Facebook sees 'immense opportunity' in Austin, company's local leader says

As Facebook Austin prepares for an eventual return to the office and end of the coronavirus pandemic, the leader of the company’s Austin operations says she sees “immense opportunity” for Facebook to continue to grow in Central Texas. Despite the pandemic, Katherine Shappley, head of Facebook Austin’s office, said the company’s Austin team is busier than ever, a trend that will only continue as looks to keep growing and investing here.Facebook’s presence in Central Texas has increased rapidly since it first opened an Austin office in 2010 with just seven employees, a number that climbed to over 125 employees by the end of its first year. The rapid hiring has continued since. Just six months before the pandemic hit, Facebook had more than 1,200 employees here and was on a hiring spree when it opened a second Austin location, a brand new 256,000-square-foot downtown office space in a building called Third & Shoal, with the capacity for up to 1,500 employees.  Austin has grown to be Facebook’s fourth-largest hub, with more than 2,000 employees in more than 100 of its teams.Facebook keeps growing Austin presence; now tops 1,200 Central Texas employeesShappley, head of Facebook’s North American Global Business Group, has led the Austin operation since 2016, initially drawn by its work with small and medium-sized businesses. The Facebook…
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