Infrastructure Shakeup: Meta’s Longtime Head of Engineering Santosh Janardhan Steps Down

Meta is losing one of the primary architects behind its massive global computing backbone. Santosh Janardhan, the company’s longtime head of infrastructure and co-head of engineering, confirmed he is stepping down from his executive leadership role. Meta confirmed the leadership transition, noting that Dave Brown will take over Janardhan’s responsibilities. Brown joined Meta earlier this year as vice president of infrastructure following an extensive 19-year tenure at Amazon, where he managed core compute, cloud operations, and artificial intelligence hardware networks.

Although Janardhan is stepping away from daily executive management, he will remain with the tech giant temporarily to ensure a smooth handoff. A Meta representative confirmed that Janardhan will stay on through a formal transition period before moving into an advisory capacity focused on Meta Compute, with plans to depart the company fully next year.

Janardhan originally joined the company back in 2009, playing a foundational role in scaling its servers and global networking systems from a growing social site into a massive internet powerhouse. Bloomberg first broke news of his exit after reviewing an internal staff memo circulating inside the company. While neither the internal note nor corporate spokespeople shared specific reasons behind his decision to leave, Janardhan wrote to colleagues that it was simply time to pass the baton to new leadership.

The leadership change happens at a critical moment for Meta’s hardware strategy. Over the past few years, the company dramatically increased capital spending on physical data centers, networking equipment, and custom chips to keep pace with rivals in the artificial intelligence race. Earlier this year, executive leadership tapped Janardhan to lead Meta Compute, a dedicated internal initiative created to accelerate data center builds and coordinate massive energy and compute expansion.

Handing the reins to Dave Brown brings deep cloud computing experience directly into Meta’s top engineering ranks. Spending nearly two decades building cloud infrastructure at Amazon gives Brown practical insight into managing massive server fleets, optimizing power distribution, and scaling data center supply chains under tight timelines. As Meta races to bring multi-gigawatt computing clusters online, Brown’s background in enterprise cloud operations fits directly with the company’s aggressive hardware roadmap.

Managing physical infrastructure has quickly become one of the most demanding jobs in Silicon Valley. Tech giants no longer compete solely on software algorithms or consumer app features; winning in artificial intelligence requires securing land, negotiating power grid connections, and deploying hundreds of thousands of specialized processors. Losing an executive who spent over 15 years building Meta’s internal systems creates real execution risks, making Janardhan’s transitional advisory role vital for keeping current construction projects on schedule.

As Meta pours tens of billions of dollars into next-generation server farms, keeping infrastructure leadership steady will determine how fast the company can train and deploy future models. Bringing in a seasoned cloud veteran like Brown signals that Meta wants battle-tested operational discipline guiding its physical expansion as competition across the AI hardware landscape intensifies.