Vahan

Why this role matters At Vahan, we’re helping 300M+ blue-collar workers in India find jobs. Over time, we want to become the center of all money and financial needs for blue-collar workers. We’re a Y Combinator company that is backed by marquee investors such as Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund and Temasek. Several executives from Google and Flipkart are also investors in the company. Vahan’s platform already helps thousands of blue-collar workers land better jobs every month. As Director of Product you’ll take that impact from 10 → 100, turning bold ideas into products that millions rely on daily. This is a highly entrepreneurial position reporting directly to the CEO and will require you to assume a number of different roles. What you’ll do Co-own (with the CEO) the product vision & roadmap and tie every release to a clear business or user win. Talk to users every week — blue-collar workers, recruiters, employers — and turn insights into quick, iterative launches. Build and coach a small but mighty team of PMs, designers and data folks. Get your hands dirty often in order to show, not tell; be an IC, not just a manager. Work shoulder-to-shoulder with Engineering and Operations teams to reach revenue, retention and NPS goals. Balance scrappy shipping with long-term architecture: get MVPs out fast, then polish what sticks. Must-haves Builder’s mindset — you’ve launched 0-to-1 products and scaled them fast. Obsession with your craft; ability to build deep empathy for your users. Deep sense of curiosity with the ability to ‘drink from the firehose’. Clear, candid communication; you align cross-functional teams with ease. 8+ years in product, with experience leading a small team of PMs. Should-haves Experience coaching or growing people who’ve worked for you. Proven track record of growing a product 10X or more. Hands-on exposure to operationally intensive marketplaces. Early-stage startup or founder background. Nice-to-haves Built for “Bharat” / next-billion users before. Experience building AI / ML based products. Why you’ll love working with us Real-world impact on 300M+ workers’ livelihoods. Unlimited PTO plus two wellness days a month. Competitive salary, bonus and meaningful equity. Comprehensive health cover for you and your dependents. About the founder Madhav Krishna is the Founder & CEO of Vahan.ai. He has a background in AI and machine learning, with a Master’s in Artificial Intelligence from Columbia University and a B.Tech from NSIT Delhi. Before starting Vahan, he worked with technology startups in the US, including Jetsetter and NextJump, and later returned to India to build technology for large-scale social and economic impact. At Vahan, Madhav is focused on using AI to help millions of blue-collar and gig workers access better livelihood opportunities, while helping businesses hire at scale more efficiently. Madhav was named a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum in 2022 and was recently named as one of the top leaders determining the future of AI in India by MIT Sloan Management Review. Ready to build? Apply here and in one short paragraph, tell us why this mission matters to you.

We’re seeking a Lead Product Designer in Bangalore, India, to drive design initiatives from inception through execution. We are changing the way low-skilled workers discover and apply for jobs and you will help us to continue to push the boundaries of what is possible. You’ll help lead and define the product experience across all touch points, partnering with product management, operations, research, and engineering to make sure that we continue to lead and innovate in this space. This is a role for a creative individual with a high degree of user empathy, excellent aesthetic judgment and willingness to collaborate within a team environment. This is also a highly entrepreneurial position reporting directly to the Head of Product and will require you to wear different hats if and when required. Please note that your final level/title will be determined throughout the interview process. Requirements You are an overall product design expert with deep expertise spanning web and and mobile. You are obsessed with getting under the user’s skin and solving their problems through innovations in product and design. 5-8 years of experience in fast-paced environments Experience leading a team of gifted designers Skilled storyteller with experience working in a multidisciplinary environment to develop concepts that delight users and deliver business results Possess the ability to implement strategic and conceptual thinking as well A compelling portfolio of work that demonstrates high-quality design work that also tells a story that you are a deep design thinker Strong information presentation (visual and written) skills Experience with Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and Sketch Responsibilities Design simple, elegant, data-driven, user-centric experiences that delight users Define the user experience, interactions, and user interface through user flows, information architecture, sketches and wireframes, and visual design Build functional prototypes to validate and test your designs Participate in user research and testing Help shape the product strategy and vision Look for opportunities to solve problems in unique and innovative ways Help maintain visual and brand consistency between all products and outlets Collaborate with stakeholders to translate business goals into unique product experiences Manage and grow the design team Why you’ll LOVE this job We’re a small team that enjoys working hard, getting a lot done and having fun. Not to mention that you’ll get to work on a product that is making a profoundly positive impact on people’s lives. We also provide an outstanding training ground for aspiring entrepreneurs. We can promise: Our co-workers are a close-knit, intelligent, and motivated team. We care about you. We offer competitive health insurance for employees and their dependents. Unlimited PTO so you can take the time you need to rejuvenate. You’ll love where you work. We have a bright and modern collaborative office space located in the heart of HSR Layout, Bangalore’s most happening neighborhood!

Vahan.ai is building an AI recruiter for India’s massive blue-collar workforce. Our mission is to bring earning opportunities to 1 billion people over the next 10 years. Today, we help lakhs of workers find jobs across categories like quick commerce, logistics, mobility, warehousing, and more. We are looking for a Senior Product Manager to build a 10x job-seeking experience for blue-collar workers in India. This person will own the worker-facing product experience across WhatsApp, voice, app, and other channels — helping workers discover the right jobs, apply easily, get guided through onboarding, and eventually access opportunities beyond jobs. The blue-collar worker is our North Star, and we want our AI Recruiter to become the best way for a worker in India to find a job. What you’ll do You will deeply understand blue-collar workers — their motivations, anxieties, constraints, language preferences, digital behavior, and trust barriers — and translate those insights into simple, scalable product experiences. You will work closely with engineering, design, AI, operations, and business teams to build products that improve job discovery, application completion, onboarding, worker engagement, and long-term retention. You will also help shape how the AI Recruiter evolves from a job-finding assistant into a broader life-improvement platform for workers. Responsibilities Own the worker-facing product roadmap across job discovery, applications, onboarding, engagement, and retention. Build intuitive experiences for users who may be low-trust, low-literacy, mobile-first, and language-diverse. Use data, user research, field insights, and experimentation to identify the biggest friction points in the worker journey. Partner with AI and engineering teams to build conversational experiences across WhatsApp, voice, and app. Define product metrics and drive measurable improvements in activation, application completion, job matching, placement, and retention. Work closely with operations and business teams to understand ground realities and convert them into scalable product solutions. Run fast experiments and build simple, high-impact products with strong product judgment. What we’re looking for 6–8 years of product management experience, preferably in consumer, marketplace, fintech, edtech, mobility, jobs, or AI products. Strong user empathy, especially for underserved or mass-market (‘Bharat’) Indian users. Ability to simplify complex workflows into intuitive product experiences. Strong analytical ability and comfort with funnel metrics, experimentation, and data-backed decision-making. Experience working with cross-functional teams across engineering, design, operations, and business. High ownership, strong execution, and comfort operating in ambiguity. Bonus: experience building for Bharat users, WhatsApp-first products, voice products, AI agents, or labor/commerce marketplaces. Why this role matters If we get this right, Vahan’s AI Recruiter can become the default way for India’s blue-collar workforce to find jobs — and over time, a gateway to financial services, upskilling, healthcare, government services, and more. This is an opportunity to build for millions of workers and create a product that can meaningfully improve their lives. About the founder Madhav Krishna is the Founder & CEO of Vahan.ai. He has a background in AI and machine learning, with a Master’s in Artificial Intelligence from Columbia University and a B.Tech from NSIT Delhi. Before starting Vahan, he worked with technology startups in the US, including Jetsetter and NextJump, and later returned to India to build technology for large-scale social and economic impact. At Vahan, Madhav is focused on using AI to help millions of blue-collar and gig workers access better livelihood opportunities, while helping businesses hire at scale more efficiently. Madhav was named a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum in 2022 and was recently named as one of the top lea

Vahan is India's largest AI-powered recruitment platform for blue-collar workers — backed by Y Combinator, Khosla Ventures, Temasek, and Bharti Airtel. We help companies like Swiggy, Zomato, Rapido, and Zepto hire at scale using AI and automation. Our mission is to connect 300 million blue-collar workers to economic opportunity, and we're just getting started. We're looking for a Senior Backend Engineer who wants to own critical systems end to end — not just ship features, but drive technical direction, fix real scale problems, and raise the engineering bar across the team. What you'll do Own the design, evolution, and reliability of high-impact backend systems — from architecture through production support Drive high-level and low-level system design with a focus on scalability, correctness, and long-term maintainability Diagnose and resolve database bottlenecks in PostgreSQL; optimize schemas, queries, indexes, and data access patterns Design and operate real-time and batch analytics pipelines (ClickHouse or equivalent) Improve code quality through design reviews, code reviews, and hands-on refactoring — and introduce patterns that prevent recurring issues Own production incidents end to end: resolution, post-mortems, and long-term reduction in operational load Mentor engineers across teams and influence technical direction through reasoning and example What we're looking for 7+ years of backend engineering experience with strong expertise in Node.js Deep experience with PostgreSQL, including performance tuning Track record designing and operating distributed systems in production Experience with RabbitMQ or similar messaging systems (strong plus) Hands-on exposure to ClickHouse or large-scale analytics systems (strong plus) AWS deployment and operations experience (plus) Strong debugging, observability, and production reliability instincts Someone who improves messy systems incrementally, thinks in trade-offs, and influences without authority What we offer Competitive pay · Unlimited PTO · Comprehensive medical insurance · Monthly wellness leaves