Biraja Patnaik

Global Talent Acquisition leader with 16+ years of experience building and scaling high-performance recruiting and talent management functions across complex, matrixed global organizations. Proven success leading teams of 9-14 recruiters, delivering~600+ annual hires, and driving talent programs aligned with business growth. Expert in leveraging data-driven insights, strong stakeholder partnerships, and continuous improvement mindset, optimizing ATS and HRIS technologies, and partnering with CHRO, CEO, Board / investor exposure, CXOs across India, APAC, EMEA, and US to enhance talent strategy and operational excellence.

Specialized in building TA functions for global software product and services organizations.

Global Leader – Talent Acquisition at Newage Software (2021-03 – 2026-03)

• Owned end-to-end sales & leadership recruitment for senior account management, revenue-critical business leadership, and P&L roles across cloud, Artificial Intelligence, digital, data, and platform-led IT product & services.
• Owned end-to-end talent acquisition strategy as the lead TA expert, driving high-volume recruitment and bulk hiring aligned with business growth and workforce plans.
• Recruited, onboarded, and led a team of 9 recruiters, partnering closely with distributed business stakeholders.
• Defined and implemented Service Level Agreements (SLA), operating models, and structures to deliver the talent agenda across multiple geographies.
• Designed role specifications, organizational structures, career ladders, and RACIs that translated business needs into clear, hirable profiles and headcount plans.
• Led head-hunting and competitor market mapping for confidential, revenue-critical leadership roles.
• Implemented AI-enabled recruitment by creating AI-enhanced job descriptions and automated multi-channel posting workflows, improving hiring speed, quality, and reducing manual sourcing effort.
• Established a structured approach to accountabilities, goal setting, and performance reviews, ensuring delivery, recognition of high performance, and timely course correction.
• Designed end-to-end screening and assessment ecosystems to evaluate skills, judgment, and transferable experience beyond traditional resumes.
• Captured hiring research, decision frameworks, and process logic, leveraging AI tools to rapidly produce high-quality drafts, alternative versions, and insights at scale.
• Used post-hire performance and retention data as feedback signals to iteratively improve role design, assessment methods, and talent pipelines.
• Led executive search and confidential leadership hiring initiatives, personally owning a few leadership roles at any time.
• Built proactive leadership pipelines for succession planning and future growth, partnering with business heads on capability planning.
• Implemented, managed, and optimized ATS, recruiting software, LinkedIn Recruiter, and HR technologies in partnership with IT and HR to enhance recruitment efficiency.
• Tracked time-to-hire, quality-of-hire, closure ratios, pipeline health, and DEI for senior sales and leadership roles, reducing time-to-hire by 42%.
• Published executive dashboards and metrics to measure impact of talent initiatives and inform strategic decisions for business leaders.
• Key Results: Time-to-hire 42% | Quality-of-hire 35% | Cost-per-hire 20% | 90%+ first-year retention | DEI representation 30% YoY

Head of Talent Acquisition at QuickRide (2019-02 – 2021-02)

• Built and led the TA function during rapid scale-up in a matrixed startup environment.
• Managed 20 to 25 open roles across product, engineering, including senior sales leadership roles (Head of Sales, regional leaders)
• Led senior role searches personally (Director/Head level) including market mapping, target company identification, and first-round screening.
• Drove offer strategy, negotiation, and closure for senior sales and business leadership positions.
• Advised founders on workforce strategy, leadership trade-offs, and capability planning.
• Established structured interview frameworks, hiring governance, and vendor management processes.
• Strengthened candidate engagement, employer branding, and EVP positioning.
• Impact: Offer acceptance 23% | Faster closure of senior & niche roles | Improved candidate experience

Head of Talent Acquisition at Velankani Software (2017-07 – 2019-01)

• Managed enterprise hiring across multiple business units in global software services organization with matrixed structure.
• Drove hands-on sourcing and screening for 40-50 requisitions across multiple regions, maintaining tight SLAs.
• Personally interviewed 10-15 candidates per week to maintain quality control and provide coaching to hiring teams.
• Coordinated directly with business leaders on priority roles, daily shortlist reviews, and accelerated interview loops.
• Optimized ATS utilization, recruitment workflows, and vendor management to improve efficiency and cost effectiveness.

Manager – Talent Acquisition & HRBP at Reliance Jio (2015-06 – 2017-06)

• Supported large-scale national expansion hiring in large, complex, matrixed global organization.
• Delivered sales, technology, and operational leadership hiring aligned to aggressive growth targets.
• Partnered with business leaders on manpower planning, workforce forecasting, and organizational design.
• Built scalable recruitment operations and vendor governance during hyper-growth phase.
• Collaborated with HR Centers of Expertise on talent management programs and performance initiatives.

Manager – Talent Acquisition at Mutual Mobile (2011-02 – 2015-05)

• Led senior technology and leadership hiring across India and US in matrixed global digital product agency.
• Built niche pipelines for hard-to-hire engineering talent through innovative sourcing strategies.
• Strengthened proactive sourcing capability and executive search processes.
• Partnered with global stakeholders to align talent strategy with business expansion.

MBA – Berhampur University

PGDHRD – NIHRD Chennai