Head of Talent

About SARAS AI Institute

SARAS AI Institute is an AI-exclusive, fully online, degree-granting institution. Our programs run from foundation certificates through MS degrees, for learners in 20+ countries. We started in 2023 with 25+ learners. Today we have thousands, and our mission is to change 1 million lives with AI education by 2030.

Location: Gurugram · Reports to: Co-Founder & COO · Type: Full-time The role

We are looking for a hiring leader, not an HR generalist. Your job is to get the right people into SARAS, fast. You will own talent acquisition end to end, from the workforce plan to the day the person joins.

You will understand the business before the brief arrives. You will push back on vague briefs and unrealistic asks, and you will bring the market data to back it up. You will be measured on hires closed, quality of hire and speed. Activity doesn’t count.

What you’ll own

Hiring delivery

- Close critical, leadership and niche roles across functions: academics and faculty, technology, sales, marketing and student success.
- Run the full cycle yourself when needed: briefing, sourcing, assessment, closing, offer negotiation.
- Agree hiring SLAs with every business leader and hold both sides to them.

Sourcing engine

- Build a repeatable pipeline across India, the US and international markets.
- Develop strong networks for academic and faculty talent, including PhD and industry-practitioner faculty.
- Use direct sourcing, referrals, LinkedIn, communities and campus channels before defaulting to agencies.

Partners, tools and data

- Manage search firms and recruitment partners on cost, speed and quality.
- Own the ATS and hiring tech stack.



Use AI tools to screen, source and schedule faster.
- Track and report time-to-hire, offer-acceptance rate, source mix, cost per hire and quality of hire.

Employer brand and candidate experience

- Position SARAS as a place responsible talent wants to join.
- Make sure every candidate, hired or not, has a fast, clear and respectful experience.

Team

- Build and lead a lean TA team as hiring volume grows.
- Hand off new hires to a smooth onboarding.

What success looks like

First 60 days: Open critical roles closed or in the final stage. Hiring SLAs agreed with every leader. Pipeline visible on one dashboard.

4 months: Predictable hiring engine. Time-to-hire down, offer-acceptance up, agency dependence reduced.

6 months: Leaders see TA as the reason they can scale. A bench of warm talent is ready for upcoming roles.

Who we’re looking for

Must have

- 8–12+ years in talent acquisition, with at least 3 years leading TA for an organisation or a major business unit.
- A proven record of closing senior and niche hires at pace in a high-growth setting. Be ready to walk us through specific closures.
- Experience hiring across geographies (India plus US or international).
- Experience in edtech, higher education, tech or startups.
- Strong data habits. You run hiring on metrics, not anecdotes.

How you work

- You own outcomes. You don’t wait for instructions.
- You have the gravitas to challenge founders and hiring managers.
- You are a closer. You can sell the role, the mission and the stage of the company.
- You move fast, stay hands-on and are comfortable with ambiguity.
- You use AI and modern recruiting tech to work faster.

📌 HEAD of TALENT (Gurugram)
🏢 Saras AI Institute
📍 Gurugram