The COVID-19 pandemic brought forth an unprecedented change in job culture. While some organisations (like Amazon) went into hiring season, most companies had to resort to layoffs, leaving millions jobless across the globe. This trend was especially prolific in India, which saw the burgeoning startup culture taking a hit, which resulted in many engineers searching for jobs.
However, Uber has come with good news for engineers in the country as it has announced the company will make 225 new hires in India. The company says it wants to strengthen its tech team across its overseas market, even as it lays-off several in its home turf, the United States.
Last month, the company had announced plans to hire 140 engineers in India to build products aimed at promoting rider and driver growth, delivery, marketplace, customer service, digital payments and more. Today, the company has announced plans to hire 85 more engineers, which brings the total number to 225.
The company also recently hired Jayaram Valliyur, another former Amazon exec., as a senior director of its global finance technology team.
The plans of shifting the technology team to India were disclosed by Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi in July this year. These plans are a part of a larger restructuring plan, as Uber is looking to cut technology team costs — expenses that are gleefully low in India, excruciatingly high in the US even though talent is largely the same. The company reported losses worth $1.8 billion over the course of three months this year due to the pandemic.
The announcement comes around a time when several Uber executives have left the company to work at other tech giants like Google and Amazon. TechCrunch reports that a senior engineer at Uber who left the company revealed that many employees at the company do not trust Uber with its future prospects.
The plans of shifting the tech base to India have received criticism as well. The former CTO of Uber, Thuan Pham, pointed out that hiring so many Indian engineers might require ” accepting lower-quality candidates”.
