Jony Ive told the world in June he’s ready to stop being Apple’s Chief Design Officer but it seems likely he told his employers months before that. New research shows Apple went on a hiring spree in its design department early this year.

At the same time, the company has apparently been following a general “fewer suits, more hoodies” hiring strategy.

Artists wanted

In the first months of this year, Apple had job postings for 30 to 40 openings in its Design department. At the beginning of April, that number began to climb steeply and by late May was up to 71, according to Thinknum.

“The company doubled job postings for its design division, likely in anticipation that Jony Ive — the man behind the iPhone, and so much more — would leave Apple,” notes the research firm.

Geeks wanted

Apple increased its total number of job openings 22% during the second quarter of this year. And these are in tech positions.

“The company seemed to have a ‘fewer suits, more hoodies’ strategy about its hiring,” notes Thinknum. “Apple posted fewer jobs in roles like Marketing and Corporate Functions over the course of 2019. At the same time — and over the same timeframe — the company added more jobs in categories like Machine Learning and AI, and also increased postings in the Hardware category over both Q2 and 2019.”