Mass Layoffs at Nova Poshta 2025 — What AI is Changing in the Market.

In June 2025, 'Nova Poshta' announced mass layoffs — nearly 3000 employees, or about 10% of the staff. The office and marketing were hit the hardest: approximately half of the team remained. Let's try to figure out the reasons and understand how this case changes the labor market and what lessons can be learned from it.

Why This Happened — Main Factors

Automation and Digitalization. Over the past two years, the company invested heavily in robotic sorting lines, conveyors, and its own IT hub, Nova Digital. Many office processes (part of 'classical' marketing, manual analytics, data verification) became redundant: what was once performed by humans is now done by an algorithm or dashboard. 'Nova Poshta' also hired four dozen prompt specialists for their 24/7 customer bot.

Conditions of the New EBRD Loan. The company receives 50 million euros for modernization, but the bank requires specific KPIs for efficiency. Optimization of personnel costs was one of the items in the agreement.

The Impact of War and Unstable Demand. Working under bombardments, with blackouts and constant changes in logistics is costly. To remain mobile, the company maintains a lighter structure. Damaged infrastructure and blackouts meant that some routes had to be rebuilt, while individual sorting hubs were temporarily idle.

Demand Fluctuations. After a sharp spike in 2022–2024, the number of shipments began to slow down: in the first quarter of 2025, the group's profit fell by 21% year-on-year — co-founder Volodymyr Poperechnyuk called this quarter 'the hardest during the war' (forbes.ua).

What This Means for the Market — and for Specialists

Routine Roles Are Becoming Obsolete. Targetologists, SMM managers, content creators — are the first to be laid off. In Kasta, only one person remained from the entire SMM team — a growth analyst who simultaneously manages several advertising platforms with AI auto-targeting and focuses on KPIs.

A New Formula is Emerging: one specialist + three tools. The growth manager oversees cloud advertising, the AI team, and analytics — instead of several people manually. AI is not a replacement, but a transformation. Intertop lost a third of its traffic due to template AI content. Only after bringing back live editors and gaining control over generation could they restore organic traffic. Monobank introduced an EdTech card: every employee receives $300 twice a year for any course — from Python to AI ethics.

Growth of Fractional Roles. Companies are hiring specialists for a few days a week. For example, Blest hired a fractional CAIO for two days — the consultant set up balance forecasting and reduced inventory costs by 8% in a quarter.

Focus on AI Architects, MLOps, Prompt Engineers. Rozetka doubled its team of ML engineers to train its own LLM to recommend products. In banks and outsourcers working with the EU, vacancies for Responsible-AI Officers are already published — for example, Raiffeisen.

Flexibility and New Compensation Practices. Brainly equated the salaries of Kyiv ML engineers to those in Krakow. Meanwhile, the OECD reports a 25-30% 'premium' for skills related to AI.

8 Lessons for Business

1. Regular skills audit. Analyze role changes quarterly, do not wait for a crisis.
2. Reskilling is cheaper than layoffs. Training your own is more cost-effective than hiring new.
3. Communication saves the brand. Openness reduces social noise and reputational losses.
4. Funding with KPIs is the new norm. Prepare for transparent HR reporting before obtaining a loan.
5. Hybrid skills are a must-have. Creativity + SQL is the best 'vaccine' against layoffs.
6. Internal mobility saves costs. An 'insider' analyst is cheaper and more loyal.
7. Emergency expense fund. Pre-budget compensation and courses in the budget.
8. AI + human = efficiency. An algorithm without a 'tuner' is a risk for SEO and branding.

What to Watch for Next

In 2025, the Ukrainian labor market is rapidly restructuring. Rozetka is hiring ML engineers, 'Nova Poshta' — prompt specialists, Kasta has kept only one growth analyst for all marketing. Instead of the usual SMM roles — new positions like Responsible-AI Officer.

Demand for fractional roles (for example, CAIO for 2 days a week) is growing. Even medium-sized businesses are seeking AI experts but flexibly. AI does not eliminate professions — it changes their form. Skills in analytics, technology, and ethics are the key to stable income. Those who do not adapt risk being left behind.