---
title: "Nikhil Thakur - Software Engineering in India | Tal"
description: "Meet Nikhil Thakur, Software Engineering @ Capital One, Cisco | University of Cambridge 2021, Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) Varanasi. 2018 based in India. AI stack includes antigravity, claude code, and gemini."
image: "https://tal.club/meet/nikhil-thakur-1/share-image"
---

# Nikhil Thakur on Tal

## Headline

Software Engineering @ Capital One, Cisco \| University of Cambridge 2021, Indian Institute of Technology \(BHU\) Varanasi\. 2018

## About

Experienced scientist with a demonstrated history of working in the deep\-space research industry\. Skilled in C\+\+, Python, HPC, and Machine Learning\. Strong research background with a Bachelor of Technology \- B\.Tech focused in Mechanical Engineering \(focussed on Computational Science\) from the Indian Institute of Technology \(Banaras Hindu University\), Varanasi, and a Master of Philosophy in Engineering from the University of Cambridge in High\-Performance Computing\. As a side hustle, I mostly find myself struggling with specific areas of Machine Learning, stock investment, Chess, reading all kinds of stuff, and exploring new trends\.

## Location

India

## AI stack

antigravity

claude code

gemini

hugging face

windsurf

## Work experience

Software Engineering at Capital One, Jan 2026 \- Present · 9 mos, Bengaluru

Software Engineer at Cisco, May 2025 \- Jan 2026 · 9 mos, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, Revamping media services for FedRamp and sovereign cloud

Software Engineer at Cisco, Oct 2023 \- May 2025 · 1 yr 8 mos, London, England, United Kingdom, Media Engineering \- Webex Backend\. Developing the transcoded experience for both Webex and Cloud Video MS Teams Interop \(CVI\) solutions of Cisco\.

Software Engineer at Cisco, Dec 2021 \- Oct 2023 · 1 yr 11 mos, London, England, United Kingdom, Media Engineering UK \- Webex Media Backend

Post Graduate Researcher at University of Cambridge, Oct 2020 \- Dec 2021 · 1 yr 3 mos, Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom, This research work involved the development of a Parallel Multigrid Algorithm used for solving PDEs to remove both the Low and High\-frequency components of errors by using multi\-level grids hierarchy and linear grid transfer operators\. This algorithm was developed in SYCL / DPC\+\+ and was tested for a grid having 177mn DoFs\. The parallel multigrid implementation was tested on a multicore Intel Xeon CPU, and a parallel speedup of 26 was obtained on a 28 core system, indicating a parallel efficiency of 86 %\. The results confirmed the successful development of the prototype of parallel multigrid using SYCL\. After further improvements \(kernel fusion and consistent memory management\), a fully parallel implementation of this algorithm will be ready\. It will be integrated with open source FEniCS / DOLFINx to check the performance against state\-of\-the\-art solvers already present for commercial use\.

Scientist/Engineer \- 'SC' at ISRO \- Indian Space Research Organization \(U\.R\. Rao Satellite Center\), Jul 2018 \- Aug 2020 · 2 yrs 2 mos, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, • Worked on the development of electro\-optic payloads and laser\-driven sensors \(altimeters, rangers, velocity meters, etc\.\) for various satellites, rovers, and other spacecraft launched for defense and communication purposes\. • Responsible for the design and computational analysis of these payloads \(frequency response, random response, etc\.\), end\-to\-end fabrication, quality checks at design and fabrication stages, assembly, and field tests to ensure their performance against set ISRO benchmarks\. • Tested several sensors and devices used in the Chandrayan \- 2 moon landing mission of ISRO • Worked on the development of indigenous atomic clocks, handled the design and analysis phase\. • Acting as a member of the SPADEX Design Review Committee \(SDRC\) within ISRO, analyzed various mission intricacies w\.r\.t\. various optical sensors and mechanical payloads to be used in the mission\. • Guided 2 research interns in the research works of Laser Range Finder and Laser Altimeter used in SPADEX and Moon\-Landing Mission\.

Research Intern at Technical University Munich, May 2017 \- Jul 2017 · 3 mos, Munich, Bavaria, Germany, • Worked on implementing Convoluted Neural Network \(CNN\) in TensorFlow to predict an accurate difference method and calculate numerical derivatives at a given point for a data set\. This model was, in turn, used for calculating the derivative of a flow streamline, used for velocity prediction in a turbulent flow field\. • Generated the training and testing dataset for the CNN model in Python • Performed a study for tuning the feature filters for an in\-depth understanding of the CNN model to improve the prediction accuracy and visualized its accuracy and error over a span of 1000 epoch on the TensorBoard platform\.

## Education

MPhil in Engineering, Computational Mathematics and Parallel Algorithms, University of Cambridge

Bachelor of Technology \- BTech, Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology \(Banaras Hindu University\), Varanasi

[View the original profile](https://tal.club/meet/nikhil-thakur-1)

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