Sr. Director / AVP- People & Culture

About the Role: MobiKwik is looking for a Sr. Director/AVP – People & Culture to own the full talent lifecycle for the organization — hiring, talent management, succession, culture, and workforce planning. This is a high-visibility role that combines strategic talent programs with hands-on hiring and development rigor, working closely with business leaders, the Head HR, and cross-functional stakeholders to build a high-performing talent engine for a listed fintech. Key Responsibilities • Own the end-to-end talent strategy for the organization — from annual and quarterly manpower planning (headcount budgeting, org charts, cost forecasting) to translating business roadmaps into proactive hiring and capability-building plans. • Build a talent pipeline architecture spanning lateral, leadership, campus, and gig hiring, while simultaneously building succession pipelines and individual development plans for critical roles — ensuring the organization is staffed and future-ready in tandem. • Track budgeted vs. actual headcount, hiring velocity, bench strength, and attrition trends, recommending course corrections to leadership across both hiring and retention levers. • Design and own the TA strategy — sourcing philosophy, assessment frameworks, channel mix, and candidate experience — and personally lead critical and leadership hiring (CXO-1 roles, rare technical profiles, confidential searches). • Build deep talent networks across fintech, payments, engineering, and product; manage executive search and recruitment vendor relationships with clear briefs and milestone-based SLAs. • Standardize interview and selection frameworks — competency libraries, scorecards, structured assessments — used consistently across hiring, performance, and talent review cycles. • Design and drive the end-to-end talent management calendar — performance management, talent reviews, succession planning, and career/leadership development frameworks. • Build and institutionalize talent identification frameworks (9-box, high-potential programs), competency frameworks, career architecture, and job levelling/grading structures. • Partner with business leaders on succession pipelines, talent reviews, and individual development plans for key and critical positions. • Drive culture-building and employee engagement initiatives — engagement surveys, action planning, and change management programs. • Own and implement MobiKwik's DEI strategy across both hiring and talent development, setting representation goals and auditing processes for bias. • Define and activate MobiKwik's Employee Value Proposition (EVP) across LinkedIn, Glassdoor, campus, and community channels with authentic, data-backed content. • Own the talent function's budget end-to-end, tracking and reducing cost-per-hire while maximizing direct-sourcing ratios; present regular cost, ROI, and talent analytics — bench strength, attrition risk, pipeline health, time-to-fill, quality-of-hire — to leadership. • Lead modernization of the talent function through AI and automation — intelligent sourcing, automated screening/scheduling, real-time dashboards — owning the ATS and broader talent tech stack. • Lead, mentor, and build capability across the talent team, establishing structured L&D paths and a high-performance, candidate-first and development-first culture. Candidate Requirements • Experience: 16+ years of progressive HR experience across the full talent lifecycle — hiring, talent management, succession planning, and workforce/manpower planning — including at least 5-7 years in a senior talent leadership role at a fast-growing startup, new-age fintech, or high-scale technology company (1,000–2,000+ employees, high-velocity hiring); fintech, BFSI, or a listed/high-growth startup environment preferred. • Education: MBA/PGDM in Human Resources or equivalent from a reputed institute. • Domain Expertise: Deep expertise spanning technology, product, and leadership hiring; performance management systems; competency and career architecture frameworks; and HRIS/ATS platforms (Darwinbox or equivalent). • DEI: Prior ownership of DEI programmes — across hiring and talent development — with measurable representation outcomes. • Stakeholder Management: Proven ability to partner with CXOs, founders, and senior business leaders, and to operate independently in an ambiguous, fast-paced environment. • Analytical Ability: Hands-on experience managing budgets and presenting cost-per-hire, ROI, and talent analytics to senior leadership; advanced Excel/PowerPoint skills. • Automation & AI Orientation: Demonstrated experience implementing AI, automation, or data systems across the talent workflow — a delivered outcome, not a wish-list item. • Leadership & Mindset: Hands-on, player-coach leadership style with high ownership and bias for speed; data-led decision-making; a sharp communicator with candidates, employees, vendors, and founders alike; resilient and adaptive in ambiguous, fast-paced environments; experience building capability across generalist and specialist talent teams.