SAN FRANCISCO — Google's policy and communications chief Rachel Whetstone is taking an SVP of public policy and communications post at Uber — less than a year after the car share startup hired Democratic strategist David Plouffe for a similar role, Re/Code reported earlier today. 

According to reports, Plouffe will now move into a chief advisor role to CEO Travis Kalanick and become the seventh member of its board. "Plouffe will have what is described as a more strategic and external focus, rather than a day-to-day one," according to Re/Code's Kara Swisher.

Last August, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick announced that former advisor to Barack Obama Plouffe had joined to lead the startup's ongoing regulatory battles in the wake of its legality coming into question in New York and protests in Europe resulting in major traffic congestion. At the time, Kalanick said the hire was in response to finding itself “in the middle of a political campaign” against “the Big Taxi cartel” as its opponent. 

Whetstone joined Google in 2005 and has climbed the ranks to the top comms post advising CEOs Eric Schmidt and co-founder Larry Page.