Atlassian, the Australian-born collaboration software group listed on the Nasdaq, has quietly put a stop to recruiting engineers and similar technical roles after a turbulent year in which its valuation has fallen sharply and investor confidence in traditional software-as-a-service models has weakened. The company, known for tools that help teams plan projects and manage workflows, has grown over more than two decades into a global player serving many of the world’s largest enterprises but now finds itself adjusting to a market where AI promises to automate more of the work its users do.
People interviewing for roles say the change began to bite in early February when final-stage conversations stalled, meetings were abruptly cancelled and some verbal offers failed to become formal contracts. Atlassian’s public job listings show the shift in real time, where there are usually hundreds of openings across engineering and product the global careers page now lists roughly 40 sales roles and only a small handful of engineering vacancies alongside a few internships and graduate programmes. The company is not publicly outlining whether this pause will turn into broader job cuts, even as it rejects claims that it is formally pulling back offers.
The hiring freeze lands after a brutal year on the sharemarket. Atlassian’s Nasdaq-listed stock has shed close to three-quarters of its value in 12 months, which has pushed its market capitalisation down to about $US22 billion from a peak near $US162 billion at the height of the 2021 tech boom. Analysts have been trimming revenue and price targets for around two years. This reflects concerns that AI tools could both spawn cheaper competing products and reduce the number of human software developers who rely on Atlassian’s platforms. This is happening even though the company continues to beat expectations on new enterprise deals and continues to roll out its own AI-powered features to defend its long-held foothold with around 80% of Fortune 500 clients.
In the background, Atlassian is still trying to show it has enough financial muscle to navigate the storm. For the quarter to 31 December it reported a net loss of about $US43 million, which was slightly higher than the year before, although it generated free cash flow of roughly $US169 million and holds around $US1.6 billion in cash. The business has also been through serious restructuring already. In 2023 it let go of more than 500 people, paused hiring globally and rebalanced headcount toward areas like sales and marketing, while at the same time it scaled back a performance management programme that moves roughly 5% to 8% of staff out each year. The latest hiring pause appears to be another attempt to fine-tune costs while the company races to prove that long-established SaaS businesses can adapt fast enough to an AI era where smaller born-in-the-cloud rivals move quickly and public markets seem increasingly sceptical.
Sources
- Australian Financial Review
- No sources from the last 2 months found in results matching criteria.
