--- title: "Sanchari M. - Career transition in Bengaluru | Tal" description: "Meet Sanchari M., Turning “We Have a People Problem” Into a System, Process or Strategy based in Bengaluru. AI stack includes claude, gemini, and n8n. Explore public work links including sancharim.netlify.app." image: "https://tal.club/meet/sanchari-m/share-image" --- # Sanchari M\. on Tal ## Headline Turning “We Have a People Problem” Into a System, Process or Strategy ## About Most HR people either build a function from scratch or inherit one that already works\. I've done both, and they teach you completely different things\. CallHub was the first kind\. I was hire number one on the People side, reporting to the CEO, with nothing to inherit\. No handbook, no HRIS, no precedent for what "good" looked like\. I built it as we went: hiring, performance, onboarding, offboarding, ER, POSH, all of it, while the company went from 12 people to 50\+\. When there's no fallback, you find out fast what actually matters versus what's just process theatre\. Altigreen was messier\. An EV startup growing faster than its HR could keep up with, which is its own kind of chaos\. I put in their first real HRIS, coached managers who'd never had to give real feedback before, and at one point ran a workforce reduction that stayed fully compliant and didn't torch the trust we'd built\. That last part is the hard part\. Anyone can do layoffs badly\. SmartBear was different again\. A 1,000\+ person global org, so I was one HRBP among many, sitting with Engineering, Product, Sales, and G&A on the decisions that don't have a clean textbook answer\. Post\-acquisition integration\. ER situations where the "right" call depends on context nobody wrote down\. Coaching managers without becoming the crutch they lean on instead of learning the skill themselves\. Here's the thing I actually believe, having done all three: HR that only administers is dead weight\. The function has to build things, question its own processes, and treat people problems with the same rigor you'd bring to any other operating problem\. That's not a metaphor for me\. I spend my free time building automation pipelines and tools because I think the best people leaders are systems thinkers who happen to specialize in humans\. Right now I'm looking for a Founding People Partner or Senior HRBP role at a company still early enough that the people function is being decided, not just maintained\. Ideally with a CEO who wants a partner, not a paperwork processor\. If that's you, say hi\. ## Location Bengaluru ## AI stack claude gemini n8n Adobe Firefly ChatGPT Replicate ## Work experience Career transition at Career Break, Feb 2026 \- Present · 9 mos, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, Didn't want a gap that just says "job searching\." So I built things instead\. Shipped an automated job\-lead pipeline and a PIP builder app, went deep on generative AI for HR use cases, and ran my search like an actual evaluation process instead of applying to everything with a pulse\. Fit, stage, and who I'd report to, checked before I engaged, not after\. People & Culture Operations Partner at SmartBear, Mar 2024 \- Jan 2026 · 1 yr 11 mos, Bengaluru, Sat with Engineering, Product, Sales, and G&A leaders on the calls that don't have an easy answer\. Owned engagement strategy and actually used the CultureAmp data instead of just reporting it\. Handled ER situations that required real discretion, not a script\. Kept the people side of a post\-acquisition integration stable while everything else was in flux\. Coached managers to actually get better at feedback, not just lean on HR to have the hard conversation for them\. Assistant Manager HR at Altigreen Propulsion Labs, Mar 2023 \- Feb 2024 · 1 yr, Bengaluru, HRBP for an Engineering and R&D org growing faster than its own infrastructure\. Built their first real HRIS from the ground up, solo, with an actual adoption plan behind it instead of just flipping a switch and hoping\. Coached managers who'd never really given structured feedback before\. Also ran a workforce reduction under real time pressure and kept it fully compliant and clean, which is the part people never ask about but is the actual test\. People Partner at CallHub, Jul 2022 \- Feb 2023 · 8 mos, Bengaluru Area, India, The title changed but the job didn't reset, it grew\. Kept owning hiring while taking on the rest of the people function: performance, ER, POSH, HRMS, the whole build\-it\-yourself list\. Stayed the CEO's direct thought partner on org design, headcount, and comp, just with a wider remit than "fill the roles\." Also pushed LGBTQIA\+ inclusive policy through early, back when that was a genuine choice and not a box to tick\. Senior Talent Acquisition Specialist at CallHub, Jan 2019 \- Jul 2022 · 3 yrs 7 mos, Bengaluru Area, India, First People hire, full stop\. Nothing existed before me\. Owned hiring end to end across Engineering, Product, Sales, and Ops while headcount went from 12 to 50\+, with no team behind me to hand any of it off to\. Built the early scaffolding for performance, onboarding, and offboarding along the way, because a startup that size doesn't let you stay in your lane\. Talent Acquisition Executive at Sportskeeda, Oct 2017 \- Dec 2018 · 1 yr 3 mos, Bengaluru, This is where I learned recruiting is mostly logistics wearing a people\-skills costume\. Sourced, screened, scheduled, negotiated offers, chased references, all of it\. Partnered directly with hiring managers instead of just taking a JD and running with it, because half the job is figuring out what they actually meant\. Also ended up mentoring interns on the side, which is where I first noticed I liked the coaching part more than the sourcing part\. ## Education Master of Business Administration, Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General, University of Mysore Post Graduate Program in Management \- PGPM, Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General, National School of Business, Bangalore ## Public links - sancharim\.netlify\.app: https://sancharim\.netlify\.app/ [View the original profile](https://tal.club/meet/sanchari-m) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Person", "@id": "https://tal.club/meet/sanchari-m#person", "name": "Sanchari M.", "url": "https://tal.club/meet/sanchari-m", "image": "https://tal.club/meet/sanchari-m/profile-photo.jpg", "description": "Meet Sanchari M., Turning “We Have a People Problem” Into a System, Process or Strategy based in Bengaluru. AI stack includes claude, gemini, and n8n. 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