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Amazon has confirmed that Rob Williams, a key vice president in its devices and services division, is stepping down — just days after the company's major product event in New York.

Williams, who has worked at Amazon for 12 years and is part of its elite "S-team" of top executives, will leave his role immediately and fully retire from the company by the end of the year.

The news was shared in an internal memo sent Thursday and confirmed by Amazon after questions from Reuters.

"Rob has had a big impact on the software and experiences of nearly all of the products we've created and shipped," said Panos Panay, Amazon's senior vice president of devices and services, in the memo.

According to Reuters, Panay also announced that Tapas Roy, previously a VP in charge of Fire TV product and engineering, will take over Williams' position.

Additionally, several teams are being reorganized, including moving the Alexa Smart Vehicle team into the larger Alexa group. These changes took effect immediately.

While Williams is retiring from his main role, he will stay on as an advisor to Panay and remain on the S-team through the end of 2025.

Amazon Unveils Devices as Williams Departs

Williams' exit comes at a surprising time—just days after he appeared at Amazon's devices showcase on Tuesday.

At the event, the company introduced new Echo speakers, colorful Kindle e-readers, and upgraded Fire TV devices with better screens, EconomicTimes reported.

Earlier this week, Williams posted on LinkedIn to highlight a major development: a new operating system called "Vega."

This new system will be used in upcoming Fire TV products, including a new streaming stick set to launch later this month.

It's designed to replace Google's Android software and is expected to offer faster performance at a lower cost.

"No one else has anything like it," Williams wrote in his post.

Williams joined Amazon's 29-member S-team in late 2022. The S-team is made up of senior leaders who advise CEO Andy Jassy, and departures from the group are rare.

Amazon's devices and services group has faced challenges, including multiple rounds of layoffs and slow progress on an AI upgrade for Alexa. The team has also been working on moving its Fire tablets to Android for the first time.

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