Starbucks lays off 61 tech workers in Seattle

Starbucks will shrink its tech presence in Seattle with the layoffs of 61 corporate workers, according to a state filing.

The layoffs are a result of a reorganization in the technology department at the Starbucks Support Center, 2401 Utah Avenue South, in Seattle, per a worker adjustment and retraining notification filed Thursday.

Starbucks declined to comment Monday.

The Seattle-based coffee giant announced the staff cuts internally to its employees last month.

The layoffs are set to start on June 20, and all affected employees will be separated from the company by August 28.

Affected roles include project managers, scrum masters, systems administrators and technical product managers. The company will not relocate or contract out those positions, according to the state filing posted Friday.

These workers are not represented by a union. Starbucks Workers United, which represents thousands of baristas, declined to comment.

In the most recent quarterly earnings call in April, CEO Brian Niccol pleased shareholders with better-than-expected profits and revenues.

He pointed to his Back to Starbucks plan - a vision that puts the company's focus on the coffeehouse experience - as the impetus.

The company tapped Tennessee as the home of a new corporate operations office in March. It will host up to 2,000 employees over the next five years.

Starbucks' global headquarters is in Seattle's Sodo neighborhood. Spokesperson Lori Torgerson said at the time that, Seattle remains our North America and Global Support HQ.

Layoffs also hit Starbucks last year, with 974 employees - both retail and nonretail workers - who lost their jobs in Seattle and Kent. The local store closures led to the layoffs of 369 retail employees across the state after a separate round in February 2025, in which 1,100 corporate employees were laid off.

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