Western Bulldogs boss David Stevenson has dramatically resigned from the club after barely one year in the job.



The club chief executive officially departed the Bulldogs on Friday and is expected to be replaced as early as Monday by an interim CEO who is currently involved at the club.



Fairfax Media understands the Bulldogs accepted Stevenson's resignation which comes on the eve of the finals and was followed by a chaotic weekend which saw critical injuries and a shock loss to St Kilda which saw the club drop to seventh position.



It is understood the relationship between Stevenson and his highly influential chairman Peter Gordon had become difficult and played a key part in Stevenson's departure.



The 39-year-old came to the club from outside the AFL industry after a long career with Nike. He returned with his family to Melbourne last year from that company's Portland Oregon headquarters.



Having recently appointed former club champion and director Chris Grant into a full time role directing football, club sources insisted Grant would not be replacing Stevenson.

Stevenson replaced Simon Garlick, who took over the role in 2011 but departed after working under Gordon for two years.

Since replacing David Smorgon at the helm in 2013, Gordon has transformed the club and replaced most key executive roles in a tenure which has been punctuated by off-field controversy as well improvement on-field.

Gordon, who has personally contributed significant money into the club, notably sacked coach Brendan McCartney at the end of 2014 and appointed Luke Beveridge as senior coach. Beveridge took the club to the top eight in his first year, with the Bulldogs almost certainly headed for their second successive finals series.