Scaler, a Bengaluru-based edtech start-up for upskilling students and working professionals, announced the expansion of its leadership team with two key appointments, further strengthening its People and Culture Practice and Data analytics unit.
Akshay Raje, a 18+ year veteran in HR and People function, joins as Head of People & Culture, while Kashif Kudalkar, with more than 15 years of experience in analytics, Data Systems + Automation + Applied ML will be leading the Data & Analytics unit of Scaler.
Elaborating on the leadership hires, Abhimanyu Saxena, Co-founder, Scaler and InterviewBit, said, “In our continued efforts towards tackling the skill gap in the tech industry, we are delighted to onboard two brilliant minds who earnestly believe in Scaler’s objective. I am proud that the appointments of Akshay Raje and Kashif Kudalkar demonstrate Scaler’s commitment to career progression. The experience that both these leaders bring on board in terms of data analytics and People Management would help us accelerate our next phase of growth.”
Akshay Raje, who joins as the Head of People & Culture, said, “Scaler is in a unique position to make a significant impact on upskilling the tech talent in India. In the months ahead, our primary focus will be on transforming Scaler into a talent magnet to support the growth trajectory that we’re in. Scaler has an amazing organisational culture, and part of my mandate is to retain this close-knit culture even while we’re growing at this speed. In addition, to support this scale of business growth, I will also be working towards formalising processes and providing extensive support scaling up people operations.”
Speaking on his new role, Kashif Kudalkar, Head of Data & Analytics, said, “Scaler has a very strong ‘why’ – a powerful purpose. It emanates from the founders Abhimanyu and Anshuman and runs throughout the company’s culture, reflecting how the firm conducts business. The outcome-based focus of the company and its DS/ML cohorts is unparalleled and growing at an amazing rate. My role here will allow me to contribute to the growth and success of Scaler by building systems and processes which will lead to organisation-wide democratisation of data. The initial goal is to get the people, policies, procedures and processes in place, as they are the building blocks of setting up a data-driven ecosystem.”
Akshay is a seasoned professional with over 18 years of experience in leading people functions and tech teams in large organisations and start-ups. He started his professional journey with Asian Paints, followed by CitiGroup, and eventually spent a large part of his career with Ernst & Young (EY) in a central HR role and the People & Organization consulting team. He has led people organisation at multiple start-ups like Fab.com, Pepo and OST while also leading the tech teams at OST and WordLift.
Kashif boasts of over 15 years of experience, serving multiple roles, including General Manager & Head – Marketing & Consumer Analytics, Digital Marketing & Analytics Consultant, and Assistant Vice President of Marketing, among others. He has headed Marketing & Consumer Analytics for Times Professional Learning (Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd) and led the Digital Marketing & Analytics team at Eureka Forbes Ltd. for over six years. Kashif’s expertise lies in Data & Analytics, including measurement, automation, data systems and applied machine learning.
Scaler has seen significant growth over the last few years. With over 1000 employees, another 1000 mentors + teaching assistants, and a learner base of more than 15,000 software engineers, the platform is aggressively working towards bridging the tech talent gap in India. Scaler runs India’s largest active online tech community on Discord with a whopping 100,000 members and has become the preferred choice of tech enthusiasts to share their knowledge, collaborate for projects, share memes + job opportunities and discuss everything about technology. They recently raised Series B funding of 55 million USD from Sequoia Capital India, Tiger Global, and Lightrock India. The young edtech brand is currently valued at USD 710 million.
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