Varaha is a global, leading, climate tech venture focused on carbon removal solutions such as - regenerative agriculture, afforestation, biochar, and enhanced rock weathering - that support smallholder land stewards at scale. In just the third year of operation, we are removing and avoiding more than 1 million tons of CO2 and distributing the majority of the revenues to more than 100,000 smallholder land stewards in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Backed by leading global investors, our founding and management team comes with a stellar track record of successfully scaling projects and products to millions of smallholder land stewards at leading Agriculture and tech businesses.
Position: Head of Human Resources
Location: Gurgaon, Haryana
Role Overview
As the Head of Human Resources, you will lead Varaha's people and culture agenda, partnering closely with the CEO and leadership team to build a high-performing, purpose-driven, and inclusive organization. You will be responsible for shaping and executing a scalable people strategy aligned with Varaha's mission, rapid growth, and sustainability goals. The role combines strategic leadership with hands-on execution across talent, culture, digital HR, total rewards, and organizational development in a multi-geography environment.
Key Responsibilities
- Strategic People & Culture Leadership
- Partner with the CEO and senior leadership to define and implement a people strategy aligned with business, impact, and growth objectives.
- Translate organizational priorities into actionable workforce and talent plans.
- Represent people and culture priorities in leadership, Board, and investor discussions.
- HR Digital Transformation & Analytics
- Lead the adoption of modern HR technologies, including AI-enabled recruitment, automation, and people analytics.
- Build a data-driven HR function to support workforce planning, talent decisions, and employee experience.
- Drive digitization of HR processes to improve efficiency, scalability, and transparency.
- Organizational Design & Workforce Planning
- Design and evolve organizational structures to support scale across geographies.
- Lead workforce planning, succession planning, and capability development initiatives.
- Drive change management efforts during periods of growth and transformation.
- Culture, Well-being & Employee Experience
- Build a strong culture rooted in purpose, performance, trust, and sustainability.
- Design employee well-being initiatives covering mental health, flexibility, and work-life balance.
- Oversee the end-to-end employee lifecycle, ensuring a consistent and engaging experience from onboarding to exit.
- Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI)
- Champion DEI across hiring, development, leadership, and workplace practices.
- Establish measurable DEI goals, policies, and learning programs to promote inclusive leadership.
- Embed fairness, transparency, and equity across all people processes.
- Talent, Reskilling & Leadership Development
- Lead talent acquisition strategies to attract mission-aligned, high-performing talent.
- Build reskilling and upskilling programs to support evolving business and technology needs.
- Develop leadership frameworks, succession plans, and mentoring initiatives.
- Hybrid & Remote Work Enablement
- Define policies and practices that support effective hybrid and remote work.
- Strengthen engagement, collaboration, and accountability in distributed teams.
- Implement tools and processes for virtual onboarding, communication, and team effectiveness.
- Compensation, Total Rewards & Performance
- Design and govern compensation and total rewards frameworks aligned with Varaha's values and growth strategy.
- Ensure competitive, equitable, and compliant pay structures, including fixed pay, variable pay, bonuses, and ESOPs.
- Build performance management and reward systems that drive accountability, innovation, and impact.
- Compliance & Ethical Governance
- Ensure compliance with local and global labor laws, policies, and ethical standards.
- Promote transparency, integrity, and data privacy across HR practices.
- Act as a steward of ethical workplace conduct and employee trust.
Qualifications & Experience
- Master's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field (preferred).
- 1215 years of progressive HR experience, with at least 5 years in a senior leadership role.
- Proven experience building and scaling HR functions in high-growth, multi-location, or mission-driven organizations.
- Strong expertise in organizational design, digital HR, DEI, total rewards, and talent development.
- Excellent leadership, stakeholder management, and communication skills.
- Experience in climate-tech, sustainability, or start-up environments is an advantage.
What We Offer
- A strategic leadership role in one of the fastest-growing global climate-tech ventures.
- Competitive executive compensation, ESOPs, and comprehensive benefits.
- Opportunity to shape a people-first organization driving measurable climate and social impact.
- Culture of collaboration, innovation, and purpose.
- Access to global learning, professional development, and leadership growth opportunities.
