Qantas to move 850 head-office roles to Accenture, mostly in India
By Karan BansalTech Startups Correspondent, Peepals Tech
Representative image: theofficepass / Pixabay
Qantas told staff on 10 November 2026 that about 850 Australian finance, HR, procurement and marketing roles will shift to Accenture, delivered mostly from India.
What Happened
Qantas, Australia's national airline, has told staff that about 850 head-office roles in Australia will be affected by a new partnership with the consulting and technology firm Accenture, with the work to be delivered largely by Accenture's teams in India. The first phase covers finance, procurement, people (human resources) and marketing functions. The plan was reported on Tuesday, 10 November 2026, from an internal message to staff, and the Australian Services Union, which represents many office workers, has criticised the move.
Key Facts
- Roles affected: about 850 corporate jobs in Australia, according to the airline's message to staff as reported.
- Partner: Accenture, which will take over the services; they will be delivered mostly from India, with some work in Australia.
- First functions: finance, procurement, people (HR) and marketing.
- Timing: Qantas says the roles will be affected over the coming years; one report says the first changes are expected by mid-2027.
- Scale: the cut is about 3% of Qantas's Australian workforce of about 28,000, according to Reuters' reporting.
- Unions: the Australian Services Union and the Transport Workers' Union have accused the airline of using artificial intelligence as cover for sending work offshore; the airline says consultation with the union is continuing.
- An earlier report, about 12 days before, said Qantas was considering moving up to 1,000 corporate roles to India; the confirmed figure is 850.
Why It Matters
For India's job market, this is a fresh example of a trend that is changing what "tech jobs" mean. The work moving here is not coding alone. It is the back-office machinery of a large company: paying suppliers, closing the accounts, running payroll and HR processes, and supporting marketing. Global firms increasingly hand such work to large service providers, which run it from Indian delivery centres with a mix of skilled staff, automation and AI tools.
That shift creates demand in India for people who combine domain knowledge with digital skills: accountants who can work with automated reporting tools, HR professionals comfortable with workflow software, procurement analysts, and data and AI specialists who build and check the automation. Reports on the Qantas plan say the move is partly about modernising older IT systems and bringing in artificial intelligence, which suggests the new roles will lean heavily on those skills rather than simple data entry.
The Australian side shows the other face of the same trend. Unions say AI is being used to justify sending jobs overseas, and they are seeking details of which roles will go, along with retraining support. For Indian readers in the outsourcing and global capability centre industry, it is a reminder that the work arriving here is often politically sensitive at home for the client, and that client companies and their service providers will be watched closely on how the transition is managed.
Peepals calculation: Reported figures put the cuts at about 850 roles out of an Australian workforce of about 28,000. That works out to roughly 3.0% of the airline's Australian staff (850 ÷ 28,000 ≈ 0.030). Compared with the up to 1,000 roles mentioned in the earlier report, the confirmed number is about 15% lower ((1,000 − 850) ÷ 1,000 = 0.15). Our calculation from the reported figures.
| Item | Reported detail |
|---|---|
| Roles affected in Australia | About 850 |
| Share of Australian workforce | About 3% of about 28,000 |
| Service provider | Accenture, mostly from India |
| First functions | Finance, procurement, people (HR), marketing |
| First changes | Expected by mid-2027, per one report |
Impact
Short-term: Qantas staff in the named functions face months of uncertainty while consultation with the union continues. Accenture is expected to staff up to take over the services, with most of the delivery from India.
Long-term: The deal adds to the flow of corporate support work from Australia, Europe and the US to Indian delivery centres, and it points to the skills those centres will need: finance and HR knowledge combined with automation, data and AI tools.
Who is affected: Qantas head-office employees in Australia, Accenture and its Indian workforce, graduates and mid-career professionals in finance, HR, procurement and marketing operations in India, and unions and policymakers in Australia.
Key Takeaway
Qantas's plan to move about 850 head-office roles to Accenture, delivered mainly from India, shows how corporate finance, HR and marketing work, not only coding, is becoming a source of digital-economy jobs in India.
Questions and Answers
How many Qantas jobs are moving to India?
Qantas told staff that about 850 roles in Australia will be affected by its partnership with Accenture, with the services delivered largely by Accenture's teams in India and some in Australia. The exact number of new roles in India has not been reported.
Which kinds of jobs are involved?
The first phase covers finance, procurement, people (human resources) and marketing functions, according to the reports of Qantas's message to staff. They are head-office roles, not pilots or cabin crew.
When will the changes happen?
Qantas says roles will be affected over the coming years. One report says the first changes are expected to be in place by mid-2027.
What does this mean for job seekers in India?
It adds to demand for staff in Indian delivery centres who can run corporate finance, HR, procurement and marketing processes, especially those who can work with automation and AI tools, as companies move such work offshore.
Disclaimer: Prepared by the Peepals newsroom from publicly available sources with AI assistance. Information is accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication and may change. Images may be representative. Not professional advice. Report an error via our contact page.
By Karan Bansal, Tech Startups CorrespondentCovers Tech Start-ups & Stories and more for Peepals Tech. All stories by Karan Bansal
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Karan Bansal is a pen name of the Peepals Global Editorial Team, which researches, fact-checks and publishes every story. The portrait is an illustration.
