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Thales Plans 9,000 Global Hires in 2026, Including 450 Roles in India
Thales Plans 9,000 Global Hires in 2026, Including 450 Roles in India
Thales, a multinational operating across defence, aerospace, and digital security technologies, has announced plans to expand its global workforce by 9,000 employees in 2026. Of these new positions, approximately 450 roles will be based in India, reflecting the country’s growing importance within the company’s engineering and innovation network.
The planned recruitment aligns with Thales’ recent hiring trajectory. Over the past several years, the company has consistently added at least 8,000 employees annually to support expansion across its three primary business segments. This sustained hiring underscores continued demand for advanced technological capabilities in areas such as aerospace systems, cybersecurity, and digital infrastructure.
In India, Thales has already taken steps to strengthen its talent pipeline. The company recently onboarded more than 120 engineering interns at its Engineering Competence Centres located in Noida and Bengaluru. These centres play a central role in research, design, and development activities, and the internship programme is intended to cultivate future-ready engineering talent while deepening collaboration with academic institutions. The initiative also aligns with national priorities aimed at strengthening domestic technological capability and self-reliance.
Workforce diversity remains another focus area. In 2025, women accounted for roughly one-third of Thales’ total hires in India, indicating gradual progress toward gender balance in technical and engineering roles. The company continues to prioritise inclusive recruitment alongside capability development in specialised domains.
Looking ahead to 2026, Thales expects to recruit professionals across hardware, software, and systems engineering disciplines, with a significant share of hiring concentrated in its Bengaluru and Noida engineering hubs. Additional roles will span supporting business functions required to scale operations and deliver complex technology programmes.
Beyond external hiring, internal mobility forms a key component of Thales’ workforce strategy. Around 3,500 employees globally are projected to transition into new roles within the organisation during 2026. This movement is supported by the company’s broad international presence and diversified portfolio of business activities, enabling employees to pursue cross-functional and cross-regional career paths.
Skill development is reinforced through Thales’ “Learning Company” framework, which provides access to more than 35 internal academies focused on continuous professional growth. These academies cover technical, managerial, and emerging-technology competencies, helping employees adapt to rapidly evolving industry requirements.
From a global hiring perspective, engineering talent will represent the largest share of new recruits. Approximately 40 per cent of 2026 hires are expected to join engineering teams working in software development, systems engineering, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and data-driven technologies. A further 25 per cent will be placed in industrial roles, including technicians, operators, and production engineers—positions essential to manufacturing, integration, and operational delivery.
The scale of the recruitment drive highlights Thales’ broader emphasis on innovation, capability building, and long-term workforce development. It also reinforces the company’s role as a significant technology employer both in India and internationally, particularly in sectors tied to national security, transportation, and digital transformation.
In parallel with hiring, Thales continues to invest in early-stage science and technology engagement. Through its “Vocation Makers” outreach programme, the company introduces young students aged six to eighteen to STEM fields via site visits, demonstrations, and school-based educational sessions. In 2025 alone, the initiative reached approximately 250,000 students worldwide, spanning primary through high-school levels.
STEM outreach in India includes additional programmes designed to inspire interest in science and engineering among employees’ families and wider community networks. These initiatives aim to build long-term awareness of technology careers while contributing to the development of future talent pipelines.
Together, Thales’ planned hiring, internal mobility efforts, and education initiatives signal a sustained commitment to growth and innovation. The company’s continued investment in India—through engineering centres, recruitment, and skills development—positions the country as an increasingly important contributor to its global technology ecosystem in the years ahead.
UBS Plans Swiss Job Cuts While Expanding Technology Hiring in India
UBS is preparing for a significant workforce reorganisation as it continues integrating Credit Suisse following the government-backed rescue completed in 2023. The bank is expected to reduce around 3,000 roles in Switzerland later this year while creating a similar number of new positions in India, signalling a strategic shift in how the combined organisation distributes talent and technology functions globally.
Much of the planned hiring will be centred in Hyderabad, where UBS is rapidly expanding its operational footprint. The bank intends to substantially increase headcount in the city over the coming months, with recruitment focused on technology development, engineering, and artificial intelligence capabilities. This move reflects a broader effort to build scalable, cost-efficient digital infrastructure in markets that offer deep technical talent pools and faster recruitment cycles compared with traditional European banking centres.
The anticipated job reductions in Switzerland are largely tied to organisational overlap created by the merger. Duplicate teams across support services, information technology, and management functions are being consolidated as UBS works to streamline operations and remove redundancies. The bank has indicated it will prioritise natural attrition and early-retirement options where feasible, though structural reductions remain a central part of post-merger integration and cost-control planning.
This workforce rebalancing illustrates a wider transformation underway in global banking. Financial institutions are increasingly relocating technology and operations roles to lower-cost regions while retaining core regulatory, risk, and client-facing functions in home markets. For UBS, expanding in India offers not only cost advantages but also access to specialised expertise in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI—capabilities that are becoming critical as banks modernise legacy systems and expand digital services.
At the same time, the restructuring carries domestic sensitivity within Switzerland. Since the emergency takeover of Credit Suisse, UBS has effectively become the country’s only remaining global-scale banking group. Regulators and policymakers have therefore emphasised the importance of maintaining essential capabilities, employment stability, and systemic resilience within the Swiss financial system. Workforce reductions, even when linked to merger efficiencies, are closely scrutinised in this context.
From a strategic perspective, UBS appears to be balancing two parallel priorities: preserving stability in its home market while accelerating technological transformation through global talent distribution. Expanding engineering and AI capacity in India supports long-term competitiveness, particularly as automation, digital platforms, and data-driven services reshape banking operations worldwide. Meanwhile, consolidating overlapping roles in Switzerland addresses immediate efficiency pressures following the merger.
Industry analysts note that similar geographic workforce shifts are becoming common across multinational financial institutions. As regulatory demands, cost pressures, and rapid technological change converge, banks are redesigning operating models to separate high-value innovation work from traditional administrative structures. India’s established role in global financial-services technology—supported by mature service ecosystems and a large skilled workforce—positions it as a key destination for this transition.
For employees, the changes reflect both opportunity and uncertainty. Job reductions in Switzerland highlight the human impact of consolidation, while hiring growth in India underscores expanding career pathways in technology-driven financial services. For UBS, successful integration of Credit Suisse will depend not only on cost savings but also on its ability to modernise systems, retain critical expertise, and manage regulatory expectations.
Ultimately, the planned shift of roughly 3,000 roles from Switzerland to India marks another milestone in UBS’s post-merger restructuring. It also reinforces a broader global trend: as banking becomes increasingly digital and technology-centric, workforce strategies are evolving toward distributed talent models that prioritise efficiency, scalability, and innovation across international locations.
Cognizant Plans Up to 25,000 Fresher Hires in 2026 as AI Boosts Productivity and Delivery Capacity
Cognizant Technology Solutions is reportedly preparing to hire between 24,000 and 25,000 fresh graduates in 2026, representing an increase of about 20 percent compared with the roughly 20,000 campus recruits brought on board in 2025. The planned expansion signals a continued focus on entry-level talent as the company integrates artificial intelligence more deeply into its delivery and workforce strategy.
Of the graduates hired last year, approximately 16,000 have already been deployed to client projects, while nearly 4,000 remain in various stages of training. The figures indicate an ongoing reliance on campus hiring to build future-ready capabilities and sustain long-term growth. By strengthening the early-career segment of its workforce, Cognizant aims to create a broader talent pyramid supported by automation and AI-assisted development tools.
The hiring outlook comes at a time when concerns persist across the technology sector that artificial intelligence could reduce employment opportunities, particularly for entry-level roles. However, Cognizant’s leadership has indicated that AI adoption is instead enabling the company to recruit more fresh graduates by improving productivity and accelerating readiness for client assignments. Through the use of AI platforms, agent-based software, and automation frameworks, new engineers are able to contribute sooner in project environments.
Strategic partnerships with major AI ecosystem providers—including Anthropic, Google’s Gemini, OpenAI, and Microsoft—are supporting this transition. These collaborations are intended to enhance software engineering productivity, streamline service delivery, and embed AI-driven capabilities across enterprise solutions. As a result, entry-level employees can operate alongside digital tools that augment coding, testing, analytics, and operational workflows.
Workforce trends during 2025 reflect this shift. Cognizant added roughly 14,800 employees during the year, expanding total headcount by about 4 percent. Revenue growth outpaced hiring, rising approximately 6.4 percent over the same period, suggesting productivity improvements linked to automation and AI-enabled services. In the December quarter alone, the company increased its workforce by around 1,800 employees, reinforcing steady but measured expansion.
Executives have described the evolving workforce structure as a recalibrated talent pyramid in which a larger share of early-career professionals is supported by AI-assisted delivery models. Embedding artificial intelligence skills at the beginning of employees’ careers allows fresh graduates to transition more quickly from training to billable client work. This blended model—combining human expertise with intelligent automation—is intended to improve efficiency while maintaining service quality.
Geographically, Cognizant continues to recruit graduates across multiple regions, with India and the United States remaining central to its hiring strategy. India serves as a major talent hub for engineering and digital services roles, while US-based recruitment supports client proximity and domain-specific expertise. The company’s global campus outreach reflects sustained demand for technology services despite cautious enterprise spending in some sectors.
Financial performance in the most recent reporting period provides additional context for the hiring plans. Cognizant recorded fourth-quarter revenue of approximately $5.3 billion, representing year-on-year growth of about 4.9 percent. Full-year revenue reached roughly $21.1 billion, an increase of around 7 percent compared with the previous year. Operating margin improved to about 16.1 percent, indicating stronger cost discipline and operational efficiency alongside revenue expansion.
These results suggest that the company’s multibillion-dollar investments in artificial intelligence, automation platforms, and digital engineering capabilities are beginning to influence both growth and workforce strategy. While many global enterprises remain cautious in discretionary technology spending, demand for AI-enabled transformation, cloud modernisation, and data services continues to create hiring opportunities in specialised and entry-level roles alike.
Industry observers note that the relationship between AI adoption and employment is becoming more nuanced. Rather than simply replacing roles, AI in many service-based technology companies is reshaping skill requirements, accelerating onboarding, and expanding the scale at which junior engineers can contribute. Cognizant’s projected increase in fresher hiring reflects this broader structural change within the IT services sector.
For graduates entering the workforce in 2026, the hiring outlook may signal continued opportunity despite automation-related uncertainty. Companies integrating AI into delivery models still require significant human talent to design, manage, and refine intelligent systems. Early-career professionals equipped with AI literacy, software engineering fundamentals, and domain knowledge are therefore likely to remain in demand.
Cognizant has not publicly detailed the exact timeline or distribution of the planned 2026 hiring intake. However, the projected scale underscores confidence in long-term technology services demand and the role of AI in enabling scalable workforce growth. As enterprises accelerate digital transformation initiatives, the company’s emphasis on campus recruitment and AI-augmented productivity is expected to remain central to its operational strategy.
The hiring plans ultimately highlight a shifting narrative within the technology industry: artificial intelligence, rather than uniformly reducing jobs, may in some cases expand opportunities—particularly for workers prepared to operate in AI-integrated environments.
Emirates to Hire 20,000 Operational Staff Amid Fleet Expansion
Emirates Airline has announced plans to recruit nearly 20,000 operational staff by the end of the decade as part of a major fleet and network expansion. The hiring initiative is tied to the delivery of new aircraft, which will be deployed to both new destinations and existing routes to increase flight frequency.
Adel Al Redha, deputy president and chief operations officer at Emirates, said during a media briefing in Dubai that the recruitment will focus on a range of operational roles, including cabin crew, pilots, engineers, technicians, and airport staff. The 20,000 figure applies specifically to operational positions, with additional hires planned in IT, administration, and other support functions.
Emirates accepts applications from both domestic and international candidates. While the airline runs internal training programmes, these do not fully meet the staffing demand, prompting the broader recruitment drive.
The airline also operates special initiatives to hire Emirati nationals in engineering, cabin crew, IT, and management roles. Currently, the intake capacity for Emiratis in cabin crew and engineering is around 120 per year, but Emirates intends to increase this number over time. Similar programmes exist for IT and management positions, with graduates deployed across the network in managerial roles.
The recruitment push is linked to fleet growth, including the expected delivery of 17 Airbus A350 aircraft this year and Boeing 777X aircraft beginning in 2027. Emirates will also launch hiring for a seat manufacturing unit in Dubai, operated as a joint venture with Safran. Despite regional challenges affecting some European carriers, Emirates continues to operate at full capacity with strong demand across its routes.
Akasa Air Resumes Pilot Hiring as Fleet Expansion Gets Back on Track
Akasa Air has resumed hiring pilots after a pause of nearly 18 months, following improvements in aircraft delivery timelines from Boeing. The hiring restart comes as the budget airline prepares to expand its fleet in the coming weeks.
The airline currently operates 32 aircraft and expects to add two more by the end of February 2026, taking its total fleet size to 34 aircraft, subject to deliveries proceeding as scheduled.
According to statements made by Akasa Air Chief Executive Officer Vinay Dube, the airline is in a stable financial position and currently employs around 750 pilots operating a fleet of 33 aircraft. He indicated that this represents a healthy pilot-to-aircraft ratio by industry standards, with pilots maintaining regular flying schedules. The airline is also preparing for a potential initial public offering (IPO).
The renewed hiring follows a challenging period last year when Akasa Air faced operational disruptions linked to pilot availability. Despite having close to 800 pilots at the time, the airline experienced flight cancellations and compliance-related issues with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), highlighting gaps between staffing levels and operational readiness.
With aircraft deliveries expected to stabilise and fleet growth back on schedule, the airline has moved to strengthen its pilot workforce to support future operations.
Separately, Akasa Air recently introduced redesigned uniforms for its ground services staff as part of a broader brand refresh. The new uniforms, created by fashion designer Rajesh Pratap Singh, emphasise comfort, functionality and sustainability, aligning with the airline’s contemporary brand identity.
TCS to Build Largest Delivery Centre in Brazil, Create 1,600 Jobs by 2027
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has announced plans to develop its largest delivery centre in Brazil, with a new campus coming up in Londrina, in the state of Paraná. The project involves an initial investment of USD 37 million (approximately BRL 200 million) and is scheduled for completion by 2027.
According to the company, the new facility is expected to generate more than 1,600 jobs and function as a key delivery and innovation hub supporting clients across Brazil and the wider Latin America region. The investment represents one of TCS’ largest commitments in Latin America to date.
The announcement was made during an event held at Palácio Iguaçu, attended by the Governor of Paraná, Carlos Roberto Massa Júnior (Ratinho Júnior), and Bruno Rocha, Country Head of TCS Brazil.
Governor Ratinho Júnior said the investment would strengthen Paraná’s position as a growing technology services hub, citing the state’s public education infrastructure and focus on training in programming and artificial intelligence. He also highlighted the presence of an extensive public university network with increasing emphasis on technology-oriented disciplines.
Bruno Rocha stated that the new campus reflects TCS’ long-term strategy for Brazil and Latin America, adding that the facility is intended to support digital transformation initiatives for clients while contributing to local economic development and employment.
The 9,000-square-metre campus will include three newly constructed buildings and is designed to meet LEED Gold sustainability standards. It will bring together TCS’ existing operations in Londrina and allow for future expansion. The centre will focus on areas such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, enterprise resource planning (ERP), and cloud technologies, including platforms from Google, AWS, SAP, and Microsoft.
As part of its broader AI-led approach, TCS has established AI labs in its Londrina operations and introduced its global “tcsAI Fridays” programme to encourage AI adoption and skill development. TCS has been operating in Brazil for over 20 years and continues to expand its footprint across Latin America.
Deloitte plans major workforce expansion in India, targets 50,000 new hires
Deloitte is planning a significant expansion of its workforce in India, with the professional services firm aiming to add approximately 50,000 employees over the next few years, according to a senior company executive.
The expansion would take Deloitte’s headcount in India beyond its current strength of around 1,40,000 employees, further strengthening the country’s role in the firm’s global operations.
The plan was outlined by Romal Shetty, CEO, Deloitte South Asia, during his address at TiEcon Mangaluru 2026, held on 16 January.
India already accounts for a substantial share of Deloitte’s global workforce. At present, about one in four Deloitte professionals worldwide is based in the country. The firm has set an internal goal of increasing this proportion to one-third of its global workforce within the next three years, reflecting both the scale of available talent and the expanding scope of work being delivered from India.
As part of this growth strategy, Deloitte is also reviewing its geographic footprint. While major metropolitan centres remain important, the firm is increasingly focusing on Tier-II and Tier-III cities to support future hiring and operations.
Cities including Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore, Lucknow, Indore and Jaipur are already part of Deloitte’s expansion plans. Mangaluru is also under evaluation as a potential location, driven by the availability of engineering and medical talent in the region.
Shetty noted that India hosts nearly half of the world’s Global Capability Centres (GCCs), creating opportunities for faster and more integrated growth. To support this ecosystem, Deloitte is exploring concepts such as digital economic zones, which would bring together infrastructure, academic institutions, startups and data capabilities to reduce setup timelines.
In parallel, Deloitte continues to pursue acquisitions and partnerships with startups to strengthen its presence in areas such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors and space technologies, with India expected to play a central role in the firm’s next phase of growth.