Autodesk Inc., a maker of digital design software, announced Thursday that it plans to lay off about 1,000 employees, largely in sales roles.
The announcement comes just a week after another tech company, Meta, announced it would eliminate up to 1,500 positions.
Here’s what you need to know about the latest tech company layoffs.
What’s happened
The plan will reduce Autodesk’s workforce by approximately 7%. Autodesk indicated a significant number of the affected jobs would be in customer-facing sales roles.
The plan will also reallocate resources to accelerate strategic priorities, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Autodesk CEO Andrew Anagnost assured employees in a letter that these layoffs were not indicative of a yearly pattern or a shift to replace workers with artificial intelligence. Last February, Autodesk announced a plan to reduce its workforce by 9%.
How many jobs are being lost?
The 2026 layoffs are projected to affect around 1,000 employees.
Autodesk’s 2025 layoffs were projected to affect around 1,350 employees, according to Anagnost’s internal message.
The company predicts pretax restructuring charges of between $135 million and $160 million, largely tied to employee termination benefits. The restructuring plan is expected to conclude by the end of fiscal year 2027.
Why is Autodesk laying off employees?
This move is part of the final phase in Autodesk’s recent efforts to optimize sales and marketing.
Last February’s layoffs were informed by the “need to drive more efficiency and focus” to implement specific programs, according to Anagnost’s statement to employees.
In that letter, Anagnost said the reduction focuses on completing the company’s go-to-market transformation, expanding its AI and platform capabilities, and strengthening corporate functions.
At the Autodesk University conference in September 2025, the company revealed brand-new AI tools with pre-beta software, indicating a big step forward in Autodesk’s AI investments. One such tool was for neural computer-aided design (CAD), which Autodesk said could automate 80% to 90% of routine design tasks.
Other 2026 tech layoffs
Just last week, Meta announced a 10% reduction in its Reality Labs division, the section of the company primarily responsible for augmented and virtual reality (like the metaverse). It was the largest layoff announcement in the tech sector so far in 2026.
Nearly 124,000 employees across 269 tech companies were laid off in 2025, according to data compiled by Layoffs.fyi.
With Meta’s and Autodesk’s projected reductions alone, at least 2,500 employees across the two companies will lose their jobs.
Since 2023, Autodesk has laid off at least 1,600 employees.