Saswati Upadhyaya

About Saswati Upadhyaya

As a Senior Technical Recruiting leader with 18 years of full‑cycle experience, I have built high‑impact engineering and leadership teams across robotics, machine learning and distributed systems. At Amazon Frontier AI & Robotics, I lead and mentor a team of sourcing recruiters to hire world‑class ML/AI scientists and engineers, achieving 161 % of quarterly targets and a 100 % offer‑acceptance rate. My recruiting philosophy combines data‑driven strategy, creative sourcing and an unwavering commitment to diversity and candidate experience. I develop targeted outreach campaigns and maintain relationships with industry leaders, enabling me to exceed performance goals (270 % to goal in 2025) and rank in the top 5 % of recruiters globally.I am passionate about AI’s potential to benefit society and mindful of its risks. This drives me to partner closely with engineering leaders to understand technical requirements, remove biases from the hiring process and build inclusive, high‑performing teamsThrough speaking engagements and community involvement I elevate the employer brand and inspire candidates to join mission‑driven organizations. I stay at the forefront of recruiting best practices and emerging sourcing techniques. I thrive in fast‑paced environments where autonomous execution, collaboration and long‑term thinking are essential. My goal is to continue building teams that push the boundaries of AI and robotics while upholding the highest standards of safety, integrity and innovation.

Experience

1. Senior Technical Recruiting Lead (Frontier Ai & Robotics)

   Amazon

   Mar 2022 — Present · Seattle, WA, US

   Architected and executed the talent acquisition strategy for Amazon’s Frontier AI & Robotics (FAR) initiative, hiring senior machine‑learning, and robotics AI researchers for Omni‑Retarget foundation‑model projects. Developed data‑driven sourcing plans and targeted outreach campaigns that delivered 161 % of individual quarterly hiring goals while maintaining a 100 % offer‑acceptance rate and a 98 % candidate‑experience score. For more details visit: and mentored a team of sourcing recruiters to staff engineering roles across Amazon Robotics, Core Shopping and Prime Worldwide. Implemented process improvements, diversity‑focused initiatives and funnel‑metrics analysis that contributed to 270 % recruiting performance to goal in 2025 and top‑5 % global recruiter ranking. Partnered with FAR and Robotics engineering and research leaders to map long‑term workforce needs, calibrate technical requirements and influence headcount planning. Built collaborative relationships that aligned hiring priorities with business objectives and ensured team matching and skills fit.Enhanced employer brand within the AI/robotics community by representing Amazon FAR at conferences, Sourcing summits and Tech talks, and by publishing thought‑leadership pieces on innovative sourcing methods. These efforts attracted passive candidates and positioned the organization as a leader in safe and beneficial AI.Implemented inclusive and bias‑reduced hiring practices by training interviewers on structured evaluation, developing diverse sourcing channels and utilizing metrics to identify and remove bottlenecks. This helped maintain high talent standards while advancing diversity and inclusion.Pioneered recruitment for AI/ML talent within Amazon Robotics, leveraging technical acumen to evaluate candidates and partnering with research teams to hire specialists in machine‑learning infrastructure, reinforcement learning and natural‑language processing.

Education

• Odisha University of Technology and Research

  Bachelor of Engineering - B.Tech, Mechanical Engineering

• Xavier Institute of Management(XIM Bhubaneswar)

  Master of Business Administration - MBA, Human Resources and Information Systems

Skills

• Employee Engagement
• Talent Acquisition
• Talent Management
• Performance Management
• Employee Relations
• Technical Recruiting
• Recruiting
• Sourcing
• Leadership
• HR Policies
• Change Management
• Performance Appraisal
• HR Consulting
• Attrition
• Onboarding
• Exit Interviews
• Employer Branding
• Mis
• Organizational Development
• Strategic HR
• Hris
• Compensation Structure Design
• Microsoft Excel
• Employee Benefits
• Business Networking
• Online Research
• Compensation & Benefits
• Sap-Hcm
• Compensation & Benefit
• Microsoft Office
• Entrepreneurship
• Social Entrepreneurship
• Interviews
• Succession Planning
• Applicant Tracking Systems
• Client Relations
• Negotiation
• Full-Life Cycle Recruiting
• IT Recruitment
• College Recruiting