Exclusive: Amazon team in charge of Just Walk Out loses three execs, gains one

Three Amazon executives in charge of developing new technologies for checking out of physical stores – including Just Walk Out, Dash Carts, and Amazon One – are leaving or have left the division, TechCrunch has learned. In addition, a former high-ranking advertising executive at Amazon, Colleen Aubrey, was recently put in charge of Just Walk Out, one many responsibilities in her newly assigned role as senior VP of AWS solutions.

Dilip Kumar, the co-creator of Amazon’s cashier-free Just Walk Out technology, who previously led the division, left the Just Walk Out team over the summer. Kumar moved to a VP role overseeing the company’s AI chatbot for enterprise, Amazon Q, according to an Amazon press release this week.

Sanjay Dash, the executive in charge of identity and checkout technologies, told staff on Sept. 20 that he is leaving for an unspecified role, according to an internal memo seen by TechCrunch. He is still at Amazon today, but it’s unclear if he is staying with the company or moving on.

The executive directly in charge of the Just Walk Out team, Jon Jenkins, is also out. Jenkins announced on LinkedIn last week that he left Amazon to become the chief technology officer of scooter-sharing company Lime.

Colleen Aubrey served as a “shadow” to Amazon’s current CEO, Andy Jassy, while also working on Amazon’s advertising team. “Shadows” or “S-team” members are what Amazon calls the highly coveted inner-circle to the company’s CEO, similar to a chief-of-staff. Now, she’s a senior vice president in charge of AWS solutions, and Just Walk Out will fall under her responsibility moving forward.

An Amazon spokesperson confirmed the moves, and noted that the company still has “strong and deep leadership at Amazon, and in the Just Walk Out team.”

The leadership exodus signals a transitional period for Amazon’s checkout technologies. Amazon has reportedly invested billions into checkout technology. Its boldest and most expensive venture, Just Walk Out, uses AI systems to process data from cameras and sensors. It charges shoppers for what they leave the store with and, in theory, removes the need for cashiers. At one point, Amazon saw Just Walk Out as integral to its own push into brick-and-mortar stores, reportedly aiming to open thousands of these cashierless stores.

However, Amazon pulled its Just Walk Out technology from its Fresh grocery stores, and from two Whole Foods stores that were using it, earlier this year. The company has also recently closed three of its Go convenience stores that use Just Walk Out, and now has less than 20 nationwide.

In recent years, Amazon has reorganized its physical stores technology division to focus on selling Just Walk Out to third party stores. However, several executives who have historically lead these efforts are no longer working on the project.

Kumar was previously a “shadow” to Amazon’s founder and former CEO, Jeff Bezos. Just six months ago, Kumar seemed to be leading the checkout technology division, stomping out a controversy around its Just Walk Out technology relying on humans overseas. The executive wrote blog posts and gave interviews in April, under his previous title, suggesting that the demise of Just Walk Out was overblown.

In the last year, several executives and teams have been shifted to focus on Amazon’s AI efforts, according to one current and one former employee familiar with the situation. (These employees requested anonymity to discuss confidential internal moves.) Kumar seems to be one of them. It’s something we’ve seen across Big Tech. Earlier this year, Apple pulled the plug on its billion dollar car project, which it spent 10 years developing, to focus on AI.

In the months since Kumar’s departure to Q, another executive who previously reported to him took on more responsibility: VP of identity and checkout technology, Sanjay Dash. Dash has overseen the physical stores technology team since 2019, according to his LinkedIn. Business Insider reported in 2022 that Kumar previously brought Dash and another executive over to AWS from Amazon’s physical stores team, part of a reorganization to focus on getting Just Walk Out and other technologies into more third party stores.

However, Dash told staff in September that he would be stepping down from leading the company’s checkout technology division, according to an internal memo obtained by TechCrunch. It’s unclear whether Dash will be staying at Amazon in the long term, or why he left the division altogether.

Jenkins, on the other hand, has shown that Just Walk Out executives can land jobs in high places, such as Lime’s c-suite. According to his LinkedIn profile, Jenkins led the Just Walk Out team since 2022, and two former Just Walk Out employees referred to him as the main leader of the team, noting that Jenkins reported to executives such as Dash.

Some checkout technologies have found relative success under Jenkins, Dash, and Kumar’s leadership. Last year, Amazon announced in a blog post that Amazon rolled out its palm recognition payment service, Amazon One, to more than 500 Whole Foods stores. Amazon also continues to use Dash Carts, which let shoppers checkout as they shop, at dozens of its Fresh grocery stores.

The third-party venture has also seen moderate success. An Amazon spokesperson tells TechCrunch it will open more third party Just Walk Out stores in 2024 than any year prior, and currently has more than 200 locations using Just Walk Out.