Uber Hires Amazon Exec to Fill Chief Technology Officer Role

Ride- and food-hailing app Uber Technologies  (UBER) – Get Report has hired  Amazon.com  (AMZN) – Get Report executive Sukumar Rathnam as its new chief technology officer, filling a position that has been vacant for more than three months.

Rathnam, who had been at Amazon since 2011 and was most recently a vice president in charge of product selection and catalog systems, will start Sept. 28. Announced within Uber’s ranks on Thursday, the hiring was first reported by The Information.

Uber’s previous chief technology officer, Thuan Pham, stepped down in May after seven years at the San Francisco company just before it laid off more than 6,000 employees, or 25% of its workforce, as it grappled with a global, pandemic-related slowdown in ride demand.

Those layoffs continued this week, with the transportation and food-delivery giant announcing on Wednesday that it will slash 30% of its jobs in the U.K.

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