Meta's Balaji Gururajan left the US after 18 years to return home to Bengaluru

For many professionals who build long careers overseas, the decision to return home rarely comes down to a single moment. It often gathers weight over time through family responsibilities, changing priorities and the feeling that important years are passing elsewhere. That appears to have been the case for Balaji Gururajan, a senior engineering leader at Meta, who has relocated to Bengaluru after spending nearly two decades in the United States. Rather than describing the move as a career shift, he framed it as a personal choice shaped by family life, with aging parents, growing children and the practical realities of living across continents all playing a part.Balaji Gururajan built an 18-year career across the US tech industryGururajan's professional journey started in India after graduating from the National Institute of Technology in 2003. His first role was with Wipro in Bengaluru before a move to the United States in 2007 opened the next phase of his career. During the following 18 years, he worked at several well-known technology companies, including Microsoft and LinkedIn. In 2022, he joined Meta, where he currently serves as an engineering leader working on the company's Ads Core platform.Even after establishing a successful career abroad, the idea of returning to India remained in the background. According to his LinkedIn post, the timing eventually felt right for his family to make the transition together.What finally convinced Gururajan to return to IndiaIn explaining the move, Gururajan said that living closer to his parents became increasingly important. He also pointed to the opportunity for his children to spend more time with extended family rather than maintaining those relationships from thousands of kilometres away. His comments reflected a situation familiar to many Indians working overseas. Professional opportunities may exist in one country while parents, relatives and longstanding family ties remain in another, making the balance harder as the years pass. Rather than presenting the relocation as leaving one place behind for another, he described it as responding to a different stage of life.Gururajan remembers the people who shaped his careerAlthough he has now returned to Bengaluru, Gururajan spoke warmly about the years he spent in the United States. He credited the San Francisco Bay Area with shaping both his career and his approach to technology and leadership. He also acknowledged the people who supported him throughout those years, thanking colleagues, mentors and friends who influenced his professional development. His message suggested appreciation for what those years had offered without presenting the return to India as a rejection of that experience.To everyone who took a chance on me, taught me something I needed to hear, or simply made the hard years easier — Thank You!! I mean that more than a LinkedIn post can really carry.Gururajan’s return marks a personal and family transformationMoving back has involved far more than unpacking boxes. Gururajan described the everyday work of rebuilding family life, from enrolling children in school to finding a home and settling into routines again.Bengaluru itself is also different from the city he left almost two decades ago. Returning as a husband and father has given him a new perspective on a place he once knew much earlier in life. He described the process as demanding at times but also rewarding, with each small milestone marking another step towards feeling settled.Get the latest technology news and updates. Download the TOI App.