Indian Companies Join the Race for AI Talent as Technology's Power Grows

As AI's power becomes evident, Indian companies join race for talent

As the transformative power of artificial intelligence (AI) becomes evident across industries, companies in India are rushing to recruit talent that can use its tools to boost business. The demand for AI experts, in particular at the mid to senior levels, is now at an all-time high in the country and many professionals have multiple offers to choose from, recruitment services and search firms told ET. Pumped up by the demand, some executives are even seeking an up to 50% increase in salary as incentive to move to another company, said a talent search expert, adding that at the leadership level, the salary offers are even topping Rs 3 crore per annum. Others are being offered fractional leadership roles and flexible work arrangements. "Profiles like head of AI, head of data sciences and head of platform engineering are much in demand, and adding to this is the most recent head of Gen AI," said Jai Ballani, senior partner, Korn Ferry, a search firm that does leadership hiring across sectors. "Candidates for all these profiles have at least two-three offers at a time." Transearch, another search firm, is engaged with multiple mandates for the head of AI/ML & DS for early-stage SaaS and growth-stage unicorns. "There are some executives who are heading AI/ML/data sciences functions at leading tech companies drawing salaries of $1-2 million, including ESOPs/RSU," Ashish Sanganeria, senior partner at Transearch, told ET. In what can be read as a sign of the spiralling importance of AI, SAP Labs India recently announced the elevation of two of its executives to global AI roles--Rahul Lodhe as global head of engineering SAP Gen AI Copilot Joule, and Sudhakar Singh as the chief AI security officer. In April this year, Blackstone appointed Prakhar Mehrotra as head of AI. He was previously working with Walmart Global Tech, according to his LinkedIn profile. Chakradhara Panda, who was appointed as head of data and AI at Adani AI Labs, joined from Publicis Sapient in April this year, according to his LinkedIn profile. Mayank Verma was appointed as the global head of data and AI at Xebia. He was earlier with EY India. Another appointment was that of Anil Pawar as the chief AI officer of Yotta Data Services (data centre startup), part of real estate developer Hiranandani group, in April. According to Krishna Vij, business head - IT staffing at TeamLease Digital, the number of senior and leadership roles in AI in the country has doubled in the last one year. And with the demand not just coming from tech companies but from across industries, the chase for talent is only intensifying. At the mid-level, depending on experience, the annual salaries being offered range from Rs 30 lakh to almost Rs 1 crore, she said. Meanwhile, shortage of AI professionals is also compelling many headhunters and recruitment service firms to look overseas for talent, according to experts. Recruitment consultancy firm Michael Page India has some multinational clients who are recruiting for both traditional tech roles like developers/coders and contemporary skills like AI and cybersecurity, said its regional director, Pranshu Upadhyay. "But the candidates in the latter segment have 2x more offers as compared to the former. This is primarily driven by a huge gap in supply-demand for this profile," Upadhyay said. Due to a demand-supply mismatch, some firms have even started upskilling their tech workforce. "They are also making efforts to attract mid-/senior-level AI/cybersec candidates by offering higher joining bonuses and attractive retention plans," he said. At the leadership level, the talent demand is increasing. "In some of the large businesses, CAIO or AI heads could be reporting to chief digital officers, but will also have a direct line of reporting to the CEO," said Ratna Gupta, senior partner, ABC Consultants. "This is because their role impacts all facets of the organisation and cuts across all work areas." According to Vij of TeamLease Digital, the head of AI/data sciences is either a chief experience officer (CXO) or CXO-1-level hire and is slowly being recognised as a separate role altogether. "Mostly, this is a strategic role and the reporting in some cases is to the board directly," said Vij. Experts said AI leaders and senior talent are being sought by companies in cement production, IT products, consulting, tech, healthcare, retail, energy and manufacturing to gain a competitive edge. "While there are many professionals entering the AI field, the number of experienced senior executives with a deep understanding of AI, machine learning, and data science is relatively limited," said Ballani. Senior executives who can successfully integrate AI into business operations, drive innovation, and create value are seen as key assets, he said. But there are other tech positions that are gaining similar traction, such as chief information security officers (CISOs), data architects and cloud strategy/transformation leaders, according to experts. "CISOs are being increasingly sought after due to the growing concerns around cybersecurity threats, while data architects are needed for managing vast amounts of data being generated by AI systems," said Gupta of ABC. Although the demand for AI experts has been present for the last four to five years, it's accelerated only in the last 18 to 24 months. "The pandemic has played a key role in exponentially increasing the digital transformation across industries and, thereby, increasing the demand for AI expertise and the broader adoption of AI technologies across industries," said Gupta.

As AI's power becomes evident, Indian companies join race for talent

The demand for AI experts, in particular at the mid to senior levels, is now at an all-time high in the country and many professionals have multiple offers to choose from, recruitment services and search firms told ET. As the transformative power of artificial intelligence (AI) becomes evident across industries, companies in India are rushing to recruit talent that can use its tools to boost business. The demand for AI experts, in particular at the mid to senior levels, is now at an all-time high in the country and many professionals have multiple offers to choose from, recruitment services and search firms told ET. Pumped up by the demand, some executives are even seeking an up to 50% increase in salary as incentive to move to another company, said a talent search expert, adding that at the leadership level, the salary offers are even topping Rs 3 crore per annum. Others are being offered fractional leadership roles and flexible work arrangements. "Profiles like head of AI, head of data sciences and head of platform engineering are much in demand, and adding to this is the most recent head of Gen AI," said Jai Ballani, senior partner, Korn Ferry, a search firm that does leadership hiring across sectors. "Candidates for all these profiles have at least two-three offers at a time." Transearch, another search firm, is engaged with multiple mandates for the head of AI/ML & DS for early-stage SaaS and growth-stage unicorns. "There are some executives who are heading AI/ML/data sciences functions at leading tech companies drawing salaries of $1-2 million, including ESOPs/RSU," Ashish Sanganeria, senior partner at Transearch, told ET. In what can be read as a sign of the spiralling importance of AI, SAP Labs India recently announced the elevation of two of its executives to global AI roles--Rahul Lodhe as global head of engineering SAP Gen AI Copilot Joule, and Sudhakar Singh as the chief AI security officer. In April this year, Blackstone appointed Prakhar Mehrotra as head of AI. He was previously working with Walmart Global Tech, according to his LinkedIn profile. Chakradhara Panda, who was appointed as head of data and AI at Adani AI Labs, joined from Publicis Sapient in April this year, according to his LinkedIn profile. Mayank Verma was appointed as the global head of data and AI at Xebia. He was earlier with EY India. Another appointment was that of Anil Pawar as the chief AI officer of Yotta Data Services (data centre startup), part of real estate developer Hiranandani group, in April. According to Krishna Vij, business head - IT staffing at TeamLease Digital, the number of senior and leadership roles in AI in the country has doubled in the last one year. And with the demand not just coming from tech companies but from across industries, the chase for talent is only intensifying. At the mid-level, depending on experience, the annual salaries being offered range from Rs 30 lakh to almost Rs 1 crore, she said. Meanwhile, shortage of AI professionals is also compelling many headhunters and recruitment service firms to look overseas for talent, according to experts. Recruitment consultancy firm Michael Page India has some multinational clients who are recruiting for both traditional tech roles like developers/coders and contemporary skills like AI and cybersecurity, said its regional director, Pranshu Upadhyay. "But the candidates in the latter segment have 2x more offers as compared to the former. This is primarily driven by a huge gap in supply-demand for this profile," Upadhyay said. Due to a demand-supply mismatch, some firms have even started upskilling their tech workforce. "They are also making efforts to attract mid-/senior-level AI/cybersec candidates by offering higher joining bonuses and attractive retention plans," he said. At the leadership level, the talent demand is increasing. "In some of the large businesses, CAIO or AI heads could be reporting to chief digital officers, but will also have a direct line of reporting to the CEO," said Ratna Gupta, senior partner, ABC Consultants. "This is because their role impacts all facets of the organisation and cuts across all work areas." According to Vij of TeamLease Digital, the head of AI/data sciences is either a chief experience officer (CXO) or CXO-1-level hire and is slowly being recognised as a separate role altogether. "Mostly, this is a strategic role and the reporting in some cases is to the board directly," said Vij. Experts said AI leaders and senior talent are being sought by companies in cement production, IT products, consulting, tech, healthcare, retail, energy and manufacturing to gain a competitive edge. "While there are many professionals entering the AI field, the number of experienced senior executives with a deep understanding of AI, machine learning, and data science is relatively limited," said Ballani. Senior executives who can successfully integrate AI into business operations, drive innovation, and create value are seen as key assets, he said. But there are other tech positions that are gaining similar traction, such as chief information security officers (CISOs), data architects and cloud strategy/transformation leaders, according to experts. "CISOs are being increasingly sought after due to the growing concerns around cybersecurity threats, while data architects are needed for managing vast amounts of data being generated by AI systems," said Gupta of ABC. Although the demand for AI experts has been present for the last four to five years, it's accelerated only in the last 18 to 24 months. "The pandemic has played a key role in exponentially increasing the digital transformation across industries and, thereby, increasing the demand for AI expertise and the broader adoption of AI technologies across industries," said Gupta.