Meta is losing its longtime head of infrastructure

A new leader will take charge of Meta’s long-term infrastructure strategy: Santos Janardhan is stepping down as head of infrastructure and co-chair of engineering. He will be replaced by Dave Brown, who joined the company early this year as vice president of infrastructure. Janardhan, who joined Meta in 2009, will stay on during the transition before moving to an advisory role at Meta Compute. He is expected to leave the company next year.

Meta to replace longtime infrastructure chief

Source: techcrunch.com

Leadership transition in Meta’s infrastructure team

Before joining Meta, Brown spent 19 years at Amazon, working on computing systems, cloud technologies and AI. His LinkedIn profile lists this experience.

A Meta spokesperson said Janardhan would help with the transition and become an adviser to the Meta Compute team. Bloomberg was the first to report his departure, citing an internal memo recently sent to employees. In it, Janardhan reportedly explained his decision as a need to “pass the baton.”

The reasons for his departure from the role have not been disclosed. They were not mentioned in the memo, and Meta did not immediately respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.

Janardhan joined the company in 2009 and was part of its growth from a technology company into a major player in the internet and social media. In recent years, Meta has sharply increased its infrastructure spending as it seeks to keep pace with competitors in the AI race. Earlier this year, Janardhan was put in charge of Meta Compute, the company’s initiative to expand investment in data centers and develop its strategy in this area.

Dataist’s take: The leadership change comes as Meta increases infrastructure spending and advances its data center plans. The company has not said why Janardhan decided to leave the role or how the change in leadership will affect Meta Compute.