SUSE is cutting approximately 10% of its global workforce, with CEO Dirk-Peter van Leeuwen pointing to automation and AI as the driver. Van Leeuwen announced the reduction in a memo to staff on Monday, November 2.
The memo went to roughly 1,900 SUSE employees, putting the cuts at about one in ten staff. According to the memo, the decision followed a review of the company's "future strategy, required capabilities, and team structures."
Van Leeuwen tied the move directly to changes in how software gets built, writing that "modern tooling is already changing our daily workflows."
“What is clear is that automation and AI are fundamentally shifting how software companies operate.”— Dirk-Peter van Leeuwen, CEO of SUSE
Key facts
- 01SUSE is cutting about 10% of its global workforce, CEO Dirk-Peter van Leeuwen told staff on November 2, 2026.
- 02The memo went to roughly 1,900 SUSE employees.
- 03Affected staff will be told by November 4, and SUSE's fiscal 2027 strategy will be presented on November 16.
- 04In September 2026, too few longtime staff accepted SUSE's voluntary separation offer.
The timeline is short. Affected staff will be notified by November 4, employee representatives will be nominated the following day, and one-to-one meetings begin the week after.
SUSE will then present its fiscal year 2027 strategy to the wider organization on November 16.
The layoffs follow an earlier attempt to shrink headcount voluntarily. In September, SUSE asked longtime staff whether they would accept voluntary separation, and too few took the offer.
Van Leeuwen acknowledged the cost of the cuts in the same memo.
“These decisions are painful for our people, our culture, and our open source community”— Dirk-Peter van Leeuwen, CEO of SUSE
SUSE has changed hands several times in recent years. EQT bought the Linux company from Micro Focus for $2.5 billion in 2018, listed it on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in 2021, and took it private again in late 2023.
In March 2026, EQT was reportedly considering selling SUSE again. Van Leeuwen, a former Red Hat executive, joined SUSE as CEO in March 2023.
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