Sonos is carrying out another round of restructuring that includes layoffs affecting senior leaders in its design, product, and user experience organizations. Bloomberg reports that multiple executives with long tenures have left the company, including Dana Krieger, vice president of design, Kate Wojogbe, a senior user experience executive, and Scott Fink, who helped lead Sonos’ home theatre business. Additional roles in design and research are also impacted, according to staff posts on LinkedIn. Employees cited reductions across the design team and the user experience research function, with some stating nearly the entire UX research team was let go and others describing fewer people in those groups. Other experienced personnel, including leaders in packaging and product sustainability and a hardware product manager, also are reported to have been laid off. Sonos confirmed the cuts, with a spokesperson saying the company still has experienced leadership across the impacted teams and that user research will continue. CEO Tom Conrad tells employees the changes are meant to reduce management layers and increase competitiveness by moving faster, spending more time on prototyping and shipping finished products. While a spokesperson has said the layoffs are not related to artificial intelligence, Conrad has also previously discussed AI’s role in Sonos’ internal operations.
Sonos lays off senior design and product executives in restructuring
Sonos is carrying out another round of restructuring that includes layoffs affecting senior leaders in its design, product, and user experience organizations. Bloomberg reports that multiple executive...
- Sonos lays off senior executives in its design and product organizations as part of ongoing restructuring.
- Reported departures include Dana Krieger (design), Kate Wojogbe (user experience), and Scott Fink (home theatre leadership).
- Employees describe reductions in design and UX research teams, including claims that nearly the entire UX research team was cut.
- Sonos says user research work will continue and that experienced leaders remain in affected areas.
- CEO Tom Conrad says the restructuring aims to reduce management layers and improve speed and competitiveness.
Senior design, product, and research leaders with 10 years or more at the company are out, in a restructuring the chief executive calls speed and some staff call cost-cutting. “The design team is a little smaller now,” Edward Mitchell, a Sonos designer of roughly 12 years’ standing, wrote on LinkedIn as the audio company parted […] This story continues at The Next Web
3 hours agoTech company Sonos has laid off several senior executives from its design and product teamsas part of ongoing restructuring at the company. The job cuts have raised concerns about Sonos's ability to develop new products going forward. According to a Bloomberg report, those who have left the company include Dana Krieger, vice president of design, who spent 12 years at Sonos, Kate Wojogbe, a senior user experience executive with nearly 10 years at the company, and Scott Fink, who worked at Sonos for 15 years and helped lead its home theatre business.Design and research teams hit hardThe layoffs have also affected other long serving employees across design and research. Edward Mitchell, who worked as a designer at Sonos for around 12 years, wrote on LinkedIn that the design team has become smaller. Rebecca Phillips, a user experience researcher, said on LinkedIn that nearly the entire UX research team was let go. Kristen Leclerc, who led the user research department, was also among those laid off.Other experienced employees have exited the company as well. Michelle Enright, who led packaging and product sustainability efforts, lost her job after 14 years at Sonos. Sara Lincoln, a hardware product manager, was laid off after working at the company for 11 years.Sonos confirms the cutsSonos confirmed the layoffs last month. A company spokesperson said Sonos still has experienced leaders across the affected teams and added that user research work at the company will continue, according to Bloomberg.CEO cites need for speed and fewer management layersSonos CEO Tom Conrad told employees that the changes are intended to reduce management layers and make the company more competitive. In a memo seen by Bloomberg, Conrad said he wants Sonos to operate with greater conviction and speed, spending less time in conference rooms and more time building prototypes and shipping finished products for customers.AI role in the layoffs disputedA Sonos spokesperson said last month that the layoffs are not related to artificial intelligence. However, Conrad struck a different tone during the company's May earnings call, where he said AI is already transforming how Sonos operates internally, influencing everything from how the company builds software to how it runs marketing and manages day to day operations.
5 hours agoSonos Inc. has pushed out some of its top design and product management executives as part of job cuts in recent weeks, raising questions about the company’s ability to develop breakthrough products beyond its short-term hardware road map of safe bets.
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