Long-time Google executive Megan Smith is a top candidate for the role of US chief technology officer, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Smith is VP at Google's secret lab, "Google X", which is devoted to "moon shot" projects such as driverless cars and Google Glass smart eyewear, and overseen by co-founder Sergey Brin, according to her LinkedIn profile.
She led many of the company's early acquisitions, including picture service Picasa, Keyhole and Where2Tech, whose technologies drove Google Earth and Maps.
The CTO advises the US president on technology policy issues.
The job was most recently held by Todd Park, who announced on Thursday he is resigning and relocating to California to recruit skilled technology experts into government roles.
Park, who had built a reputation as a successful IT entrepreneur, was thrust into the public spotlight during the disastrous roll-out of the Affordable Care Act in the autumn of 2013.
While not in charge of the technology behind the flawed HealthCare.gov Web portal that crashed when thousands of Americans tried to sign up for health insurance, he was one of several administration officials summoned to Congress to explain the breakdown.
Google was not immediately available for comment.
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