Google has announced a major leadership reshuffle. In a memo to employees, also posted online, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced that the company long-time search head Prabhakar Raghavan will move into the role of chief technologist. Apart from search, Senior Vice President Raghavan is responsible for ads and a few other key segments.
Raghavan, who has been instrumental in Google's growth over the last decade, will now focus on fostering a culture of technological excellence and providing strategic technical guidance. He will work closely with Pichai and other Google executives to ensure the company remains at the forefront of innovation.
“Prabhakar has decided that it is time to take a big leap in his own career,” Pichai wrote. “After 12 years of leading teams at Google, he will return to his roots in computer science and take on the role of Google’s chief technologist. In this role, he will work closely with me and Google executives to provide technical leadership and leadership and further develop our culture of technical excellence.”
To follow in Raghavan's footsteps, Google has appointed Nick Fox, an experienced head of the company's search and advertising division. Fox, who played a critical role in developing products like Google Fi and RCS Messaging, will now oversee Google's search, advertising, geospatial and commerce operations.
In addition to these leadership changes, Google is also reorganizing some of its research and development teams. The Gemini App team, led by Sissie Hsaio, will now be integrated into Google DeepMind, the company's AI research subsidiary. Meanwhile, the Google Assistant team will become part of Google's Platforms and Devices division.

Here is the memo that Google CEO Sundar Pichai sent to Google employees:

Hello Googlers,
It's been an exciting few days for AI across our products. We've seen NotebookLM go viral with audio overviews, added more ways to find information in Search and Lens, and introduced a redesigned Google Shopping for the AI ​​age. We also just announced a major milestone in our work to help doctors use AI to detect diabetic retinopathy: 600,000 screenings and counting, and we're expanding access to more people across India and Thailand. There's much more to come.
AI is evolving faster than any technology before it. To further increase the pace of progress, we have made changes over time to simplify our structures, including the creation of Google DeepMind and the merging of the Platforms and Devices teams. As a next step, Prabhakar and I have been thinking about how to structure our knowledge and information team for the Gemini era, and today we announced the following changes:
The Gemini App team led by Sissie will join Google DeepMind under Demis. As the name suggests, the Gemini app is the direct consumer interface to the latest and greatest Gemini models. Bringing the teams closer will improve feedback loops, enable rapid deployment of our new models in the Gemini app, make our post-training work more efficient, and build on our great product momentum.
The assistant teams focused on devices and home experiences will move to platforms and devices so they can sit closer to the product surfaces they are building for. They also combine our AI-powered home initiatives into one team and focus on improving the user experience.
In parallel, Prabhakar has decided that it is time to take a big leap in his own career. After 12 years of leading teams at Google, he is returning to his computer science roots and taking on the role of Google's chief technologist. In this role, he will work closely with me and Google executives to provide technical leadership and leadership and further develop our culture of technical excellence. Nick Fox, a long-time Googler and member of Prabhakar's leadership team, will lead K&I, which includes our search, ads, geospatial and commerce products.
Prabhakar's leadership career at Google has been distinguished, spanning research, workspace, advertising and K&I. He headed the Gmail Team launched Smart Reply and Smart Compose as early examples of using AI to improve products, driving Gmail and Drive to over 1 billion users. At K&I, Prabhakar and his team have achieved significant growth and innovation: from launching AI Overviews, a groundbreaking advance in search that benefits hundreds of millions of users worldwide, to launching new search modalities such as Circle to Search, video understanding, and “Shop what you see”. ” in Lens – all while improving core search functionality. Maps and shopping have been transformed by AI-driven features like immersive viewing and virtual try-on. And in advertising, we've made real progress with AI-powered ad formats and optimized campaign management and at the same time as Performance Max continues to innovate to support millions of businesses.
I am so grateful to Prabhakar for the strong foundation and leadership he has built in K&I. This includes his incredible leadership and Nick, who is ready to hit the ground running in his new role as SVP of K&I!
In recent years, Nick has been instrumental in shaping Google's AI product roadmap and working closely with Prabhakar and his leadership team on K&I strategy. And throughout his career, Nick has demonstrated leadership in nearly every area of ​​K&I, from product and design in Search and Assistant to our shopping, travel and payments products. He was also a pioneer in advertising, where he helped establish a rigorous quality and user-focused approach that remains key to our success. Nick has launched innovative consumer products like Google Fi and driven complex initiatives like RCS messaging. I often turn to Nick to answer our toughest product questions, and he always delivers progress with tenacity, speed, and optimism.
Congratulations to Nick and a big thank you to Prabhakar for leading us through numerous technological changes and building a strong foundation for the future.
-Sundar