- Sukumar Rathnam soon resigns as head of technology at Uber, sources tell Insider.
- They had style differences with Sundeep Jain, Uber’s head of products, they said.
- CEO Dara Khosrowshahi was interim CTO after the departure of former chief engineer Thuan Pham in 2020.
Sukumar Rathnam, Uber’s chief technology officer, is stepping down as the company’s chief engineering officer, according to people familiar with the matter. The move could be announced as early as this week, according to people.
Rathnam has been increasingly at odds with the company’s head of products, Sundeep Jain, said people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive issues. That tension had occasionally been disturbingly reduced to the company’s respective engineering and product teams, but it’s unclear if this is related to Rathnam’s imminent departure, they said.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi discussed the leadership changes in a note and Rathnam sent a farewell message to his colleagues.
Rathnam joined Uber about a year ago, replacing Thuan Pham, the company’s chief technical officer. Rathnam previously worked as an executive at Amazon, where he led teams responsible for product selection and catalog systems. Prior to Amazon, he worked at Microsoft and Oracle, according to his company biography.
At Uber, the chief technology officer is responsible for the world’s engineering teams and the technical management of its transportation and delivery units. The engineering teams work alongside the product organization, led by Jain, which is in charge of product designs as well as data science teams.
Part of the tension between the two leaders may have arisen from their previous experience working in different technology giants, which have contrasting approaches to engineering and product design. As an Amazon veteran, Rathnam came from a company where engineering teams often had the power to control the product. Jain used to be at Google, where product managers often have the upper hand when it comes to determining strategy and design. The two executives did not respond to requests for comment.
“We thank Sukumar for his contributions to raising the bar of engineering and talent at Uber and wish him all the best,” an Uber spokesman said in a statement.
EU, Sundeep Jain product manager.
Uber
Over the past year, Uber has had trouble wearing down executives and other employees. It has been a frequent topic during business meetings. Over the summer, Uber’s head of human resources acknowledged that turnover had been high, but said it was an issue that affected all businesses during the pandemic.
It is unclear how Uber’s engineering teams will be structured after Rathnam’s departure. He was hired in September last year to fill a gap that had been temporarily filled by Khosrowshahi, who intervened after Pham abruptly resigned in May 2020. Khosrowshahi had also served as Uber’s interim product manager until the company promoted Jain to paper in March.
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