Uber chief technology officer Thuan Pham. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/RISE via Sportsfile, under Creative Commons license

Uber’s long-running chief technology officer (CTO) Thuan Pham is stepping down as the ride-hailing company considers layoffs to help weather through a business slowdown resulting from the coronavirus pandemic, as first reported by tech news site The Information. Pham, who is Uber’s longest-serving senior executive, is said to have already notified employees who report to him of his plan to leave on the heels of possible job cuts that could affect about 800 out of a total of 3,800 employees in Uber’s engineering department. Pham has headed Uber’s overall engineering efforts since he took up the CTO position in 2013. He was recruited from VMware by Uber’s former CEO, Travis Kalanick.

According to The Information, executives at Uber are discussing plans to cut around 20% of the company’s headcount as it faces a steep business slowdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. Layoffs of such magnitude have never been experienced at Uber, even with the San Francisco-headquartered company having cut more than a thousand jobs last year. Globally, Uber has about 27,000 employees. The company hasn’t confirmed the rumored layoffs but has confirmed the departure of its CTO. A search effort for a replacement is currently underway.