In 2025, about 20% of AI engineers hired by Google were already working for the company before. The share of so-called boomerang employees — professionals who return to their former employer — has increased compared to previous years.
In 2025, about 20% of AI engineers hired by Google were already working for the company before. The share of so-called boomerang employees — professionals who return to their former employer — has increased compared to previous years.
As CNBC reports, Google confirmed this data and noted that in 2025 the company was also more active than last year in luring AI researchers from competitors — in particular, OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta. «We feel the momentum — we have the computing resources and talent. Engineers want to work here to create breakthrough products,» said a Google representative.
According to Google’s compensation chief John Casey, AI engineers are attracted by the company’s financial capabilities and the powerful computing infrastructure needed to work with advanced artificial intelligence models.
Google has a significant «resource pool» of former employees—especially after the company’s largest layoffs in 2023, when parent company Alphabet laid off 12,000 employees (about 6% of its workforce). After that, Google continued with targeted layoffs and contract buyout programs.
Overall, the trend of returning employees is growing across industries. According to ADP Research, the IT sector is showing the highest dynamics of «boomerang hiring.»
After a slow start in generative AI with the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, Google accelerated significantly in 2025. The company invested billions of dollars in infrastructure and achieved success with the Gemini ecosystem — including the release of Gemini 3 — and Alphabet shares rose more than 60% in the year, outpacing other tech giants.
At the same time, the battle for talent is only intensifying. Microsoft previously lured several dozen researchers from DeepMind, and Sam Altman reported that Meta was offering AI specialists bonuses for signing contracts of up to $100 million. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally participated in the recruitment.
In late 2024, Google brought back one of its key AI researchers, Noam Shazeer, who rejoined DeepMind with the Character.AI startup team. At the same time, the company streamlined internal processes, reducing the number of managers and allowing it to bring products to market faster.
According to CNBC sources, Google co-founder Sergey Brin is also personally contacting individual candidates in an attempt to attract top AI specialists.
