Wix plans to let AI write most code, leaving engineers to redefine their role
The company acknowledges uncertainty around how the shift will reshape careers.
Wix is moving to fundamentally reshape how engineering work is defined and organized, betting that artificial intelligence will not merely accelerate software development but upend long-standing boundaries between roles, stacks, and responsibilities.
In a letter to employees written by chief technology officer Yaniv Even-Haim and shared online by president Nir Zohar, the Israeli-founded website-building company outlined plans to unify its frontend, backend, and mobile engineering teams into a single Engineering Guild and to redefine the engineering role around what it calls the “xEngineer,” an AI-native, design-first engineer with end-to-end ownership.
AI, Even-Haim wrote, is driving “a structural shift in engineering,” not an optimization cycle. Engineers are expected to use AI in every aspect of their work, with artificial intelligence eventually generating most production code. Human engineers, in turn, would focus less on writing software line by line and more on system design, architecture, security, scalability, and reliability.
The letter signals a move away from the stack-centric specialization that has defined modern software teams for decades. Syntax and frameworks, Even-Haim argued, will matter less than interfaces, flows, and decisions. Ownership, rather than execution, becomes the organizing principle.
Yet alongside the clarity of the long-term vision, the message is notably cautious about its near-term consequences, particularly for the workforce itself. Even-Haim stressed that “many details are still being worked out,” adding that the transition will begin with training and guild enablement, with “broader impact over time” on hiring, career paths, and ownership.
What that broader impact will look like remains undefined. The letter does not spell out how hiring plans may change, how existing roles might be consolidated, or how career progression will be evaluated. Nor does it address whether the redefinition of engineering work could ultimately reduce the number of engineers required, even as individual roles expand in scope.
Instead, the rollout is framed as deliberately gradual. The initial focus will be on enablement and training, including cross-guild programs designed to blur the traditional boundaries between frontend and backend disciplines. Structural changes to hiring and ownership models, the letter suggests, will follow only after the company gains experience operating under the new framework.
The vision also extends beyond software engineers alone. Even-Haim wrote that roles such as quality assurance and data engineering would evolve as AI becomes embedded in how products are built, signaling that the shift could ripple across Wix’s broader technical organization.
The timing of the message is notable. Just weeks earlier, Wix announced it would return to a full five-day office work week in Israel, Kraków, and Vilnius beginning in February 2026, reversing pandemic-era hybrid arrangements. Zohar framed that move as necessary to move faster and strengthen collaboration as the industry undergoes rapid change driven by AI.
