By Byron Tau 

WASHINGTON--Some of President Barack Obama's most-senior aides are finding their next jobs in the upper ranks of the technology industry, a departure from traditional post-government paths leading to corporate lobbying, Wall Street or industries such as telecommunications and energy.

Online retailer Amazon said this week that former White House press secretary Jay Carney would join the company as senior vice president for global corporate affairs, reporting directly to Chief Executive Jeff Bezos.

Former Obama campaign manager and White House adviser David Plouffe joined the car-hailing service Uber last year to improve the company's image and work on regulatory issues.

Other top White House aides have worked at electric car maker Tesla, or Internet giants Twitter and Facebook, among them former special assistant to the president Elizabeth Jarvis-Shean, former director of citizen participation Katie Jacobs Stanton and former special assistant to the president Sarah Feinberg.

The allure of the tech industry as a post-government career path is another sign of the sector's financial clout and rising stature in Washington. In previous eras, running the Washington office of a major corporation--often telecommunications or energy companies--or joining a for-hire lobbying firm was the most common career path after one in public service.

For administration officials who like the idea of having an immediate impact, the fast-paced tech industry is a draw. Google, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft have big Washington operations and public relations needs. Their rise in power comes as the broader lobbying world has become crowded in recent years, as growth and revenues have flatlined since 2010.

Many top Obama loyalists, such as former deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter and former press secretary Robert Gibbs, have followed a more familiar path, opening Washington consulting and communications firms that take corporate and nonprofit clients looking for advocacy work and policy advice.

Others have looked for career paths beyond Washington. Tommy Vietor, a former National Security Council spokesman who now runs his own consulting firm, said that many young White House and campaign aides had fewer institutional ties to the city than those in previous administrations. He added that it was natural that many would follow a path different from their predecessors in the George W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations.

"The Obama team, by and large, weren't Washington lifers," said Mr. Vietor, who relocated from Washington to San Francisco recently and does some work for tech companies.

There are so many former Obama staffers in the Bay Area that a recent visit by former White House senior adviser David Axelrod served as a reunion of sorts, with more than a dozen campaign and White House veterans gathering over lunch earlier this month to discuss life after the administration.

And the list of Obama staffers who have joined Silicon Valley companies or tech startups is only growing.

Brandon Lepow, who worked on the Obama campaign before joining the communications shop in the White House, is now a policy communications manager at Facebook. Semonti Stephens, who served on first lady Michelle Obama's staff, now works for the mobile payments company Square.

Former White House Speech writer Kyle O'Connor now works in communications at Nest, a company that manufactures smart thermostats and smoke detectors. Three White House staffers are currently working at the short-term rental website Airbnb: Nick Papas, Clark Stevens and Courtney O'Donnell.

Several Obama campaign veterans were also involved in the launch of Peers, an association and advocacy group representing Airbnb and other so-called "shared economy" companies.

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