I'm Varun!
I bring 7+ years of experience sourcing, identifying, and evaluating top 1% top STEM talent (scientists, researchers, and engineers) so that you can assemble an A-team for your vision. I have helped frontier AI research labs like FAR.AI, UK AISI, and many others find the right person for their job. If this aligns with your vision, let's talk! Or check out my projects in more detail below!
Hiring - Talent Identification Advisor
I am looking for professionals with a basic understanding of AI Safety to help us identify and connect with world-class STEM talent in their regions for advancing research on safe and aligned AI systems.
For a detailed job description, please see here.
If you are interested in this role, please fill out the form below and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
My Projects
Experience
Impact Academy
Head of Talent & Technical Recruiting (Co-CEO since Jun 2025)
Singapore / India
- Scaled a from-scratch fellowship funnel to 4,200 warm ML, SWE, Quant candidates across 5 continents, sourcing >98th percentile candidates for 13 partner labs (e.g. Anthropic, the UK AISI, and FAR.AI).
- Enabled 45+ hires and 5 funded research PhD offers till now; currently in conversation with 30+ partners spanning leading AI labs, startups, research institutions and academic labs.
- Directed a 30-person distributed team with real-time funnel analytics, slashing time-to-offer 65 → 30 days and cost-per-hire 27% for the program, while owning board-level reporting and due diligence.
Impact Academy
VP of Talent and Program Director
Singapore / India
- Developed data-driven global talent strategy: ranked 150 countries on custom STEM/AI infrastructure index, pioneered "Talent Identification Advisor" model with 31 experts generating 12% of high-signal applications, and executed geo-targeted campaigns achieving 2.3x increase in qualified leads at 30% lower cost-per-acquisition.
Secure AI Futures Lab
Co-founder
New Delhi, India
- SAFL is a dedicated node in India for advancing research talent around the safe and beneficial development and deployment of advanced AI systems. SAFL is currently based in New Delhi, India with plans to expand to other hubs in the APAC region.
India AI Safety Initiative
Founder & Campus Recruiter
New Delhi, India
- Led India's first Alignment Research Fellowship with $65k funding: recruited 600+ applicants from 40+ universities, selected 24 top candidates (4% acceptance rate) resulting in 10 publications, and managed campus recruiting for 3 programs that evaluated 1000+ STEM students, with 5 now pursuing research at leading AI labs.
Talent Consultancy Projects
Senior Recruitment Consultant
New Delhi, India
- Led talent recruitment operations for Atlas Fellowship India: managed 15-member team to connect with 60,000 students across 8,000 schools, sourcing 20 candidates with 5 selected; additionally supported UK operations and reviewed 500+ high-impact pitches for Future Forum.
JPAL - City University of New York (CUNY)
Senior Operations Manager
India / US
- Built recruiting ops for research associates; led Health & Well-Being vertical sourcing, converting 31 interns to researchers (35% of annual hiring).
India / UK
- Founded a digital literacy nonprofit training 53 underprivileged students in ITeS services for back-office employment across India.