Nikhil Janyani
AI programs & evals
“Good work hides in the questions we skip.”
Senior TPM · Mercor · AI programs & RL environments
About
What I do
I take loosely-defined AI research goals and turn them into structured programs that ship.
RL environments
Run the programs that build, evaluate, and scale reinforcement learning environments for frontier AI labs.
Human data & evaluations
Coordinate 500+ domain experts on my programs across data collection, model evaluation, and quality feedback loops.
Program execution
Built ops systems now used as Mercor’s default for running expert programs at scale.
Where I work
At Mercor
Mercor is an expert marketplace for frontier AI: domain experts paired with AI teams on training data, evaluations, red-teaming, and RL environments.
I run human-data and evaluation programs end to end: scope, quality, delivery, and the expert networks behind them.
Research goals show up fuzzy; my work is turning them into programs that can scale without losing rigor.
Mercor · public facts
- Reported Series C (Oct 2025)
- $350M at ~$10B
- Forbes AI 50
- 2025 & 2026
- Forbes Cloud 100 (2025)
- #89
- Reported ARR (Forbes, 2026)
- ~$1B run rate
Resume
Experience
Senior Technical Program Manager · Mercor (Forbes AI 50)
Remote — Bangalore, India
- Own RL environment, human-data, and evaluation programs end to end for leading AI labs.
- Turn loosely-defined research goals into structured programs, coordinating 500+ experts on my programs and cross-functional teams.
- Built operational systems now used as the company-wide standard as the org scaled.
- Promoted twice in under a year (TPM → TPM-2 → Senior TPM).
Business Consultant · iRely
R&D Software Intern · OpenText
- AI Program Management
- Frontier Model Evaluation
- Human Data Operations
- RL Environments
Writing
Things that ship
Notes on AI, program management, and turning ambiguity into work that ships.
Recommendations
What people say
“Nikhil has rolled out scalable systems now widely adopted as best practice at Mercor. Always someone I turn to when a job needs to be done well.”
Account Lead, Mercor
“Nikhil applies logical thinking to hard problems and his quality of work speaks volumes about his dedication. A valuable team member on any project.”
Project Lead, iRely
Let's talk
Say hello
Want to say hello? Email me anytime, or book a 1:1 on Topmate, for AI program work, RL environments, breaking into frontier AI, or career advice.
★ 5/5 · “I had a great conversation with Nikhil. He was approachable, insightful, and has a strong understanding of project management and what the role demands.” · Nandita Rawat
Also
Mentorship
I mentor people breaking into frontier AI and early-career TPMs: what the work is really like, how to tell your story, and how to grow in the role.
beyond the work
making art · quiet escapes · intentional living · reading