Hey,
We got the April jobs report this week, and it was better than almost anyone expected — 115,000 new jobs added, more than double the forecasts. Healthcare, retail, transportation. The labor market looks stable from 30,000 feet. But zoom in and you’ll find Freshworks — growing 16% year-over-year — cutting 500 jobs the same day it announced its two best deals ever, because its CEO told the world AI now writes more than half the company’s code. That’s not a contradiction. That’s the new normal.
Today: The Freshworks playbook, who’s still hiring remote, and a 3-year forecast on what’s actually changing about your job.
In This Issue:
- 🔥 The Big Story: 16% growth, 500 layoffs — the Freshworks blueprint
- ⚡ Quick Hits: 4 major market moves reshaping how companies are built
- 🏢 Companies Hiring: 5 remote-first teams actively building right now
- 🎯 Career Signal: The fastest-growing skills that aren’t coding
- ✅ Quick Win: A 60-second LinkedIn update worth doing today
🔥 The Big Story
16% Growth, 500 Jobs Gone: The Freshworks Blueprint
The headline. On May 6, Freshworks CEO Dennis Woodside sent a company-wide note with one of the most direct statements in tech this year: “Over half of our code is written by AI.” The same day, the company reported Q1 revenue of $228.6 million — up 16% year-over-year — and announced its two largest deals in company history. Also the same day: 500 employees, roughly 11% of the global workforce, were told their roles no longer exist. The restructuring eliminates management layers and combines sales teams, redirecting those savings toward Freshservice and AI development. One-time restructuring charges: $8 million. Annual savings target: more than $500 million.
The bigger picture. What’s happening at Freshworks isn’t a cautionary tale — it’s a business model update. The company is cutting positions where AI now handles output, while moving investment toward products and teams that leverage that capability at scale. Affected employees receive severance tied to tenure, Q1 bonuses, extended healthcare through the end of the quarter, and career placement services. No financial distress drove this. It was an operating efficiency decision made from a position of strength — and that’s exactly what makes it significant.
Why this matters: When record quarters come alongside workforce reductions, the message to everyone in a production or delivery role is clear: headcount and output are being decoupled. The most durable positions right now are the ones where human judgment, relationships, or creativity form the core of the role — not the output itself. Source: Freshworks Q1 2026 Investor Relations
Stat of the Week
115,000 → Jobs added in April 2026 — more than double the 62,000 economists forecast, with healthcare leading at 37,000 new positions. Unemployment held steady at 4.3%. The jobs are there — they’re in healthcare, transportation, and retail. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, released May 8, 2026)
⚡ Quick Hits
Cognizant Launches “Project Leap” — 4,000 Cuts, 20,000 New Hires
Global IT services firm Cognizant disclosed restructuring charges of $230–$320 million under its new “Project Leap” initiative, targeting approximately 4,000 mid-level positions for elimination as it rebuilds around AI-driven delivery. The cuts focus on management layers and roles the company says AI can now handle at scale. In the same announcement: 20,000 entry-level hires planned as the company pairs junior workers with AI systems for delivery. The reshape isn’t just inside tech companies — IT services firms are rearchitecting what a team looks like entirely. Read the full story →
Fidelity Ends Hybrid Work AND Cuts 1,000 Tech Jobs
On May 7, Fidelity Investments announced it will eliminate approximately 1,000 technology and product roles globally as it shifts to a new “evolved Technology and Product Operating Model” — while simultaneously planning to hire 2,000 new software engineers. The same week, the company confirmed a five-day in-office mandate for more than 21,000 U.S. employees beginning September 2026, ending its current hybrid policy entirely. Fidelity is doing all three at once: cutting roles, hiring for different ones, and pulling everyone back to the office — the finance sector’s version of the restructure. See the breakdown →
State Department Finalizes 250 Foreign Service Layoffs
On May 5, the U.S. State Department officially separated more than 250 Foreign Service officers and civil service employees who had been on paid administrative leave since last summer, following months of delays from lawsuits and congressional intervention. Those let go include officers with rare language skills, decades of institutional knowledge, and crisis-response expertise. The separations are part of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) restructuring — and experts estimate it will take a decade to rebuild the diplomatic corps. Across the federal workforce, high-skill public sector roles are facing structural cuts at a pace that will take years to recover from. Check the numbers →
BCG: AI to Reshape 55% of U.S. Jobs — Not Replace Them
In a new research report, Boston Consulting Group analyzed 165 million jobs across 1,500 roles and reached a crucial distinction: AI will reshape 50–55% of U.S. jobs within the next three years — but eliminate only 10–15% (roughly 16–25 million positions). The roles most at risk have structured, repeatable tasks. The roles most likely to be augmented — including software engineering — will change dramatically but survive. The workers who come out ahead will be the ones who understand what AI has taken over in their role, and who’ve already moved up the value chain. Get the details →
🏢 Companies Hiring Right Now
The layoffs get the headlines — but these five distributed teams are actively building, with remote-friendly hiring open right now.
Stripe — Payments Infrastructure, Global Remote Roles → Stripe powers the payment infrastructure behind millions of businesses worldwide, with remote hiring across engineering, product, data, and go-to-market roles spanning North America, Europe, and beyond. One of the most technically rigorous and well-compensated remote employers in fintech. View open roles at Stripe →
Zapier — 100% Remote, 36 States and 30 Countries
Zapier has been fully remote since it was founded in 2011 — zero offices, distributed across 36 U.S. states and 30 countries. They hire in engineering, design, product, marketing, operations, and customer support, with a strong culture of async-first work and documented decision-making. View open roles at Zapier →
Automattic — Fully Remote, 96 Countries, 1,900 Employees
The company behind WordPress.com and WooCommerce, Automattic has been 100% distributed since day one — 1,900+ employees across 96 countries, with location-agnostic salaries. They hire across engineering, design, customer support, product, and operations. View open roles at Automattic →
Salesforce — Remote Options, AI-Native CRM
Salesforce is actively building out its next generation of AI products — and hiring across engineering, sales, customer success, and operations with remote options across more than 40 countries. The company’s Agentforce platform has made it one of the most active enterprise AI employers right now. View open roles at Salesforce →
Notion — Remote Hiring, Productivity and AI Tools
Notion is expanding globally, hiring remote engineers, product managers, and designers to build the future of connected productivity. Known for a strong engineering culture and a product that tens of millions of knowledge workers use daily. View open roles at Notion →
Know someone between jobs? Forward this section — it might be exactly what they need.
🎯 Career Signal
The Fastest-Growing Skill in 2026 Isn’t Prompt Engineering
LinkedIn’s Skills on the Rise 2026 report — which analyzed hiring success and skill acquisition across millions of workers — found that the fastest-growing skill category isn’t AI coding or prompt engineering. It’s AI governance: data governance, responsible AI, and AI oversight at the organizational level. These are the skills that let companies actually deploy AI safely, scale it across business units, and stay compliant. The demand for people who can govern AI — not just use it — is growing faster than the demand for people who can build it. The workers positioning themselves at the intersection of domain expertise and AI governance are landing in a completely different compensation bracket.
🧠 Skill-Building Reads
Three resources worth your time this week.
OpenAI Academy — Free AI Certifications
OpenAI launched its Academy certification program in partnership with employers including Walmart, Lowe’s, Boston Consulting Group, and Accenture, targeting 10 million Americans by 2030. Certifications range from basic AI fluency at work to advanced prompt engineering and AI-enabled workflows — all free, and all stackable to your LinkedIn profile. Read it →
LinkedIn Skills on the Rise 2026
The most accurate current snapshot of which skills are actually landing jobs — and which ones employers are paying a premium for — broken out by function, industry, and career level. If you’re updating your profile this month, start here. Read it →
BLS Employment Situation — April 2026
The official government data behind this week’s Stat of the Week. Healthcare, transportation, retail, and warehousing added the most jobs in April. If you’re considering a sector pivot, this is the most trustworthy picture of where the work is actually growing right now. Read it →
✅ Quick Win
Search yourself on LinkedIn like a recruiter would — using skills from the LinkedIn Skills on the Rise 2026 list. Pick the one skill from that list that most closely matches what you already do. Now check: does it appear in your featured skills on your profile? If not, add it today. Not as something to learn — as something you already practice. Recruiters filter by exact skill names. If the label isn’t on your profile, you won’t surface in their search. The update takes 60 seconds and can start appearing in recruiter results within 48 hours.
What we’re watching: Cognizant’s 20,000 fresh-hire ramp running alongside mid-career cuts — and whether other IT services firms follow the same playbook; Fidelity’s September RTO deadline and how financial services competitors respond; whether the BCG three-year reshaping forecast accelerates or plateaus heading into Q3.
🎯 Bottom Line
April’s jobs report landed better than expected — 115,000 new positions, with healthcare and logistics doing the heavy lifting. But the headline doesn’t capture the full picture. The same week, Freshworks cut 500 people while posting its best quarter ever. Fidelity announced 1,000 tech cuts and 2,000 new hires in the same breath, and pulled 21,000+ workers back to the office full-time. And BCG released research suggesting more than half of U.S. jobs will look fundamentally different within three years — not eliminated, just profoundly changed. The workers navigating this best aren’t reacting to headlines. They’re asking what percentage of their current output AI could handle, and building toward the judgment, governance, and creativity that machines can’t replicate. Remote opportunities are still real — Zapier, Automattic, Salesforce, Notion, and Stripe are all actively hiring. RemoteHunter.com has verified remote roles across every sector that’s growing right now, along with AI tools for résumés and cover letters to help you compete in a market that’s moving fast.
Until next week — keep building.
— The RH Team 🤙
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