Flutter, Dart, and Python are among those affected by the latest layoffs, according to media reports and employee social media posts.
Google confirmed the layoffs to TechCrunch but did not specify which teams, roles, or how many employees were let go. A representative told the outlet the layoffs were not company-wide and that employees affected could apply for other open roles.
A Google representative told Business Insider: “As we’ve said, we’re responsibly investing in our company’s biggest priorities and the significant opportunities ahead. To best position us for these opportunities, throughout the second half of 2023 and into 2024, a number of our teams made changes to become more efficient and work better, remove layers and align their resources to their biggest product priorities.
“Through this, we’re simplifying our structures to give employees more opportunity to work on our most innovative and important advances and our biggest company priorities, while reducing bureaucracy and layers.”
The layoffs hit the key developer teams just weeks before Google’s annual I/O developer conference being held on May 14 and 15.
One product manager working on Flutter and Dart said in an X post the layoffs were decided at least “a couple of layers above our team and affected a LOT of teams. Lots of good folks got bad news, and lots of great projects lost people.”
At the start of this year, Google laid off hundreds of workers in its central engineering division and members of its hardware teams. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai warned staff at the time that “role eliminations” would continue through 2024.
Google’s parent company already axed about 6% of its staff, or about 12,000 workers the previous year.
The continued layoffs have prompted pushback from Googlers, with some staging protests and lashing out at senior leadership.
