Facebook Opens First Foreign Engineering Office In London

For the first time, the social networking giant Facebook has decided to open its engineering department outside the United States and its first stop is United Kingdom. At present, the company’s engineering office is located in New York, Seattle and Menlo Park.

The company is also looking to hire an engineering team for its first foreign office and they initially have 22 open positions to fill up.

In the official blog, Facebook Software Engineer and London Team Leader Philip named the city as a “perfect fit” and said, “Our team in London will start small, focusing on building a core of great engineers, and then grow over time and eventually focus on building products in key areas like mobile and platform.”

The decision to start a foreign engineering office is probably because of the company’s interest in the global market. It has been observed that user growth in the United States has dropped down, while in Asia and South America, it has seen a significant increase.

According to company’s stats, it has above 900 million monthly active members and estimates that over 80% of them belong to countries outside the U.S and Canada.

With the increasing demand for engineers, particularly in Silicon Valley and the States in general, Facebook is seeking talent in other countries, while saying that “London has a vibrant local startup community with lots of great technical talent.”

“We eliminate unnecessary process and give all our engineers the opportunity to work on the things that matter most. Our engineers in London – like those in Menlo Park, New York, and Seattle – will be able to pursue great ideas and ship products quickly.”

And of course, London appears to be the most suitable candidate as the company would not face cultural and language barriers in London.