Meet KRISHNA GANERIWAL | Senior Software Engineer, Meta Platforms Inc.

We had the good fortune of connecting with KRISHNA GANERIWAL and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi KRISHNA, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I’m originally from India—raised in a family that didn’t have a background in engineering or technology. Despite that, my upbringing was rooted in curiosity, persistence, and a strong belief in the power of education. Those values became foundational to how I approach life and work today.

I wrote my first line of code during my first semester of college. With no prior exposure, everything had to be learned from the ground up—navigating late nights, debugging from first principles, and teaching myself how things really worked. What started as self-learning quickly grew into impact: an early internship led to me designing and launching a political news app that gained over 50,000 downloads in its first week. That experience gave me the confidence to pursue systems engineering at scale.

After graduating, I joined Texas Instruments, where I led efforts to build compliance infrastructure for chip design—accelerating development pipelines for products that shipped in millions of consumer devices worldwide. This was where I fell in love with building back-end systems that were invisible to users but critical to business success.
Driven by a desire to push the boundaries further, I pursued my Master’s in Computer Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where I deepened my focus on distributed systems. That led me to Meta, where I now work as a senior engineer in the Ads Privacy Infrastructure team.

At Meta, I’ve helped architect privacy-aware backend systems that power data protections and regulatory compliance at global scale. My work directly impacts over 3 billion users across Facebook and Instagram, while also enabling Meta to protect billions of dollars in ad revenue by ensuring data use aligns with consent and privacy laws like GDPR, CCPA, and India’s DPDP Act.

I’ve helped scale internal systems that process hundreds of billions of signals daily, enabling automated enforcement of privacy policies and dynamic consent. The infrastructure we’ve built not only improves transparency and fairness in advertising, but also positions Meta to be audit-ready in a fast-changing regulatory landscape.
What I’ve learned through this journey is that innovation doesn’t require perfect conditions—it requires persistence, systems thinking, and a deep respect for the user. I bring that ethos with me in everything I build. The fact that my work helps protect data and power experiences for billions of users is something I’m both proud of and humbled by.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
What I’m most proud of is being able to contribute to building privacy-aware systems that not only protect data for billions of people across the world, but also enable global companies like Meta to comply with complex regulations and sustain their core businesses. It’s a rare intersection—where doing the right thing for users also drives technical innovation and business resilience. Knowing that the systems I help design have direct real-world impact at massive scale is both humbling and motivating.

But it wasn’t an easy road. I didn’t grow up around engineers or programmers. I wrote my first line of code in college. Every step—whether it was landing my first unpaid internship, getting into the semiconductor industry at Texas Instruments, or earning a place at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for my Master’s—required persistence, late nights, and a lot of self-learning. At times, the learning curve felt steep, especially coming from a non-traditional background. But I leaned into the discomfort and focused on first principles, which helped me build not just skills, but confidence.

The transition to big tech came after years of deliberate preparation. I pursued my Master’s in Computer Science at the University of Wisconsin–Madison to dive deeper into distributed systems and large-scale computing. That academic journey gave me a solid foundation in systems design and the ability to think holistically about architecture and scale. Eventually, I interned at Meta and transitioned into full-time work, focusing on privacy infrastructure within the ads domain. Since joining, I’ve worked on some of Meta’s most mission-critical privacy infrastructure, helping shape the systems that enforce user consent, power regulatory compliance, and ensure fairness in advertising across a platform that touches 3 billion people. The infrastructure supports compliance for laws like GDPR and India’s DPDP Act, safeguarding billions of dollars in ad revenue and enabling responsible innovation.

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that resilience beats pedigree. You don’t have to come from a certain background to build meaningful things—you just need a willingness to learn deeply, ship thoughtfully, and lead with integrity. I’ve also learned the value of mentorship and giving back. I’ve been lucky to be mentored by brilliant people, and I try to pass that forward by mentoring junior engineers and open-sourcing knowledge whenever I can.

What I want the world to know is that privacy and ethics in tech aren’t just compliance checkboxes—they’re engineering problems, and solving them well is one of the most exciting challenges of our time. My story isn’t about shortcuts or overnight success—it’s about showing up every day, staying curious, and solving hard problems that matter. I’m still on that journey, and I’m excited for what comes next.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If my best friend was visiting the Bay Area for a week, I’d give them a mix of tech, nature, and great food.

We’d start with SF classics—walk across the Golden Gate Bridge, ride a cable car, grab chowder in a sourdough bowl at Fisherman’s Wharf, and catch sunset at Twin Peaks.

Then dive into the tech side with stops at Meta HQ, the Computer History Museum, and dinner at some awesome spots like Dishdash or Tamarine.

Midweek, we’d escape into nature—redwoods at Muir Woods, a drive to Point Reyes, and a day in Napa for wine and relaxing views. We’d also fit in hikes like Mission Peak or Rancho San Antonio for killer views and fresh air.

Of course, food would be a major theme: brunch at Sweet Maple, ice cream at Bi-Rite, and dinners at places like Che Fico or State Bird if we’re lucky with reservations.

To wind down, we’d hang out at Dolores Park or explore the Presidio, grab coffee at Philz, and just soak in the vibe. The Bay has this amazing balance of energy and calm—and I’d want them to feel both.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Absolutely. I’d like to dedicate my shoutout to the mentors, teammates, and unsung engineers I’ve had the privilege of working with throughout my journey—especially during my time at Texas Instruments and Meta. The collective brilliance, humility, and grit of those around me have shaped not just my technical thinking, but also my values as a builder and collaborator.

I also want to give a special shoutout to my family. While they didn’t come from a tech background, their unwavering support and belief in my path—even when they didn’t fully understand it—made all the difference. Every milestone I’ve hit is rooted in their sacrifices.

Finally, I’d like to acknowledge books like Designing Data-Intensive Applications by Martin Kleppmann and The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz. These books deeply influenced my understanding of systems thinking, resilience, and leadership in tech—especially when stakes are high and ambiguity is constant.
Their impact continues to resonate in the systems I help build and the people I try to mentor.

Website: https://github.com/ganeriwalk11

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/krishna_ganeriwal?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/krishna-ganeriwal/