Senior Director - People & Culture

About the Role:

MobiKwik is looking for a Senior Director - 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 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.

- Track budgeted vs. actual headcount, hiring velocity, bench strength, and attrition trends, recommending course corrections to leadership.

- Design and own the TA strategy - sourcing philosophy, assessment frameworks, channel mix, and candidate experience - and personally lead critical and leadership hiring.

- Build deep talent networks across fintech, payments, engineering, and product; manage executive search and recruitment vendor relationships.

- 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, 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 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.

- 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.

- 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.

- 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.