Android is losing one of its longtime engineering chiefs. Dave Burke, vice president of engineering at Android, said Thursday that he is stepping down from the position after 14 years. However, he is not leaving Alphabet and will be exploring “AI/bio” projects within the company.
Burke participated in important Android projects, including the Nexus and Pixel phones, chrome for mobile phone, Starting Android TV, and leading efforts to build and ship developer tools.
Burke’s move comes after a series of layoffs and restructuring at Alphabet this year. In January, the company Lay off over 1,000 employees, including most of the AR hardware teamAnd in April, Google announced its Hardware and Android Teams to focus on bringing AI to all of its devices. This latter decision led to Hiroshi Lockheimer, who was the head of Android, Chrome, and ChromeOS, exploring other roles in the company, and Rick Osterloh, senior vice president of devices and services, being brought on to oversee the new division. Sameer Samat, who worked under Lockheimer, became president of the Android ecosystem.
In A post on XBurke said he will continue to serve as a consultant as he looks for another project.
In a letter to his colleagues, which Burke also published on LinkedInHe said he wanted to explore the role of AI in boosting drug discovery.
He added, “AI has the potential to play a key role in accelerating drug discovery that could have widespread use, including for hard-to-treat pediatric cancers, a topic very close to my heart. I’m looking forward to working with Sundar to explore relevant roles at Alphabet.”
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