Status update: Facebook to hire hundreds at new Cambridge offices

by Justine Hofherr
September 7, 2017
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Photo via Facebook

Want to join the social network, for real? Now’s your chance.

Facebook recently announced that it’s opening a new office in Cambridge next year and planning to hire more than 500 new team members. This will bring the social media giant’s local headcount up to 650, making it one of the largest employers in Kendall Square.

According to The Boston Globe, the new offices will occupy the top three floors of 100 Binney St., a building set to open early next year.

This space will carry on Facebook’s mission of delivering mobile and data center support to the network’s 2 billion users but will feature a handful of new initiatives as well.

Serving as the hub for Facebook’s growing machine learning efforts, the Boston office will focus on the company’s mission of optimizing software, hardware and data for users, as well as its infra connectivity programs, mobile development and capacity engineering capabilities. This will include creating new tech partnerships with telecom companies and hardware manufacturers for launching innovative products.

“We have secured a lease at 100 Binney Street from Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. to expand our engineering presence in the Boston area as part of our continued commitment to investing in the Boston technology community,” said Ryan Mack, Facebook Boston site lead. “We're delighted to be here and excited for what the future holds.”

The new office also will feature a “Connectivity Lab” that will work on delivering technology and internet access to over 4 billion people worldwide who currently live without internet.

For those familiar with Facebook’s story, this expansion signals the company’s ties to its birthplace: Mark Zuckerberg founded the social network on Harvard’s campus in 2004.

Headquartered in Menlo Park, Calif., Facebook first expanded to Boston four years ago.

For background, the current Facebook Boston workforce consists of systems generalists and infrastructure engineers who focus on maps and mobile location infrastructure, data infrastructure and core services.

Facebook’s not the only tech giant making its presence known in Boston, however.

Seattle-based Amazon announced plans to hire 900 employees at its new Boston office next year, bringing its total Boston/Cambridge employee headcount to over 2,000.

Jobs at Meta

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