YouTube's VP-product, Shishir Mehrotra, has stepped down as the Google-owned video service's head of product.
The move marks the biggest shakeup in YouTube's executive ranks since longtime Google ad chief Susan Wojcicki took over as CEO in February.
"Shishir has taken on an advisory role at Google," said a Google spokesperson, declining to provide further details. Re/code first reported on Tuesday that Mr. Mehrotra had vacated his position.
YouTube's plans to fill Mr. Mehrotra's position are unclear. YouTube's director of product management, Shiva Rajaraman, has taken over at least some of his duties, according to a person familiar with the matter. However, that doesn't mean Mr. Rajaraman has been tapped as his former boss's successor, either permanently or in the interim. The spokesperson did not respond to questions regarding Mr. Rajaraman's role.
In his current position, Mr. Rajaraman manages consumer-facing product development, including search, video recommendations and YouTube's mobile apps.
A six-year Google veteran, Mr. Mehrotra played a big role in helping YouTube grow into a company with an estimated $5.6 billion in annual revenue. In addition to consumer-facing products, he also oversaw the service's ad products. YouTube's best-known ad unit, the skippable TrueView pre-roll video ad, was developed and launched while Mr. Mehrotra served as director of product management.
Mr. Mehrotra had been considered a frontrunner to replace Salar Kamangar as YouTube CEO. Ultimately the reins passed to Ms. Wojcicki. Google's longtime senior VP-advertising is said to be on a hiring tear, bringing a number of Google employees to YouTube. Ms. Wojcicki has also started to aggressively market some of the most popular personalities on the video service in order to attract more advertising dollars.
