Santosh Janardhan, who has long led infrastructure efforts and served as co‑head of engineering at Meta, will step down from that leadership role, the company told TechCrunch. Meta said Dave Brown, who joined the company earlier this year as vice president of infrastructure, will replace him.
Transition and timeline
Meta indicated that Janardhan will remain with the company for a transition period and will move into an advisory role on Meta Compute. A Meta representative said, “Santosh will stay on for transition and he is moving into an advisory role on Meta Compute.” Janardhan is expected to leave the company sometime next year.
Background on the people involved
- Santosh Janardhan joined Meta in 2009 and has been credited with helping the company expand into its current large internet presence.
- Dave Brown spent 19 years at Amazon focusing on compute, cloud, and AI, according to his LinkedIn profile; he joined Meta earlier this year as vice president of infrastructure and will assume Janardhan’s leadership responsibilities.
Reasons and company context
Bloomberg first reported Janardhan’s departure, citing an internal memo that had circulated; that memo did not specify a detailed reason for the change. Janardhan’s memo reportedly referenced the need to “pass the baton.” Meta did not immediately provide additional public clarification on the motives behind the move.
The company has greatly increased its infrastructure investments in recent years as it competes in the AI space. Earlier this year, Janardhan was tasked with leading Meta Compute, the initiative to scale the company’s data center investments and strategy.
What comes next
Meta has initiated the transition process with Dave Brown stepping into the infrastructure leadership role. Janardhan will serve in an advisory capacity to Meta Compute during the handover and is anticipated to depart the company next year.
