Hey all,

We’ve been noticing that there's a structural shift happening in tech right now that isn’t getting the attention it deserves. It's not just layoffs that are happening due to AI. Companies are actively flattening their org charts, and it's going to change how promotions and career ladders work.

Amazon kicked this off in late 2025 when their SVP of HR outlined a plan to "reduce layers, increase ownership, and remove bureaucracy." Amazon has since accounted for over half of all tech layoffs in 2026, and the key detail is that these cuts are structural, not performance-based. The positions aren't being backfilled.

Meta took it further. Their new applied AI division runs at a 50:1 employee-to-manager ratio, which is double what's traditionally considered the outer limit. You can't operate at that ratio without collapsing multiple management tiers, and without expecting a high degree of agency in each employee.

And it's not just Big Tech. [Gallup found](https://www.gallup.com/workplace/700718/span-control-optimal-team-size-managers.aspx) the average number of direct reports per manager jumped from 10.9 to 12.1 in a single year (2024-2025). Analysts are projecting that by end of 2026, 1 in 5 companies will use AI to significantly cut middle management.

The part that caught our attention is what this does to leveling.

When a company compresses from 7-8 levels to 5, the whole promotion structure shifts, leading to wider bands, more competition within each level, fewer stepping-stone roles, and *likely* less hiring overall. The "get promoted every 2 years" playbook a lot of people are running may not work the same way going forward.

We're still collecting specifics on how individual companies are handling this, but the trend is clear. The org charts of 2027 are going to look very different from 2024.

Is anyone already seeing this play out at their company? Are levels getting compressed and is the amount of agency expected from each level noticeably increasing?

Is the career ladder getting shorter?