Mohammad Arifulla Gori

Talent Acquisition leader with 5+ years building and scaling recruitment engines for high-growth EdTech and B2B startups. Promoted four times in under four years — from Talent Acquisition Associate to Executive, Specialist, and finally Associate Talent Acquisition Manager — on the strength of consistent delivery and leadership.

Built

NxtWave's entire TA function from scratch — sourcing, ATS/HRMS rollout, vendor management, onboarding, and employee experience — leading a 15-20 member recruiting team through the company's growth to 1,500+ employees within a year. Owns budget planning and quarterly workforce planning in collaboration with HODs and CXOs, runs finance audits to control cost and protect margins, and coaches/mentors team members through an HRBP lens. Delivered senior leadership hires (VP Sales, Head of Product Design, Sr HRBP) alongside Product Manager and SDE-II hiring critical to scaling, closing even niche and specialized roles within a lean TAT of ~7 working days.

Increasingly uses AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude) for JD creation, resume screening, candidate outreach, and hiring-closure strategy. Targeting a Talent Acquisition Manager / Lead role at ₹13 LPA.

Associate Talent Acquisition Manager (Tech & Non-Tech) at NxtWave (2022-05 – Present)

Career path: Talent Acquisition Associate → Talent Acquisition Executive → Talent Acquisition Specialist → Associate Talent Acquisition Manager. Signature achievement: Promoted four times in under four years, after building NxtWave's TA function from scratch and scaling the company to 1,500+ employees in a year with a peak 76% joining rate on offers exceeding ₹1 Cr.

• Led end-to-end Talent Acquisition for 17-20 departments spanning Tech & Non-Tech functions, managing a team of 15-20 recruiters and directly coaching 5-10 associates.
• Own budget planning for the entire TA team and drive quarter-wise workforce planning by collaborating with HODs and CXOs to forecast hiring needs against business growth.
• Conduct finance audits across TA spend, controlling cost leakage and improving overall profitability of the hiring function.
• Coach and mentor recruiters (HRBP function) — running performance reviews, monitoring progress, and resolving challenges across the team to strengthen retention and output.
• Built the vendor management process from the ground up: lead generation, rate negotiations, legal documentation and compliance audits, and structured 30/60/90-day performance monitoring across Naukri, Indeed, Instahyre, and recruitment agencies; led implementation of TurboHire to streamline the full recruitment workflow.
• Drove Product Manager and SDE-II hiring — roles critical to scaling the organization — while consistently closing niche and hard-to-fill positions within a lean TAT of ~7 working days.
• Lead onboarding and employee experience initiatives for new joiners, aligning HR, hiring managers, and BGV vendors to ensure smooth Day-1 readiness within TAT.
• Closed senior and leadership hires including VP Sales, Head of Product Design, SDE-II (CDE), Sr HRBP, Sr Community Manager, B2B Manager, TA Lead, HR Manager, and Program Manager.
• Delivered high-volume tech & non-tech hiring across Data Analyst, Data Engineer, SDE, Technical Content Developer, Community Manager, Business Operations Associate, and Sr Copywriter roles, with offers ranging ₹1.8-50 LPA.
• Designed and implemented TA processes and operations from the ground up, cutting offer closure TAT to 3-10 days.
• Use AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude) to accelerate JD writing, resume screening, candidate outreach, and hiring-closure strategy, improving recruiter throughput.
• Run monthly manpower forecasting and attrition analysis (HRBP function), identifying key exit drivers to inform retention strategy.
• Built and enhanced Employee Referral policies, increasing referral-driven hiring; organized ~100 interviews in a single day with a 2-3 member team.
• Improved employer branding, boosting company ratings on AmbitionBox and Glassdoor within a one-week turnaround.
• Own TA dashboards tracking sourcing platform effectiveness and recruiter productivity; manage candidate BGV closures within TAT via third-party vendors.
• Recognized as Employee of the Month for the highest joining rate (76%) on offers exceeding ₹1 Cr.

Business Developer at iB Hubs (2020-11 – 2022-04)

Startup Enablement Platform

• Shaped the business strategy for NxtWave's CCBP Intensive Program during its formative in-house incubation phase.
• Built a 2L+ (200,000+) learner community within 10 months through events, brand-awareness campaigns, and relationship-building with members and industry professionals.
• Tracked community feedback and online reviews to inform product and outreach decisions.
• Spent 6 months embedded with NxtWave to help establish its Talent Acquisition team from the ground up, laying the foundation for the TA career path that followed.

B.Tech in Integrated, 6-Yr – IIIT RK Valley (2020)