Meta Infrastructure Chief Santosh Janardhan To Leave In 2027, Dave Brown To Take Over

Meta Platforms is preparing for a major leadership change as its longtime infrastructure chief and co-head of engineering, Santosh Janardhan, plans to leave the company in early 2027 after more than 17 years, just as the technology giant accelerates its investments in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure.

The company has confirmed that former Amazon Web Services (AWS) executive Dave Brown will succeed Janardhan, marking a significant transition for Meta's global infrastructure operations.

TL;DR

 

• Meta's infrastructure chief Santosh Janardhan will depart in early 2027 after serving the company for over 17 years.
• Former AWS executive Dave Brown will take over infrastructure leadership.
• Janardhan will support the transition and advise Meta Compute.
• The departure comes as Meta expects capital expenditure of $135 billion to $145 billion in 2026.

According to a TechCrunch report, Meta confirmed that Janardhan will step down from his leadership position, with Dave Brown taking over the company's infrastructure organization.

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Janardhan joined Facebook in 2009 and played an important role in developing the computing infrastructure that supported the company's expansion into a global technology business.

During his tenure, Meta significantly expanded its data center operations, networking capabilities, hardware infrastructure, and computing resources to support services including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

More recently, his responsibilities expanded to Meta Compute, an initiative focused on scaling the company's infrastructure investments as AI becomes increasingly central to its business strategy.

Why Is Santosh Janardhan Leaving Meta?

Janardhan informed employees about his decision through an internal memo circulated on November 11, 2026.

The memo did not provide a specific reason for his departure, although Janardhan reportedly referred to the need to "pass the baton" to new leadership.

As per Reuters, Janardhan will remain with Meta through the first quarter of 2027 to help facilitate the leadership transition.

A Meta spokesperson also confirmed the transition arrangements to TechCrunch.

"Santosh will stay on for transition and he is moving into an advisory role on Meta Compute," the spokesperson said.

This suggests that Janardhan will continue contributing to Meta's computing strategy during the handover rather than immediately leaving the organization.

However, Meta has not publicly disclosed a detailed explanation for his decision to step down.

Who Is Dave Brown, Meta's New Infrastructure Chief?

Meta has selected Dave Brown, who joined the company earlier in 2026 as vice president of infrastructure, to succeed Janardhan.

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Brown brings nearly two decades of experience at Amazon, where he worked extensively on cloud computing, infrastructure, and AI-related technologies.

According to TechCrunch and Reuters, Brown spent approximately 19 years at Amazon Web Services before joining Meta.

His appointment comes as Meta looks to expand the computing capacity required for increasingly demanding AI workloads, including model training, inference, and other infrastructure-intensive applications.

The leadership change also places Brown at the center of Meta's ongoing efforts to scale its data centers and computing systems while managing substantial infrastructure investments.

Meta's AI Infrastructure Spending Adds Significance To The Leadership Change

The departure comes as Meta continues investing heavily in the infrastructure required to support its AI ambitions.

Meta reported capital expenditures of $34.91 billion, including principal payments on finance leases.

The company also narrowed its full-year 2026 capital expenditure outlook to between $135 billion and $145 billion, highlighting the scale of its ongoing investment commitments.

 

These investments support both Meta's existing businesses and emerging AI initiatives, including the computing capacity needed to develop and operate increasingly sophisticated AI models.

Meta also indicated that it expects to continue investing aggressively in infrastructure beyond 2026, although its plans for the following year were still being developed.

Meanwhile, The Tech Buzz highlighted the timing of Janardhan's departure, noting that it coincides with Meta's aggressive expansion of AI infrastructure and data center capabilities.

With Brown preparing to assume leadership, Meta will be relying on his extensive cloud infrastructure experience to oversee a business function that has become increasingly important to its AI strategy.

Janardhan's departure marks the end of a lengthy leadership tenure at Meta, but the company's transition arrangements are designed to maintain continuity during the handover.

What remains to be seen is how Brown will guide Meta's infrastructure expansion as the company continues increasing its investments in AI computing.