Uber has scored another high-profile poach.

Rachel Whetstone, who served as Google’s head of commutations and public policy, has jumped over to Uber. She’ll be replacing David Plouffe as Senior Vice President of policy and strategy. a job he took in September of last year.

Re/code suggests that “the reason for the switch seems to center on the need for someone in that job more experienced at assembling and managing a global comms and policy army for a company that is faced with a still daily barrage of controversies, regulatory thickets and more.”

Controversies abound, that’s for sure. As public policy head, Whetstone dealt with Google’s many dustups with regulators – both at home and abroad.

Plouffe will remain involved with Uber, ceding day-to-day operations to Whetstone. He’ll apparently serve as a chief advisor and will also join the board.

This isn’t the first high-profile steal for Uber as of late. Last month, the company stole Facebook’s Chief Security Officer Joe Sullivan.

“It’s no longer about traditional metrics for safe transportation or keeping our community’s data private and secure, but about how we lead efforts to redefine and strengthen physical and data security in the location-based world. We see opportunities ahead not just in technology, through biometrics and driver monitoring, but in the potential for inspiring collaborations with city and state governments around the world. Our goal is to redefine what it means to be a world-class, people-centric protector of privacy,” said Uber CEO Travis Kalanick at the time.

Kalanick has yet to comment on the new hire, but she’ll definitely have to deal with some of the same issues moving forward – as well as the fact that Uber faces bans and lawsuits in many of the zones in which it operates.

Image via Google