Varaha - Head - Human Resources

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).
- 12-15 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.