Intuit cut 3,000 jobs to become a flatter, AI-first company (interview)

In an interview with Fortune's CFO Daily, Intuit CFO Sandeep Aujla described the restructuring announced alongside fiscal Q3 2026 earnings: about 3,000 jobs cut — roughly 17% of an 18,200-person workforce — plus winding down offices in Reno, Nevada, and Woodland Hills, California, after a roughly 1,800-person reduction in 2024 that was also framed around an AI reset. The quarter itself beat guidance — revenue up 10% to $8.6 billion, non-GAAP EPS up 10% to $12.80, full-year outlook raised — though GAAP results absorbed the restructuring charge, Aujla said.

CEO Sasan Goodarzi told employees in a memo that Intuit is focusing on three big bets: scaling its AI-native platform, becoming the center of money, and winning the mid-market. Aujla said the intent is to operate like 'builders who are entrepreneurs' — a 'focused organization, flatter organization, a faster organization.' He said the cuts span all seniority levels, not just middle management, and target coordination-heavy roles in project management and business operations that become redundant in a flatter org: 'We want more of the principal-to-principal discussions and debate.'

Aujla called this tax season 'a tale of two cities' — assisted customers up 38% and assisted revenue up 36% while DIY filers earning under $50,000 proved highly price-sensitive — and said Intuit repurchased $1.6 billion of stock in Q3 and raised its dividend 15% because 'we think the stock is mispriced.' Affected US employees receive 16 weeks of base pay plus two weeks per year of service, with a final employment date of July 31, he said.

No restructuring savings reported yet; in the same Q3 revenue rose 10% to $8.6B and full-year guidance was raised (self-reported in the interview).

Three strategic bets — the AI-native platform, money center, mid-market — need a simpler structure to execute, per Goodarzi's memo.

Fewer management layers let Intuit 'move at the utmost velocity' like an entrepreneurial company, Aujla said.

Coordination roles between teams are valuable but increasingly redundant in a flatter organization, Aujla said.

AI-era restructurings cut coordination first: when the goal is principal-to-principal debate, roles that mostly relay status between teams are the layers to remove.

The cuts take effect with a July 31, 2026 final employment date for affected US employees, who get 16 weeks of base pay plus two weeks per year of service. Aujla framed the move as consistent with Intuit's 40-year history of periodically asking whether it is structured for the next decade — a 'day-one mindset' — and said the goal is to set the company up 'for the decade ahead.' The interview, published the day after the announcement, gives no savings target or timeline for results, so the flattening's payoff remains to be seen.