Snap's chief financial officer, Drew Vollero, is stepping down May 15, to be succeeded by Amazon's Tim Stone, a key transition for a company that has struggled to find its footing since going public last year.

Snap rose nearly 2 percent in extended trading after the transition was announced.

Stone, a vice president of finance at Amazon, comes fresh from Amazon's Whole Foods acquisition, as the company has expanded to physical stores. He also has a background in digital content and cloud services — the latter of which is a primary expense for Snap. Vollero will pursue other opportunities, the company said in a statement, but will remain at the company until Aug. 15 as a paid "non-employee advisor" to ease the transition.

"I am deeply grateful for Drew and his many contributions to the growth of Snap," CEO Evan Spiegel said in a statement. "He has done an amazing job as Snap's first CFO, building a strong team and helping to guide us through our transition to becoming a public company. The discipline that he has brought to our business will serve us well into the future. We wish Drew continued success and all the best."

Fifty-one-year-old Stone will have a salary of $500,000, restricted stock units with a value of $20,000,000 and 500,000 in options, subject to time-based vesting.

Vollero, a former Mattel executive, shepherded the company to a public offering alongside Imran Khan, Snap's chief strategy officer and former Wall Street insider. There were only five finance team employees, who worked on Quickbooks, when Vollero joined the company three years ago.

Snap shares plunged last week after the company's earnings report failed to impress Wall Street. In the year since the company's public offering, Snap has had to battle competition from Facebook and has faced hurdles communicating with Wall Street.

"I am proud of all that the finance department has accomplished leading up to the IPO and work done to streamline the company," Vollero said in a statement. "The financial strategies we have in place are gaining traction to grow margins, flatten costs, and reduce cash burn, and we have a talented finance team that can execute well."

— CNBC's Julia Boorstin contributed to this report.

Disclosure: CNBC parent NBCUniversal is an investor in Snap.