Several months after Meta announced that they would be establishing a “significant presence” in Durham in June 2022, details have finally emerged as to what that presence will look like. On Feb. 13, Meta confirmed that it secured office space at the American Tobacco Campus in downtown Durham.
The announcement comes after 11,000 employees, about 13% of the company, were laid off late last year. Thousands of employees were also recently given subpar ratings, signaling that more job cuts may be on the horizon.
The office will bring approximately 100 new “enterprise engineering” jobs to Durham. According to Meta, enterprise engineers “design and execute products, tools and services to help power Meta employees.”
There is some speculation that some of these positions will be housed in Meta’s Reality Labs division. Reality Labs is crucial to Meta’s venture into the metaverse, working on various projects concerning virtual and augmented reality.
Meta is joining other large technology companies like Microsoft, Google and Apple in building new offices in the Raleigh-Durham Research Triangle area. However, when Meta announced its move to Durham in June 2022, some Durham city council members expressed concerns about how the company's presence may affect equitable development in the city.
“This is a great place to live, a low cost of living, great place to save money, kids that were leaving 10-15 years ago are now figuring out this is a great place to be,” Ryan Combs, executive director of the Research Triangle Regional Partnership, told ABC11.
“I think we've done a great job as a state of understanding what companies are looking for, what they need and providing the kind of workforce to handle the types of jobs coming here. It is an attractive place to be in terms of cost of living, in finding a job and high quality of life.”
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.
Jazper Lu is a Trinity junior and managing editor of The Chronicle's 119th volume.