IT Lead

About Sarvam

Sarvam is building the bedrock of Sovereign AI for India. The company is developing India’s full-stack sovereign AI platform, building across research, models, infrastructure and applications with a singular focus on making AI genuinely work for India. Sarvam works with leading enterprises and public institutions and is backed by Lightspeed, Peak XV, and Khosla Ventures. Sarvam partners with India’s leading brands, including Tata Capital, SBI Life, CRED, IDFC, and LIC.

About the Role

We work with regulated and financial institutions, which means our internal IT and security posture is held to the same bar as our products. We're hiring an IT Lead to own and build Sarvam's internal IT and IT-security function from the ground up - identity, endpoints, network, data protection, and the audit/compliance evidence machinery that lets us pass SOC 2, ISO 27001, and customer and regulatory audits without scrambling.

This is a hands-on, 0→1 role. You will set up the tooling, write the runbooks, and operate the controls yourself in the early days, then scale a lean team as the company grows. You'll partner closely with Security/CISO, People, and Finance, and you'll be the person auditors talk to.

What You’ll Do

Identity, Tools & Access

• IdP administration (Okta / Entra / Google) - SSO, SCIM, conditional access

• MFA / passkey enforcement - phishing-resistant auth for privileged accounts

• Manage all internal tools, services for productive/efficient use

• Joiner-Mover-Leaver automation - provisioning and offboarding to defined SLAs

• Quarterly access reviews - User Access Review (UAR) evidence ready for auditors

Endpoint

• MDM across Mac, Windows and Linux - fleet enrollment, compliance baselines

• EDR operations - deploy, triage, quarantine workflows

• Disk encryption with key escrow - enforced and verifiable

• Privilege management - no standing local admin, elevation-on-demand

Network, Cloud & Remote Access

• ZTNA administration - per-app access with device-posture checks

• VPN management - always-on, no split-tunnel for production

• DNS filtering - endpoint-level, network-independent

• Cloud and SaaS administration - tenant security configuration, identity and access governance across our cloud and SaaS estate

Data Protection

• DLP across endpoint and SaaS - USB, clipboard, email, off-network coverage

• SASE / SWG - web filtering and shadow-IT discovery

Audit & Compliance

• ISO 27001 / SOC 2 evidence operations - logs, inventories and reports on demand

• Asset lifecycle - procurement to certified disposal, with an auditable trail

• SaaS / vendor register - inventory ownership and security reviews

• Vendor management - selection, contracts, security reviews, and ongoing accountability

Operations

• SIEM log forwarding - endpoint and IdP events queryable

• ITSM discipline - ticket trails that stand up as audit evidence

• Incident response - device isolation, forensics pull, timeline writing

• Remote-wipe / lost-device runbook - tested and SLA-bound

• BCP / DR for IT systems - annual test evidence

What We're Looking For

• Audit track record (must-have): a clear, quantifiable history of audits participated in - and specifically the number of audits run for or with financial and regulated entities (BFSI / fintech). Be ready to state how many you've personally managed and your role in each.

• Demonstrated ownership of SOC 2 and/or ISO 27001 evidence operations and certification cycles.

• Strong IT administration depth across identity, endpoint, and the operations stack above.

• Vendor management experience - security reviews, contracts, and accountability.

• Networking, cloud, and SaaS administration as a core part of the remit.

• Communication skills rated ≥ 4/5 - you'll write runbooks, brief auditors, and explain controls to non-technical stakeholders.

• Comfort operating 0→1: building a function, not just maintaining an existing one.

Bonus Points

• Scripting for fleet automation - Python / Bash / PowerShell

• Hands-on exposure to SIEM, EDR, ZTNA, and DLP tooling at scale

• Experience in a high-growth or regulated-industry environment

Why Sarvam?

Sarvam is a fast-moving, high talent-density team building full-stack AI for India, working on problems that push the frontiers of AI with real population-scale impact.

Work alongside researchers, engineers, builders, and business leaders who move fast and hold each other to a very high bar

High ownership and high impact, from day one

Everything we do is AI-first, from the way we build and ship to the way we think about problems

You can work on problems that could change how an entire country learns, works, and communicates

If you want to work on problems at the frontier of AI in India, Sarvam is the place to be.