Layoffs stopped being “breaking news” sometime in mid-2025.
By early 2026, they became something closer to background noise: not everywhere, not catastrophic, but a steady hum across tech, finance, and some parts of media.

But here’s what most people get wrong:
layoffs don’t mean companies have stopped hiring.
In fact, 2025 is one of the most uneven job markets we’ve seen in a decade, entire teams are being cut while other teams inside the same company are expanding.

If you’re job hunting right now, the important question isn’t “Who’s laying off?”
It’s “Who’s still growing despite the layoffs?”

This article covers both.

The 2025 Layoff Pattern (It’s Not Random)

The cuts happening in 2025 are extremely targeted.
Companies aren’t slashing headcount across the board. They’re removing:

• middle-layer management
• redundant nontechnical roles
• junior marketing & content
• generalist operations
• lightly skilled customer support
• underperforming satellite teams
• “innovation lab” projects with no revenue

These roles were the most exposed to generative-AI automation in 2025, and the pattern is continuing.

The best way to read layoffs is this:
companies are cutting anything that doesn’t directly produce revenue, reduce risk, or build core tech.

That’s why some teams shrink while others grow.

Major Companies That Have Announced Layoffs in 2025

These are selective reductions, not full hiring freezes.

Amazon

Cutting underperforming consumer-adjacent projects, especially in retail support and low-impact Alexa initiatives.
Hiring continues in AWS, robotics, and logistics automation.

Google

Trimming overlapping product teams and long-tail experimental groups.
Still hiring heavily for Gemini, Search infra, cloud, AI safety, and applied ML.

Meta

Reducing non-revenue orgs and layers of middle management.
Growing aggressively in AI infra, agents, and monetization.

Stripe

Cutting duplicative go-to-market teams after 2025 restructuring.
Hiring in risk, compliance, and financial products.

Spotify

Reducing content operations and marketing headcount.
Still hiring in personalization, recommendation systems, machine learning, and creator tools.

Salesforce

Cutting field sales teams in low-performing regions.
Hiring in AI CRM, enterprise accounts, and engineering.

Fintech (multiple)

Re-sizing due to regulatory pressure and rising cost of capital.
Still hiring in fraud detection, payments infra, and compliance.

These layoffs are scary, but they’re not the whole picture.

The Companies Quietly Hiring in 2026

Here’s the part most job seekers overlook:
growth continues, just in different parts of the economy.

These companies are expanding headcount right now based on public data, scraped listings, and market behavior.

⭐ AI & Infrastructure (fastest hiring category in 2026)

NVIDIA

Expanding across research, data science, infra engineering, robotics, and enterprise sales.
They can’t hire fast enough.

OpenAI

Hiring for safety, reasoning models, infrastructure, evals, policy, and platform development.

Anthropic

Hiring in applied safety, systems engineering, security, and enterprise deployments.

Databricks

Growing in engineering, sales, partner solutions, and data tooling.

Snowflake

Hiring in cloud infra, enterprise accounts, and industry-specific solutions.

⭐ Cybersecurity (zero slowdown)

CrowdStrike

Hiring across engineering, threat research, and enterprise sales.

Palo Alto Networks

Still expanding due to continued demand for cloud security.

Okta

Hiring in identity security and compliance roles.

⭐ Healthcare & Biotech (huge demand)

Pfizer, Moderna, Novo Nordisk

Hiring in research, regulatory affairs, clinical operations, and data roles.

AI-Health Startups

Diagnostics, imaging, and clinical automation roles are exploding.

⭐ Renewable Energy & Climate Tech

Tesla Energy, Rivian, Sunrun

Hiring for battery engineering, supply chain, logistics, field technicians.

Climate AI Startups

Huge growth: carbon capture, energy management, forecasting models.

⭐ Quiet but Consistent Hiring:

Walmart / Walmart Global Tech

Growing heavily in data, supply chain tech, and automation.

So… What Does This Mean for Job Seekers in 2026?

A layoff headline doesn’t mean a company has stopped hiring.

Most companies cutting 400 people are also hiring 200 new ones in different teams.

Hiring has become sharper

Roles tied to revenue, risk, AI, infra, compliance, and operations are growing.

Remote roles haven’t disappeared, they’re just less advertised.

Companies list them under “flexible location” or “hybrid-eligible.”
Hidden career-page jobs now make up most remote openings.

The safest candidates in 2026 are the ones who move early.

Don’t wait for a layoff to “force” you into the market.
The people who prepare quietly win.

A Simple Rule for 2026 Job Seekers

Don’t chase the headlines.
Chase the hiring patterns.

Look at where companies are investing, not where they’re cutting.The cuts tell you what’s dying. The hiring tells you what’s being built next.

Tech Hiring Isn’t Dead.
These Companies Are Recruiting in 2026. 🔍

Discover real tech openings scraped directly from company career pages. No expired listings. No noise. Just what’s actually hiring right now.

Explore 2026 Tech Jobs →

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