Meta is asking some individual contributors in its Applied AI (AAI) division to consider returning to management roles, according to Business Insider. The shift comes months after the company moved roughly 7,000 employees into the AI unit and sharply reduced management layers as it sought leaner teams and greater efficiency.
The programme is voluntary, four people familiar with the matter told Business Insider. It does not appear to signal a company-wide return to the previous management model, but it does mark a notable reversal within the division Meta created to accelerate its AI ambitions.
Why Meta flattened its structure
Meta spent much of the past year reducing management layers and reorganising teams around a flatter structure. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has repeatedly backed smaller, startup-style teams, particularly as AI tools take on more tasks that previously required larger groups.
The company eliminated roughly 10 per cent of its workforce this year through layoffs aimed at improving efficiency and helping offset AI spending. Managers were disproportionately affected, according to a Business Insider analysis of publicly available layoff notices.
Meta established AAI as a division focused on training AI models. Some workers moved from management positions into individual contributor roles as part of that restructuring. The latest change suggests the company's rapidly expanding AI operations may require a different organisational structure from the one Meta has been promoting elsewhere.
Adjustments after internal criticism
Meta has already adjusted other aspects of the AAI restructuring. Some employees who were moved into the division were later allowed to leave after internal criticism over being effectively assigned to the new organisation without choosing to join it.
For those weighing whether to stay in individual contributor roles or step back into management, the decision touches on questions about how AI-focused teams are best organised - a topic that intersects with broader discussions around AI for Management.
Industry experiments with team structure
Meta is not alone in testing leaner structures. Technology companies have increasingly examined whether fewer managers and smaller teams can make businesses more responsive as AI systems automate parts of knowledge work. But the approach has not been universally maintained.
Uber recently said it would eliminate half of its so-called "micro-teams" as part of job cuts. The decision shows how difficult it is to apply a single organisational model across large technology businesses, where team structures shift as priorities change. Leaders evaluating AI-driven restructuring can find relevant frameworks under AI for Executives & Strategy.
Why this matters for managers
Meta's reversal within AAI is a signal that flat structures and individual contributor-heavy teams may not scale cleanly across every function, especially in fast-moving AI divisions. If your organisation is considering a similar flattening, watch whether it holds up in technical groups where coordination across thousands of specialists becomes a bottleneck.
The opt-in nature of Meta's programme also matters. Companies that pushed managers into IC roles are now discovering that some of those employees want the management track back - and that rebuilding a management pipeline after cutting it is harder than cutting it in the first place.
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