Head of People

About the Company

Adalat AI is building an end-to-end justice tech stack that automates manual and clerical pain points in courtrooms, giving judges back time to focus on what matters most: decision-making and delivering justice. Our solutions - from AI-powered transcription in Indian languages to case-flow management and document navigation - are now deployed across 9 states, covering nearly 20% of India’s judiciary. Backed by leading technology companies and funders, and incubated at MIT and Oxford, Adalat AI is working to eliminate judicial delays and expand access to timely justice. Founded by a team with backgrounds in law, technology, and economics from Harvard, Oxford, MIT, and IIIT Hyderabad, we are scaling rapidly across India and the Global South.

Role Overview

We've grown from a small founding team to a ~50-person organisation spanning engineering, AI/ML, legal, operations, and the founder's office. That growth has been fast, intentional, and largely culture-led. But we've reached the scale where a part-time, ad hoc approach to people and culture isn't enough.

We need someone who can build the people function from scratch, with the sophistication of a seasoned HR executive and the scrappiness of someone who's comfortable being the first dedicated people leader in the room. The incoming CPO will inherit a strong culture and a motivated team, and will need to scale it without losing what makes Adalat special.

Key Responsibilities

People Strategy & Org Design

Partner with the co-founders to design the org architecture for the next phase of growth (50 → 100+ people)
Develop a people roadmap aligned with Adalat's mission and multi-year expansion plans
Build and maintain compensation frameworks, levelling structures, and career ladders across all functions

Talent Acquisition

Own the end-to-end hiring process — from employer brand and sourcing to offer and onboarding
Work with hiring managers (CTO, HoE, team leads) to build and maintain an active pipeline across engineering, ML, legal, and operations roles
Establish structured, bias-aware interview processes across the org
Drive Adalat's positioning as a destination employer for mission-driven talent

Culture & Employee Experience

Be the steward of Adalat's culture — understand it deeply, name it explicitly, and protect it as we scale
Design and run performance management processes (calibration, feedback cycles, growth conversations) that are lightweight but rigorous
Lead employee engagement: pulse surveys, team health checks, mechanisms for people to flag tension early
Manage the annual offsite and team events as culture investments, not just logistics

People Operations & Compliance

Build HR operations infrastructure: offer letters, employment contracts, onboarding kits, exit protocols, PF/ESIC compliance, labour law adherence
Work with the CFO on compensation benchmarking, payroll oversight, and benefits design
Own the HRIS and keep people data clean, current, and actionable
Manage sensitive people situations — performance issues, interpersonal conflicts, role transitions — with discretion and judgment

Learning & Development

Identify the highest-leverage L&D investments for Adalat's stage — new manager training, technical upskilling, leadership development
Build a framework for internal mobility and growth that keeps strong people engaged and growing

What You Will Achieve in a Year

Build and scale Adalat AI’s people function from the ground up — creating the systems, culture practices, and organisational structures needed to grow from 50 to 100+ people sustainably
Partner closely with the founders to attract, retain, and develop mission-driven talent across engineering, AI/ML, legal, and operations functions
Design a high-trust, high-performance culture through thoughtful performance management, career growth frameworks, compensation structures, and employee engagement programmes
Establish operational excellence across HR, compliance, people analytics, and employee experience while preserving the organisation’s mission-first and low-bureaucracy culture