HR tech company Eightfold AI has announced the appointment of Meghna Punhani as its chief people officer.

Punhani, who has been an adviser to Eightfold for several years, brings a wealth of experience from her previous roles at DevRev, Palo Alto Networks, and nearly two decades at Google.

In her new position, Punhani will spearhead Eightfold’s data-driven, agentic-first HR approach to align talent strategies with the company’s growth objectives.

Transforming talent attraction, retention and development

Ashutosh Garg, co-CEO and co-founder, pointed to the significance of this appointment.

“Eightfold is at an inflection point – organisations across industries are embracing our generative AI-native platform to transform how they hire, retain, and develop talent.

“With Meghna Punhani joining as chief people officer, major enterprises coming on board, and our expansion into every industry, we are proving that AI is not just a future aspiration but a present necessity for workforce transformation,” Garg said.

Punhani stressed the evolving role of HR, noting that with the advent of agentic AI, organisations must rethink how they hire, develop, and unlock the full potential of their talent.

“The role of HR has permanently evolved, from a function that supports business strategy to one that actively shapes it,” she told Unleash.

Punhani also expressed enthusiasm for Eightfold's mission to find the right career for everyone in the world and its pioneering work in AI-powered talent intelligence.

“At Eightfold, we’ve built an agentic-driven, high-performance organisation – dynamically ensuring that every hire and investment drives measurable business outcomes,” she said.

This strategic leadership addition comes as Eightfold continues to expand its generative AI-native platform, transforming talent acquisition and management across industries.

Leadership in AI-driven talent management

Eightfold AI marked a transformative 2024, unveiling a suite of innovations that reinforce its leadership in AI-driven talent management.

Among its key advancements, Eightfold Talent Tracking streamlines hiring with AI-powered job postings, skills-based descriptions, and real-time compensation insights.

Meanwhile, Eightfold Talent Design offers organisations adaptive, self-learning frameworks to bridge skill gaps and standardise role requirements.

Eightfold Copilot, an AI-driven assistant, enhances HR efficiency by automating routine tasks while ensuring compliance with global AI regulations.

Strengthening its global footprint, Eightfold introduced multilingual talent matching, optimising recruitment and retention across diverse markets.

The appointment of Punhani also signals a commitment to embedding AI across HR functions, aligning talent strategy with organisational growth.

Eightfold’s impact extends across both public and private sectors.

In the public sphere, its technology is revolutionising talent operations for the US Department of Defense, the State of New York, Puerto Rico, and Washington DC.

On the corporate front, the company deepened partnerships with leading healthcare providers and top academic institutions, while expanding its presence in Europe and Latin America.

Beyond product innovation, Eightfold has emerged as a thought leader in workforce transformation.

The company launched the Josh Bersin Company HR Career Navigator, an AI-powered tool helping HR professionals navigate industry trends.

As a founding member of the ICT Workforce Consortium – alongside Cisco and Google – Eightfold is driving AI’s role in workforce development.