Professional services firm Cognizant cut close to 200 jobs in Ireland a year after it announced plans to add more than 300 staff.The company, which has bases in Dublin and Cork, provides staff for tech and life sciences companies in Ireland that require specialist employees on a project-by-project basis.In 2023, the company announced plans to create 320 new jobs in Ireland by 2026, with most due to be hired at its facility in Cork that provided staff to the life sciences manufacturing sector. The hiring drive was expected to bring its headcount in Ireland beyond 1,800 people. New accounts for its main Irish entity show it reduced its Irish headcount from 1,460 to 1,263 employees the year after it announced the hiring plans. A spokeswoman for the company would not confirm how many staff it has employed in Ireland.“Like many professional services companies, our workforce levels can fluctuate year to year based on the timing of client engagements, project cycles, and the legal entities reflected in statutory filings,” she said.Further details in the financial filings showed the company’s revenue declined 10 per cent in the year to €139.9 million, with an operating loss of €8.3 million compared to €6 million in 2023.In the year, it also recorded an after-tax loss of €21.4 million, which was largely caused by a €13.4 million impairment linked to the disposal of a stake in Zentek Automation US LLC.The spokeswoman for Cognizant said the company has plans to continue its operation in Ireland.“Ireland remains a strategically important market for Cognizant, particularly in life sciences manufacturing. We continue to invest in our operations, including our recently opened Dublin office and our growing talent base in the country.”Cognizant is one of the largest IT services companies in the world, with more than 300,000 employees globally. Clients include Pfizer, Sanofi, Microsoft, AWS, Google and Salesforce.