Zillow Group is consolidating its finance and operations leadership under one executive and naming its first-ever chief legal and policy officer, the company announced Aug. 5, a shake-up that lands the day before its second-quarter earnings report and roughly 24 hours after the company disclosed cutting more than 500 jobs in its largest restructuring of the year.
Jeremy Hofmann, Zillow’s chief financial officer for the past nine years, is expanding his role to chief operating officer and chief financial officer, taking on day-to-day operational execution alongside his existing financial duties. CEO Jeremy Wacksman called Hofmann “an exceptional financial and operational leader and a critical strategic partner to the entire executive team and me.” Zillow said Hofmann has been one of the key architects of the company’s current business strategy and has deep command of its financial architecture and operational dependencies.
First chief legal and policy officer
Cassandra “Sandi” Knight is joining Zillow in the newly created role of chief legal and policy officer, reporting directly to Wacksman. Knight brings more than 20 years of experience in complex litigation and operational leadership across technology and financial services, according to the announcement. She previously served as vice president of litigation and discovery at Google and as vice president and chief litigation counsel at PayPal, and spent 11 years in senior litigation and compliance roles at Morgan Stanley. Zillow framed the new position as reflecting a commitment to embedding legal and policy leadership at the executive level β a notable addition for a company that has faced regulatory and litigation scrutiny, including a RESPA-related class action a federal judge dismissed without prejudice in July.
The moves come as Jun Choo, who has served as chief operating officer since November 2024, steps down from that role to focus on his health. Choo will remain in an advisory capacity through the end of 2026, Zillow said.
Two additional promotions round out the changes: Katie Berroth becomes senior vice president of strategy and operations, overseeing business strategy, cross-functional operations and partnerships, while Eric Wilson becomes senior vice president and general manager of mortgages, taking charge of Zillow’s mortgage operations including Zillow Home Loans.
What it means
Zillow said the consolidation of the CFO and COO functions under Hofmann is intended to accelerate execution as the company scales what it calls its integrated “housing super app” strategy β a characterization from the company about its own strategic direction rather than an independently verified assessment. The timing is notable: the announcement landed a day after Zillow disclosed cutting more than 500 jobs, about 7% of its workforce, and the same day the company reported second-quarter results. Whether the leadership consolidation is directly tied to the cost-cutting drive is not addressed in Zillow’s release, and readers should treat any connection between the two announcements as inference rather than a stated fact.
What to watch: whether the newly consolidated operating structure under Hofmann, and Knight’s elevated legal and policy role, translate into faster execution and reduced legal exposure as Zillow works through both a leaner workforce and the litigation and regulatory scrutiny that prompted its first-ever chief legal and policy officer hire.
