EPAM Systems Expects Fresh Hires to be AI-Literate

Engineering services company EPAM Systems expects new hires, even juniors, to come with a certain level of AI literacy as it strengthens its talent base in India. “Hiring will be focused on specialised domains like data and cloud, with an expectation of AI literacy. Even for junior hires, some AI knowledge is preferred,” Elaina Shekhter, chief marketing & strategy officer and SVP, EPAM Systems told FE.

Further, EPAM India plans to hire around 3,000 people over the next one to two years as part of its expansion strategy. “That’s the ballpark number, but it will depend on demand,” said Srinivas Reddy, managing director, EPAM India. The company recently completed ten years in India and its growth in the country has outpaced its expansion in other geographies, Shekhter said.

“India grew more last year than any of our other geographies and today represents a growing share of our overall global delivery. We expect to see India outpace potentially some of the growth in some of our other geographies around the world,” she said. EPAM largely caters to global customers operating in India, including global capability centres (GCCs). “Today we work with close to 60 GCCs in India. About half our people here engage with them,” said Reddy.

As part of its expansion plans, EPAM India is looking at growing in tier 2 cities in addition to its existing five locations. “I think we will be in at least a couple of more locations this year, maybe tier 2 cities as well. We’re continuing to invest a lot in partnerships with all the hyperscalers,” said Reddy.

AI remains a major focus area for EPAM India, both in terms of services and internal usage. “Every year we continue to add capabilities. We talked about data science. That was a more recent capability,” Reddy said. “We’re hiring more consultative advisory people as investments to support our clients, both global clients and also our GCCs.”

Despite the growing presence of GCCs in India, EPAM sees them as an enabler rather than a competitor. “A lot of people tend to ask this as a question that somehow with more GCCs coming into India that the services companies are going to lose. When I look at EPAM India itself, with the entrance of more GCCs into India, it has enabled us to accelerate our growth,” Reddy added.

EPAM’s Indian operations contribute to its global growth by servicing clients in North America and Europe in areas such as advanced engineering, cloud, data, AI, and digital engagement.

“What makes our Indian operation here unique is that it isn’t a subsidiary of some other service. It’s got its own kind of competency and centers of excellence that are growing out of our five locations here,” said Shekhter.

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