ServiceNow, whose software platforms help companies manage workflows and integrate AI, announced it would lay off over 100 workers in its San Diego office, and potentially hundreds more around the world.
On LinkedIn, X and Reddit, ServiceNow employees have been trading intel on who’s being cut and how deep this round goes.
Others have expressed feeling blindsided. Assuming they were safe after surviving ServiceNow’s June layoffs, some employees are firing CEO Bill McDermott’s own catchphrase right back at him: “Trust is won in drops and lost in buckets.”
The Tuesday WARN notice tallied 133 San Diego positions eliminated. More than half of the layoffs are senior and director-level positions at the San Diego office at 4801 Eastgate Mall.
Customer-facing roles were hit hardest. Thirty positions across customer success, customer support and product success were eliminated. Engineering and quality assurance functions also saw steep cuts. Software quality engineer was the single largest job title affected, with 10 positions eliminated.
The local layoffs will take effect by Sept. 28, according to a WARN notice published with the state.
“Some favored employees got a generous package and a month to find another role. Others didn’t,” said Bill Stout, former technical director of AI product security at ServiceNow. His position was eliminated in March after he spent more than 11 years at the company.
“ServiceNow is fighting a war,” Stout said, discussing how AI has streamlined coding. Computers are now writing their own code, so it takes fewer engineers to create complex software developments.
Many other software companies have posted layoffs too, causing analysts to dub this year a SaaS-pocalypse.
But despite these challenges facing the software industry, ServiceNow’s most recent earnings call on July 22 was touted as a success.
It was “an outstanding quarter that highlights ServiceNow’s broad-based demand, strong execution, and operating leverage,” said Gina Mastantuono, chief financial officer of ServiceNow.
In the second quarter of 2026, the software company posted $3.877 billion in revenue, representing a 23% increase year-over-year, and a profit of $298 million, lower than the year-ago period when it recorded $385 million in net income.
“We are driving efficiencies across the business, actively investing in and hiring for AI-focused skills, and managing headcount with discipline to end 2026 where we started,” a ServiceNow spokesperson told the Union-Tribune. “As we shared earlier this year, that’s how we grow sustainably and win.”
In response to employees’ claims that they were blindsided, the company said the characterization is not accurate. ServiceNow pointed to the numerous times McDermott has said the company plans to keep headcount steady, noting that after its recent acquisitions of Moveworks, Veza and Armis — which added thousands of employees — a corresponding number of positions elsewhere would need to be eliminated to hold headcount flat.