Tesla’s SVP of engineering Doug Field won’t return at the automaker after leave

Doug Field, Tesla’s second most senior engineer after CTO JB Straubel, has been on leave from the automaker since May, but we now learn that he will not be returning at Tesla.

Field has been a long time engineering executive with high profile stints at Segway and Apple before joining Tesla in 2013. A year later, he was giving Electrek’s Seth Weintraub a test drive in Tesla Model S P85D.

He has taken an increasingly important role at Tesla over the years and most recently, he was in charge of vehicle engineering at Tesla, but he was also put in charge of the Model 3 production before Elon Musk took over the responsibilities of the production program earlier this year.

At the time, Musk commented about stripping Field of the responsibilities of Model 3 production:

“Doug, who I regard as one of the world’s most talented engineering execs, is focused on vehicle engineering.”

A few weeks later, he went on a leave from the automaker.

After it was revealed, a Tesla spokesman said in a statement:

“Doug is just taking some time off to recharge and spend time with his family. He has not left Tesla.”

The Wall Street Journal reported today that a source said he won’t be returning to his role without providing details, but Tesla confirmed the news.

A Tesla spokesman said in a statement:

“After almost five years at Tesla, Doug Field is moving on. We’d like to thank Doug for his hard work over the years and for everything he has done for Tesla.”

Field is the second highest-ranked Tesla executive that left the automaker in just over a week.

Last week, we reported that Tesla’s Chief Information Officer Gary Clark left the automaker as part of the company’s reorganization.

Earlier this year, Musk announced a vague plan to flatten management and restructure the company in order to achieve profitability during the second half of the year.

Following the announcement, Musk confirmed a round of layoffs currently ongoing at Tesla, which could see as much as 9% of the workforce leave the company.