---
title: "Saroj Kumar S. - Talent & People Ops Lead in Greater Bengaluru Area | Tal"
description: "Meet Saroj Kumar S., Founding Talent & People Partner | Built 4 Talent/People functions from 0→1 | AI-Native Recruiting | Ex-Swiggy, Acko & Flipkart based in Greater Bengaluru Area."
image: "https://tal.club/meet/saroj-sahoo-1/share-image"
---

# Saroj Kumar S\. on Tal

## Headline

Founding Talent & People Partner \| Built 4 Talent/People functions from 0→1 \| AI\-Native Recruiting \| Ex\-Swiggy, Acko & Flipkart

## About

I build future\-focused Talent Acquisition and People Operations ecosystems ones that fuse GenAI, operational excellence, and human\-centered design to help startups and product\-driven companies hire smarter, scale faster, and grow right\. With 12\+ years across TA and PeopleOps, I've built and scaled hiring engines, teams, and HR infrastructure from zero at four organizations, and driven 2x\-9x headcount growth at high\-growth startups and product\-driven companies\. My work has spanned campus hiring to C\-suite mandates \(VP Engineering, Principal Engineers, senior Product/AI leaders\), and cross\-border hiring and People Ops integrations across India, Singapore, Indonesia, and Japan\. What I bring: 🧠 Systems thinking: I architect scalable, inclusive TA & HR frameworks, not just execute hiring ops 💼 End\-to\-end TA leadership across India, Singapore, Indonesia, and Japan and remote\-first orgs, from early\-stage startups to scaled enterprises ⚙️ Hands\-on GenAI : Implementation across sourcing, screening, JD creation, and HR automation bridging human judgment with AI\-driven efficiency 📊 PeopleOps at scale: onboarding, offboarding, engagement, retention, and policy design 🎯 Employer branding and funnel design that turns hiring into a growth lever, not a bottleneck 🤝 Tight cross\-functional partnership with founders, product, and business leaders ✅ A proven first\-hire track record: trusted to build the entire TA/HR engine from scratch\. I thrive where speed meets structure, where hiring is treated as a growth strategy and people decisions are powered by both data and empathy\. Let's connect if you're: 🔹 Scaling a startup or org and looking for a Talent & People leader to build or elevate your next stage of growth 🔹 Exploring how GenAI can transform your HR and TA workflows 🔹 Building high\-performance teams with clarity, care, and long\-term vision\.

## Location

Greater Bengaluru Area

## Work experience

Talent & People Ops Lead at FOXO, Dec 2024 \- Present · 1 yr 11 mos, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, \- Hand\-picked as the first dedicated Talent & People Operations leader; building a best\-in\-class HR and recruiting infrastructure from the ground up to power aggressive scaling\. \- Partner directly with founders on hiring strategy, workforce planning, onboarding, compliance and org design\.

Strategic Talent & Partnerships Advisor \(Non\-Executive\) at Sprout24, Oct 2023 \- Present · 3 yrs 1 mo, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, I support the leadership team in building high\-performing teams and strategic partnerships that align with the company data\-centric vision\. My role bridges talent strategy and product evolution, ensuring culture and innovation scale together\. Highlights: 📍 Advised on hiring philosophy, org design, and leadership development\. 📍 Shaped culture and team dynamics to support growth and collaboration\. 📍 Guided strategic direction of a data led SaaS product\. 📍 Contributing to enhance the Sprout Score model, aligning it with team performance and user outcomes\. 📍 Supported early\-stage partnership strategy, helping define criteria for high\-impact collaborations\. 📍 Provided counsel on founder mindset, team scaling challenges, and role clarity during growth phases\.

Founding Member at Athenasquare, Aug 2023 \- Dec 2024 · 1 yr 5 mos, India, \- Founding team of an AI HR\-Tech startup, applying deep TA domain expertise to shape ground\-up product development\. \- Served as core HR subject\-matter expert, translating real\-world hiring pain points into product features, AI recruiting use cases, and prompt design\. \- Built end\-to\-end hiring processes for AI, Product and Engineering roles, turning founder vision into repeatable systems\.

Talent Lead at Phyllo, Jun 2022 \- Jul 2023 · 1 yr 2 mos, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, \- Owned hiring strategy and execution across Engineering, Product, Design, and Business functions\. \- Scaled the org 2x \(25→50\) in under 13 months while protecting hiring quality and culture fit\. \- Closed the company's toughest, highest\-stakes mandates, including Engineering Managers, Principal Engineers, QA Managers, and Product/Design leaders \-Sharply cut time\-to\-fill for niche technical roles through a redesigned hiring process\.

Talent Acquisition Lead at CoLearn, Sep 2021 \- Jun 2022 · 10 mos, Jakarta, Indonesia, \- Led TA team hiring Engineering & Product talent across Jakarta, Singapore and Bengaluru\. \- Doubled headcount \(30→60\) in just 10 months, hitting critical product launch deadlines on time \- Extended scope beyond TA into People Ops and talent branding\.

## Education

Bachelor of Engineering \(B\.E\.\), Information Technology, Vinayaka Mission's Research Foundation \- University

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

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