Uber has appointed Daniel Danker as its new senior director and chief of driver product, according to a new report from TechCrunch. Prior to joining Uber, Danker served as a product director at Facebook, where his task was to lead product management for video, Facebook Watch, and Facebook Live.
With his new role at the ride-sharing provider, Danker will oversee the planning, strategy, and execution of driver solutions. He succeeds Aaron Schildkrout, who departed the company after the completion of its 180 days of change driver program. That effort kicked off last June in a move to change various aspects of the service with the goal of improving driver pay. As part of that campaign, Uber added a new feature to its ride-sharing app that allows riders to tip drivers, though the solution was released only in a limited capacity at that time to riders in Seattle, Minneapolis, and Houston. Uber eventually expanded the ability to tip drivers over the succeeding weeks to more regions.
Danker’s LinkedIn profile shows that he previously served as the chief product officer of Shazam before he joined Facebook in January 2016. In that capacity, which he held since May 2013, Danker led the software company’s product strategy, direction, and consumer experience. Prior to Shazam, he was a board member of the BBC Studios and Post Production from January 2013 through April 2014 after serving as the broadcasting company’s general manager for programs and on-demand business. He held that position beginning in September 2010 until May 2013, leading a team of software engineers and product managers in delivering the BBC iPlayer and iPlayer Radio services to various platforms such as PCs, televisions, and mobile devices. Before he joined BBC, Danker also held various positions at Microsoft, where he was a program manager from January 2000 to December 2002, lead program manager between January 2003 and May 2007, director of global solutions architecture from June 2007 through November 2008, and finally director of development and operations since November 2008 until September 2010. Danker’s transition to Uber also comes a few months after the company announced a redesigned driver app meant to improve the overall experience for drivers with a new indicator that shows how much an Uber driver has earned for a given day, among other features.