Pune, Maharashtra, India, January 2026 — Thoughtworks has announced the appointment of Pradnya Kulkarni as Head of People for India. In her new mandate, Kulkarni will lead the India people agenda, with a focus on strengthening people strategy, culture, DEI, and leadership development, and partnering closely with business leaders to build inclusive teams and scalable people practices that support growth.
Most recently, Pradnya Kulkarni spent over four years at Telstra, serving as Principal – Business Strategy and Operations in India. In this role, she operated at the intersection of strategy and operating models—experience that aligns closely with leading people priorities in fast-evolving technology organizations and translating business direction into strong execution disciplines.
Before Telstra, Kulkarni served for over three years at Western Union as Regional Head – Talent and Learning, where she helped build people frameworks and capabilities, with a clear emphasis on strengthening learning ecosystems, talent practices, and organization-wide capability building to support scale and performance.
Earlier, she held senior leadership responsibilities at UBS for nearly three years, including roles as Director Talent, Leadership & Culture and Director Technology – People and Transformation. This phase of her career sharpened her depth across leadership development, culture, and transformation—capabilities that become especially critical when organizations aim to institutionalize inclusive leadership and high-performance culture.
Kulkarni’s earlier experience includes nearly three years with ANZ in Bengaluru as HR Business Partner – Technology and HR Business Partner / HR Business Manager, where she worked closely with business leaders on workforce strategies, leadership bench strength, HR governance, engagement, and enterprise people initiatives. She has also held roles with HSBC (including AVP HR and HR transformation responsibilities), and earlier stints with Tech Mahindra and KPIT Cummins, along with foundational HR work across India and the US. She holds an M.Com in Business Administration from Savitribai Phule Pune University.
About Thoughtworks
Thoughtworks is a global technology consultancy that delivers extraordinary impact by blending design, engineering, and AI expertise. With a long-standing commitment to design-led thinking and engineering excellence, the firm prioritizes people and strong technical foundations while embedding AI into ways of working—not just as a tool, but as a mindset that enables bold ideas and lasting innovation.
Over the last three decades, Thoughtworks has built a reputation for helping organizations deliver meaningful outcomes through modern software engineering, product thinking, and responsible innovation—supported by teams that are intentionally designed for collaboration, inclusion, and high performance.
Read Also : When HR “Produces Nothing”: A Response to Jennifer Sey’s Anti-HR Vision
The Fine Balance: Navigating Work, Life, and Mental Wellbeing
Mind the Leadership Gap – From Learning to Real-World Impact
How the Adecco Group is empowering its employees for the future of work
