Roku has hired the chief architect of Apple’s Siri voice platform, veteran technologist Brian Pinkerton, as senior VP of advanced development.
Pinkerton joined the streaming company last month directly from Apple, where he’d worked the last three years. The University of Washington computer science PhD lists more than 30 year of experience with what is described in his new Roku bio as “leadership roles focused on human-centered problems.”
His resume also includes stints as VP of search at Amazon and as CTO of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the philanthropic organization formed by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan.
The poaching of the high-profile technologist represents yet another indicator that Roku, while certainly not a FAANG company at this point, is nonetheless moving up the Silicon Valley food chain, and seems to have technological ambitions that exceed basic streaming devices and licenses software in the OEM TV business.
The company’s market capitalization has reached nearly $35.5 billion, more than doubling over the last 12 months.
