Two Tesla manufacturing executives leave for a startup

Tesla is losing two long-time manufacturing executives who are teaming up at a new startup, which is apparently unrelated to Tesla’s business.

Charles Mwangi has been working at Tesla for over 6 years.

Most recently, he was “Senior Engineering Director” in charge of body manufacturing and stamping at Tesla.

He listed his responsibilities at the automaker on its LinkedIn profile:

• Body Manufacturing Engineering
• Body Equipment Controls & Maintenance Engineering
• Stamping Manufacturing Engineering
• Tesla Tool & Die (Wholly owned subsidiary)

Today, he announced that he was leaving the company in a LinkedIn post:

“After slightly over 6 years, I have decided to leave Tesla. My time at Tesla has been one of the most enriching and fulfilling experiences in my life. I’ve had the privilege to work alongside the world’s most talented and resilient people, in pursuit of a worthy mission.

To my Tesla colleagues. It is amazing how much progress we’ve made. It has been a grueling journey, but definitely one worth making. I will continue cheering you on from the sidelines. Your success is truly the World’s success.”

In the same post, he announced that he was joining Shen Jackson, another longtime Tesla manufacturing executive, at a new startup:

“In my next journey, I am lucky enough to have found that same inspiration as the early days of Tesla but in a completely different industry. A world-changing human mission. Global scale. A team with a deep commitment to excellence. The Startup I am joining is still under the radar, but I couldn’t be more excited to be joining this team alongside my good friend Shen Jackson.”

Shen Jackson was amongst a bunch of Tesla executives who left the automaker last year.

Jackson spent 7 years at Tesla and most recently, he was “Director Of Manufacturing Engineering” before leaving in September.

There were a lot of comings and goings at Tesla last year.

When Tesla initiated a restructuring of the company in June, it reportedly had about 40,000 employees.

At the time, the company announced that it would be laying off about 9% of its workforce, which would reduce the headcount to the mid-30,000s.

The automaker has since grown to 45,000 employees.

Several executives also left throughout the year, but the company also hired several new top executives and it promoted several long-time execs in a top management restructuring in September.

Update: the article previously stated that they are launching a new startup but they are actually joining a new stealth startup.