R&D Talent Strategy & Acquisition at Atlan.
I build high-performing teams and the tools that make hiring for great repeatable.
Author of Raising the Bar.
Organizations I've scaled
About
As Director of Talent Acquisition at Atlan, I own Global R&D Talent Strategy & Acquisition for Engineering, Product Management, Design, IT, and Security at the active metadata platform that serves as the missing context layer for enterprise data and AI teams. Over 20+ years I've built and scaled TA functions across APAC, North America, and Europe.
What makes me different: I also build the tools my team uses. Evaluation frameworks that run as AI agents. Native macOS widgets for API usage tracking. Cloudflare Workers that generate personalized offer experiences. All open source, all built with AI. I wrote Raising the Bar, a playbook for recruiters, TA leaders, and executives who want to build teams that compound strength through every hire.
Experience
Atlan · The Missing Context Layer for Data & AI
ZTek Consulting · Global Talent & RPO Services
InfoCepts · Data & Analytics Services
GreyOrange · Robotics & Automation
ZTek Consulting · UST · Agency & In-House Roles
Projects
Tools I built to solve problems my team faced daily. All shipped, all built with AI.
Native macOS widget showing Claude API usage at a glance. No more hitting rate limits mid-conversation.
My hiring judgment, encoded as software. Self-calibrating evaluation system that keeps every interview decision consistent and auditable.
AI-generated personalized offer pages that turn a transactional moment into a memorable one. ~$0.006 per candidate, fully automated.
Every hire raises or lowers the bar. There is no neutral. Introduces the Talent Density framework, a system for ensuring every hire compounds team strength rather than diluting it.
Expertise
I build R&D organizations from scratch, defining role structures, capability maps, and hiring sequences tied to product and technology roadmaps. Scaled teams across 10+ countries, from early-stage (50-person eng) to enterprise (200+ headcount).
Strategic advisor to founders, C-suite, and HR leaders on talent investment, hiring models, and org capability gaps. I design talent operating models (intake rigor, structured evaluation, governance) that compress cycle times by 40% without compromising quality or candidate experience.
I design and ship production tools using AI as my engineering partner: evaluation frameworks, AI-generated offer experiences, and developer-grade monitoring widgets. All open source. This is what happens when a TA leader can also build.
What others say
"One of the rare TA leaders who doesn't just recruit for the business — he influences how leadership thinks about talent as a competitive lever."
"Instrumental in the best executive level hires that helped us scale rapidly."
"I've worked with many recruiters, but Rishi is clearly one of the best. He takes the time to study the specifics. As a candidate, talking to him is as if you are chatting with an experienced colleague."
Education & Certifications
IIM Nagpur — Indian Institute of Management
Executive education in strategic HR: workforce planning, talent analytics, organizational design, and HR as a business function.
Industry Credentials
If anything here resonated, or you just want to talk talent, AI, or building, drop me a line.