Etienne, a former staffer to Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama, joined Harris' team shortly after the election. At the time, she said she would linger only for a year. Vanity Fair first reported the news.
Etienne is leaving in December to seek other possibilities, the White House said.
"Ashley is a valued member of the Vice President's team, who has worked tirelessly to advance the goals of this administration. She is leaving the office in December to pursue other opportunities," a White House official told DailyMail.com.
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The Biden administration will mark its one-year mark in January.
As communications director, Etienne would have been in charge of Harris' press and PR image. In recent weeks, Harris has taken a lash with a list of critical stories about her role as vice president, in-fighting among her staff, and charges from her allies that the Biden administration is not properly using her.
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Harris, meanwhile, condemned claims that she is being misused as vice president, saying she doesn't feel like President Joe Biden and his team are underutilizing her.
"No. I don't," she told ABC's George Stephanopoulos in an interview that aired on Good Morning America Thursday morning. "I am very, very excited about the work that we have accomplished but I am also absolutely, absolutely clear-eyed that there is a lot more to do and we're going to get it done."
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She sounded off a list of her accomplishments, including the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, her recent trip to France, her work with members of Congress and her presiding over the Senate as she defended her job as vice president.
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Harris' interview came amid reports of chaos in the vice president's office and disappointment among West Wing staff with her and her team, which the White House has actively pushed back on, dismissing Harris as being sidelined as her poll numbers sink.
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She also emphasized her strong connection with Biden and rejected her low approval ratings, which dropped to 28% in a USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll of registered voters earlier this month.
"Polls, they go up, they go down," Harris said. "But I think what is most important is that we remain consistent with what we need to do to deal with the issues that we're presented with at this moment."
She also said she and Biden have not talked about the 2024 presidential race.
"Absolutely not," she said when Stephanopoulos asked if Biden told her he would seek a second term.
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