The ride-hailing company is cutting 3,300 positions globally, with middle management bearing the brunt of the shake-up
Uber Technologies, the San Francisco-based ride-hailing company, will cut approximately 3,300 jobs, around 10% of its global workforce, in a structural overhaul its chief executive officer described as a response to organisational complexity built up over five years of rapid growth.
CEO Dara Khosrowshahi announced the changes on Wednesday, September 2, 2026, in a memo sent to employees and published on Uber's newsroom. Uber had roughly 34,000 employees globally at the end of 2025, according to the company's annual filing. Khosrowshahi noted that Uber's revenue has nearly tripled over the past five years, though that growth also introduced more layers, more coordination, and more fragmented ownership. Shares rose approximately 2% on the news, which Bloomberg News first reported.
"The changes we're making today are designed to do two things: make Uber simpler and faster, and create more capacity to invest in our future," Khosrowshahi wrote.
Khosrowshahi acknowledged the human impact of the decision. "This wasn't a decision we made lightly, because it will have a real impact on our teammates and friends who have worked hard for Uber," he wrote, adding that the changes reflect how the company is organised and what it's prioritising, not a judgment on anyone's individual contributions. All affected employees were notified on the day of the announcement, with country-specific processes to follow where local employment law requires it.
Stripping out the management stack
The restructuring cuts deepest into Uber's management hierarchy. The total number of managers will fall by 20%, and employees sitting seven or more reporting layers from the chief executive will also drop by 20%. Small management units of one to two direct reports, which Khosrowshahi called "micro-teams," have been reduced by nearly half.
In Pulse surveys and direct employee feedback cited in the memo, Uber found that too much work required cross-team coordination, decisions were taking too long, and ownership was unclear. Three separate Delivery Operations groups covering Restaurants, Retail, and Direct will be consolidated into unified global, regional, and country-level teams. In the technology division, Core Services Engineering and Science teams will also be merged, mirroring a structure already in place across Mobility and Delivery.
"A leaner organization will mean clearer ownership, faster decisions, and more time spent building rather than coordinating," Khosrowshahi wrote.
Not an AI story
Khosrowshahi explicitly did not attribute the cuts to artificial intelligence, which has been cited as a central driver in the majority of major tech sector layoff announcements in 2026. According to the 2026 AI Layoffs Report by Resume Genius, which surveyed 1,000 downsized employees, 53% of those recently made redundant believed automation had directly contributed to their job loss. Uber's decision to distance the cuts from the AI narrative may ease some of that concern for its remaining workforce.
The announcement lands within a global restructuring wave. Meta cut 10% of its workforce in May 2026 while simultaneously redirecting tens of billions of dollars toward AI infrastructure, typifying the combination of headcount cuts and rising investment that has characterised the year. The cumulative toll of repeated layoff cycles on workforce engagement and trust is now well-documented, making Uber's decision to frame the cuts as a growth-driven structural reset a deliberate one. Research also shows more than half of downsized workers believed automation had secretly contributed to their job loss in 2026, according to the Resume Genius report — a trust dynamic that Uber's explicit non-AI framing may partly sidestep.
Hub consolidation and the remote work shift
The restructuring also reshapes where Uber's work gets done. The company will ask nearly all remote employees to relocate to an office, with only approximately 1% of the workforce permitted to remain fully remote. Global teams will be concentrated in New York and San Francisco, Uber's two largest hubs, with regional teams operating from designated regional offices and local teams based in country hubs. Uber will prioritise co-location between managers and their direct reports, particularly for employees at an earlier stage of their careers.
The hybrid work policy will be enforced more actively, requiring three days per week in the office. Khosrowshahi said the case for in-person collaboration has become clearer than ever in the post-pandemic environment.
The savings generated by the restructuring are earmarked for reinvestment in growth, innovation, and the capabilities Khosrowshahi said will determine Uber's trajectory in the years ahead.
The challenge for people professionals extends beyond the 3,300 roles being cut. Managing the engagement and trust of the workforce that remains, under a reorganised structure with new team boundaries and significantly reduced management layers, will be the longer test.
