Santosh Janardhan to leave Meta in early 2027
Meta’s infrastructure chief will step down, with Dave Brown set to succeed him after a first-quarter transition.
By Theo Nakamura · Staff Writer
· 2 min read
Santosh Janardhan will leave Meta in early 2027, handing off the company’s infrastructure organization to Dave Brown after a transition that is expected to run through the first quarter. For Meta investors, the change puts a new leader in charge of an area tied to the company’s continuing investment in artificial intelligence and data centers.
Janardhan is Meta’s head of infrastructure and co-head of engineering. He joined the company in 2009, according to Meta’s comments to TechCrunch. Bloomberg reported that Janardhan told employees on Wednesday that he was stepping down from leading the infrastructure organization.
Meta said Brown, currently its vice president of infrastructure, will succeed Janardhan. Brown joined Meta earlier this year after nearly two decades at Amazon Web Services, Reuters reported.
When will Santosh Janardhan leave Meta?
Janardhan is expected to leave in early 2027. Reuters reported that he will remain at Meta through the first quarter to support the transition.
A Meta representative told TechCrunch that Janardhan will take an advisory role on Meta Compute during that period. TechCrunch reported that Meta Compute is an initiative focused on scaling the company’s data-center investments and strategy, and that Janardhan had been assigned to lead it earlier in 2026.
Who is Dave Brown, Meta’s incoming infrastructure leader?
Brown joined Meta as vice president of infrastructure earlier in 2026. Before Meta, he spent nearly 20 years at Amazon Web Services, Reuters reported. TechCrunch, citing Brown’s LinkedIn profile, said his AWS work included compute, cloud and AI.
Compute refers to the processing capacity used for tasks such as running software and training AI systems. The leadership handoff comes while Meta continues to invest in AI and in the data centers that support those efforts, Bloomberg reported.
Why is Santosh Janardhan stepping down?
No reason was disclosed in Janardhan’s memo to staff, according to Bloomberg. Reuters also reported that the memo did not detail his reasons for departing.
The announcement establishes the succession plan and timing, but does not provide a reason for Janardhan’s decision. Meta said he will remain during the transition before his expected early-2027 departure.
This story draws on original reporting from TechCrunch.
