Salesforce Keeps Engineers Near 15,000 as Benioff Shifts Hiring to Sales
Updated
Updated · Business Insider · May 28
Salesforce Keeps Engineers Near 15,000 as Benioff Shifts Hiring to Sales
3 articles · Updated · Business Insider · May 28
Salesforce said its engineering headcount has stayed mostly flat at about 15,000 for two years, while new hiring is concentrated in sales.
Marc Benioff told Wednesday's earnings call that coding agents now have "dramatic capabilities," but AI still cannot handle selling and communicating well enough to replace sales staff.
AI has already cut other roles at Salesforce: Benioff said in September the company eliminated about 4,000 support jobs that agents would take over, and he recently projected $300 million in Anthropic token spending this year.
The hiring split reflects a broader tech pattern as companies including Cloudflare and Block cite AI-driven productivity gains for layoffs, even as executives say creative and relationship-heavy work remains harder to automate.
Salesforce bets on human sellers over AI coders. Which skills now separate us from machines?
With AI now writing code, are Silicon Valley engineers coding themselves out of a job?
Inside Salesforce’s AI-Driven Workforce Overhaul: 4,000 Jobs Lost, 20% Sales Growth, and the New Era of Digital Labor
Overview
Between 2025 and 2026, Salesforce transformed its workforce by strategically embracing artificial intelligence, highlighted by the launch of Agentforce and deep integration of AI tools across its offerings. This shift, driven by significant investment in AI and partnerships like Anthropic, is fundamentally changing how work is done, reducing software development costs, and reshaping engineering roles. Despite fears that AI would diminish SaaS value, Salesforce’s data shows AI is enhancing its services. At the same time, the company is recalibrating its workforce, expanding sales teams to meet market demand, and focusing on upskilling employees to ensure continued growth and relevance.