Google is laying off around 52 employees in Washington state, according to a WARN notice it filed on Wednesday and first reported by GeekWire. The letter gives no reason for the cuts. It says only that they are permanent, and that they are not the result of relocating or contracting work out of the state.
The roles sit across the company’s core engineering work. They include software engineers, engineering and product managers, mechatronics engineers, UX designers, and recruiters. The affected staff are spread across seven buildings in Kirkland, Redmond, and Seattle, with three more working remotely. Notifications began on 8 July, and the separations run from early September to 4 October.
A first since 2023
It is Google’s first significant reduction in the state since 2023. In January that year, parent company Alphabet shed 12,000 workers globally, or 6% of its workforce. It did not break out how many were in Washington.
Washington is one of Google’s largest engineering hubs outside its California headquarters. It opened offices in the state more than 20 years ago, working on Android, Chrome, Cloud, Maps, and Ads. The company also cut jobs in its Google Cloud division earlier this summer, including on cybersecurity teams, Business Insider reported, without giving a number.
