.
"That means doubling down on enablement and experimentation, weaving AI into essential workflows, and keeping responsible technology use and skills development at the core of how we work."
Prabhakar's new role brings together the company's people team and its internal Atlassian customer engineering. It expands her 700-strong team of largely human resources professionals to 3,500 employees that will include tech developers and software engineers, the Australian Financial Review (AFR) reported.
"We had heaps of AI technology, being a generator of AI technology ourselves, but where teams were struggling was in turning that into outcomes," she told the AFR.
"So we have had to get inside every workflow … we have realised that true efficiency at a company level comes from AI being used as a team, rather than at an individual level."
Atlassian's AI direction
The restructure at the people management division comes in the wake of the company shedding 1,600 staff earlier this year to "self-fund further investment in AI and enterprise sales."
In its previous statement, Atlassian said AI is changing the mix of skills and the number of roles required in certain areas.
"This is primarily about adaptation. We are reshaping our skill mix and changing how we work to build for the future," it said.
Prabhakar shared during the Financial Review Workforce Summit that Atlassian is tracking four types of AI users.
The first one is the simple user who uses AI chatbots to ask questions, the second one asks AI to prioritise their workflow and organise their calender, and the third one uses AI to assist them in creating their work.
The fourth one is the strategic AI collaborator, who Prabahakar said records a four-fold productivity increase than those in the first two users.
"I think the magic starts to happen when you move to the fourth stage, which is a strategic AI collaborator," the CPO said in the summit as quoted by the AFR.
"What it means is, you have the report in front of you, but now you are building all your hypothesis with that AI tool. [You] say: 'What if I move these two, three variables, and I tried this new product in this market, what do you think it will do?'"
Role of HR in AI adoption
Meanwhile, Prabhakar's role shift also reflects the growing importance of HR leaders in AI adoption. A report from Deel earlier this year underscored that HR leaders will need to lead the ethical implementation of AI tools in workplaces.
"In 2026, their role is to architect environments where humans and machines can live and thrive, side by side," the report read.
"The deployment of any AI solution means HR must evolve from being a consumer of AI technology to being the primary steward of its ethical and responsible implementation across borders."
