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Uber’s product manager of its developer platform, Chris Saad, is leaving the company

Saad has been at Uber since November 2015.

Uber’s departing head of developer platform Chris Saad
Uber’s departing head of developer platform Chris Saad
Chris Saad
LinkedIn

Chris Saad, a product manager of Uber’s developer platform, is leaving the company after close to two years, sources tell Recode.

Saad, who worked on creating technology tools for developers looking to integrate Uber services, has been vocal about his disappointment with former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick’s forced resignation.

“Travis embodied (and in some cases taught) me these things,” he wrote in a Facebook post in the hours after Kalanick’s resignation. “There wasn’t a moment or a minuscule detail that he noticed that he didn’t immediately spring into action to help me solve — with that wry smile and enthusiastic glint in his eye. The cost of losing him as Uber’s CEO will be incalculable.”

Saad announced his departure internally today, though it’s not clear what he’ll be doing next.

While Uber is in the midst of searching for a replacement for Kalanick, one of its biggest investors, Benchmark, has filed a lawsuit against him for fraud and breach of contract, among other claims. Benchmark, which has a representative on Uber’s board, is seeking to remove Kalanick from the board entirely, partly because he has been meddling in the search for a replacement. As Recode reported, Kalanick was telling people he planned to return to the company.

That prompted Uber co-founder and board member Garrett Camp to send an all-staff email saying that Kalanick would not return as CEO, in response to questions he had received from some staffers. Benchmark also sent a letter to employees yesterday attempting to explain why it sued Kalanick.

Still, there’s a great deal of uncertainty internally. It comes as no surprise that employees — whether they side with Kalanick or Benchmark — are considering their options outside of Uber. That said, Uber expects to announce in September who its next CEO will be, which could mark the beginning of some stability at the company.

Uber declined to comment for this story.

Correction: Saad is a product manager of Uber’s developer platform. A previous version of this story said Saad was the head of product for Uber’s developer platform as is indicated in Saad’s LinkedIn profile.


This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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