PitchBook CPO Says Big Tech Layoffs Boosted Machine‑Learning Team

PitchBook’s chief product officer says the firm has gained from Big Tech layoffs, using the talent influx to more than quadruple its machine‑learning team in two years.

Amazon cut 16,000 corporate jobs in January, trimming roughly 4.6% of its 350,000‑person workforce. Meta announced a 10% headcount reduction this month, affecting thousands of engineers worldwide. Other large tech firms have also announced layoffs, sending a wave of experienced workers into the job market.

PitchBook’s CPO Paul Jaeschke told Business Insider that the private‑market data platform "definitely a beneficiary" of those cuts. He said the layoffs have created a rare hiring opportunity for smaller companies that can offer speed and ownership. Jaeschke noted that many new hires come from Amazon, Microsoft, Google and similar firms.

Over the past two years, PitchBook’s machine‑learning group has grown more than fourfold. This increase reflects a deliberate push to strengthen AI‑driven analytics across its private‑market data offerings. In the last twelve months alone the team added ten new machine‑learning engineers.

Jaeschke said roles that were once difficult to fill, such as machine‑learning engineers, are now easier to staff because the talent pool has expanded. He added that the company has also hired for other hard‑to‑fill positions, including data scientists and AI specialists. The recruiter emphasized that the influx of candidates has reduced time‑to‑hire for technical roles.

The company attributes its recruiting success to a faster pace of work, greater ownership over projects, and access to a range of AI tools including Claude, OpenAI and LangChain. PitchBook also eliminated some internal "product owner" roles after AI made those tasks more efficient, shifting affected employees into product manager positions. With over 3,000 staff worldwide and nearly 600 based in Seattle, the firm says the layoff‑driven talent pool has helped it meet hiring goals that were previously out of reach.

What this means is that smaller tech firms can turn industry‑wide cutbacks into a competitive advantage by offering flexibility and modern toolsets. The trend suggests that as AI reshapes job functions, companies that adapt quickly may continue to attract displaced talent. Analysts warn that the advantage may fade if larger firms improve their own internal mobility and tooling.

Watch for whether PitchBook’s machine‑learning team keeps expanding and how other midsize firms respond to the shifting talent landscape.