Here's What Happened When Uber’s Marketing Lead Was Asked to Reapply for Her Job
Irina Scarlat's advice for career setbacks, re-orgs, and how to move forward when things feel impossible
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"Hey, can you come to the office tomorrow morning at 7:30am? I need to talk to you about something"
That’s the WhatsApp message Irina Scarlat got from her GM on a Sunday.
For the early Uber team, late-night Slacks and weekend texts were business as usual. But this message? It was different.
It was a warning.
Fast forward to today, Irina is the VP of Growth at ICEO (a venture builder) and has built marketing and growth teams at Uber, Revolut, Bitpanda, and Pearson.
Back then, Irina was part of Uber’s early-stage team. Part of the scrappy, OG group figuring things out as they went.
At that time, Uber operated like an umbrella of independent startups. There wasn’t a centralized marketing team. Instead, each individual market ran it’s own playbook.
Irina was the Marketing Lead in Romania.
She had built the team from scratch, launched several large cities, and scaled to over a million users.
The team was crushing it. So, when Irina got that Sunday message, she was curious - not overly concerned.
But when she showed up at 7:30 the next morning, she got blindsided…
Uber had brought on new leadership - and they were making some big changes.
They were ditching the decentralized model. Instead of individual teams running each market, everything (including marketing) was being centralized into one global entity.
The result?
Irina’s team was being dissolved. They were being forced to reapply for new jobs—or leave.
“It felt so personal, she shared. “We didn’t see it coming. We loved the work, and were really grieving after hearing the news.”
Irina ultimately decided to leave.
I (Andrew) have also been through a few re-orgs and I’ve been laid off twice after major leadership changes. It always feels personal.
Especially when you’re at an early-stage company in that magical moment where everything is growing, and you’re winning. It feels like family.
And that’s why re-orgs hit so hard.
Irina shared her takeaways from this brutal moment - to help others navigate the human side of re-orgs (and other tough career moments):
Remember, your company isn’t your family. It’s more like a pro sports team: everyone supports you, as long as you deliver. If you stop delivering, you’re on the bench.
Separate emotion from business decisions. It’s okay to show emotion when big changes happen. Just don’t let passion and overwhelm cloud your judgment.
Look for the warning signs. Leadership changes almost always mean big organizational shifts are coming.
Name your inner critic. Irina calls hers “Jeannie” and tells her to “shut up” when imposter syndrome strikes.
Focus on impact over effort. Identify the tasks that truly move the needle.
This episode covers a lot of ground: career setbacks, re-orgs, and how to move forward when things feel impossible.
If you’ve ever struggled to bounce back after a tough work situation, this one’s for you.
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- Andrew