Meta Platforms Inc.’s longtime infrastructure chief will leave the company in early 2027, a major leadership change as it continues to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in artificial intelligence and the data centers needed to support it.
Santosh Janardhan, Meta’s head of infrastructure and co-head of engineering, told staff Wednesday, November 11, 2026, that he would step down from leading the infrastructure organization, according to a memo obtained by Bloomberg News. He did not detail reasons for his departure in the message, and couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Janardhan joined Facebook in 2009 and has been critical in building the software, hardware, networks and data centers that have helped scale it into a $1.7 trillion social media behemoth. He also oversaw the company’s custom silicon efforts, and in January, took on an additional role as co-lead of Meta Compute, a new initiative intended to create a long-term strategy for obtaining, managing and allocating computing capacity needed to support the company’s aggressive AI bets. He has been leading the group alongside Dina Powell McCormick, Meta’s vice chairman and president and Daniel Gross, vice president of product.
Dave Brown will succeed Janardhan as head of infrastructure, the memo said. Brown joined Meta earlier this year as vice president of infrastructure after nearly two decades at Amazon Web Services, where he most recently was senior vice president overseeing compute and machine-learning services. Janardhan said he will remain at Meta through the first quarter to support the transition.
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His departure comes as Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg recalibrates the company to focus on its AI ambitions, spending hundreds of billions of dollars on data centers, chips and lofty compensation packages for top talent. Amid the overhaul, Zuckerberg has elevated Powell McCormick, who is playing an increasingly prominent role in setting and communicating the company’s infrastructure strategy.
In an internal posting to employees, Zuckerberg thanked Janardhan for his contributions. “You’ve positioned the team and Meta well for this moment, and you’ve built a strong team that can carry this work forward,” he wrote.
Read Janardhan’s full memo to employees below:
“Passing the Baton…
I walked into facebook in Oct 2009, not quite knowing what to expect. Halfway through the Chris Cox orientation, I was pulled out and asked to help on the udb7766 sev. We were adding a million users/day, the site was barely keeping up, we weren’t quite profitable but the energy and the talent was palpable – you could feel it. What followed has been the journey of a lifetime.
The scale, the complexity and the importance of Infra has grown way more than I could have imagined. We built and operated the systems that allowed half of humanity to use Meta’s products every day. We scaled one of the world’s largest Data Center fleets and networks, developed the core systems and tools our engineers depend on, created our own silicon program, and kept adapting as the company moved from web to mobile and now to AI. We understood and internalized the job. Along the way, Infrastructure grew from an enabling function into a strategic advantage for Meta.
The chapter I have had the privilege of leading is now coming to a close and it’s time to pass the baton. Dave Brown will lead Infrastructure into its next era. I’ll stay at Meta through Q1 to support Dave and the team through the transition, and serve as CTO of Meta Compute to advise on the technical builds and continue to work closely with partners.
I am making this decision with tremendous pride in what we have built and real confidence in where Infra is headed. The next phase is about turning the scale and technical depth we have built into greater speed for our product teams and a lasting advantage for Meta. As we make the next set of choices about our priorities, this is the right time for Dave to take the lead in shaping that work. Dave has spent his career building and operating dependable infrastructure for a wide range of demanding workloads. He has the builder instincts, depth and judgment this moment requires.
Leading this organization has been an honor and the privilege of my career. I am grateful to Mark for the opportunity and trust he has given me over the years. I am grateful to the leaders and partners who pushed us to think bigger. Most of all, I am grateful to every single person across Infra who designed, built, operated and repaired these systems, often under intense pressure and without much visibility. All of you are the reason I came to work for 17+ years. The scale is impressive. The people behind it are what I will remember.”
Prior to Meta, Janardhan led database and storage teams at YouTube, Google and PayPal. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Sardar Patel University in India, and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.