Meta Infrastructure Chief Santosh Janardhan to Step Down; Ex-Amazon Exec Dave Brown to Replace Him
Meta confirmed that Santosh Janardhan, its longtime head of infrastructure and co-head of engineering, will step down next year, replaced by Dave Brown, a former Amazon executive with 19 years of experience in cloud and AI.
U.S. tech giant Meta confirmed on November 11, 2026, that Santosh Janardhan, the company’s longtime head of infrastructure and co-head of engineering, will be stepping down from his role. Janardhan joined Meta in 2009 and was instrumental in the firm’s growth into a global social media and technology powerhouse. According to TechCrunch, he will be replaced by Dave Brown, who joined Meta earlier this year as vice president of infrastructure. Brown previously spent 19 years at Amazon, focusing on compute, cloud, and AI.
A Meta representative stated that Janardhan will stay on for a transition period and move into an advisory role for “Meta Compute,” an initiative launched earlier this year to scale the company’s data center investments and strategy amid intensifying competition in the AI race. While internal memos did not specify the reasons for Janardhan’s departure, reports indicate he cited the need to “pass the baton.” This leadership change occurs against the backdrop of exploding infrastructure spending at Meta, raising questions about how the new executive team will manage the pace and direction of its massive AI compute expansion.