Hub at Skilligent’s Anjanapura office in Bengaluru will start with 5 AI and machine-learning engineers working U.S. business hours; Skilligent plans to grow the team to 15 by October 2027
Bengaluru, Karnataka - Skilligent, a Bengaluru-based technology staffing and managed execution company founded by Gautham Chidambaram, today announced plans to open an AI engineering hub at its office at 45, Anjanapura, Main Rd, Golahalli, Tulasipura, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560108. The hub will be set up in March 2027, beginning with five engineers who will develop and support AI solutions for U.S.-based businesses during U.S. business hours.
Skilligent aims to expand the hub to 10 engineers by June 2027 and then to 15 engineers by October 2027. This will allow U.S. firms to leverage the hub through Skilligent’s Dedicated Resources, White-Labeled Teams, and Execution Teams offerings, along with weekly status updates. All of this is happening amid the transition phase of visa regulations as H-1B registrations for fiscal 2027 dropped 38.5% to 211,600, according to USCIS data.
“A lot of U.S. companies need to have AI engineering capability that is in sync with their product roadmaps, and a number of organizations are reconsidering the staffing of such teams,” said Gautham Chidambaram, founder of Skilligent. “The center will provide them with AI engineers based in Bengaluru, working their hours, following their processes and reporting in a way that an internal team would,” he added. “We are setting up the center using the same model our clients already use: clear scope, the right people, and regular reporting.”
The five engineers in the first group at the hub will work across five disciplines: machine learning engineering, data engineering, large language model (LLM) applications, MLOps, and AI testing and evaluation. The groups will be using Python, PyTorch, AWS, Azure, and LLM APIs.
In terms of the work expected when the hub starts operations, there is a plan for enhancing software products with LLM capabilities, creating data pipelines for models, deploying models in production and their monitoring, and validating AI outputs. At this point, the five engineers will be working as one group under a lead engineer, splitting into client teams of two to three as the hub grows.
All engineers will go through a screening process via Skilligent before joining the hub. All the candidates are rated on the basis of predefined role criteria, with a documented reason for each hiring decision.
All the engineers will operate under a defined scope and standardized procedures, with quality checks in all delivery cycles and documentation when the work is handed over to another person. There will be weekly operation reports for clients about the progress, priorities, delivery risks, decisions required, and action points.
The AI hub will be operated from Skilligent’s existing office in Bengaluru, India, which is home to its human resources and recruitment divisions. The new hub brings an AI engineering expertise function to the list of Skilligent’s existing service offerings, which include technology staffing, contract staffing, payroll services, and recruitment.
The hub will operate one shift from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. U.S. Eastern time.
Each client engagement will follow Skilligent’s four-stage operating model:
Access controls, confidentiality terms, and tool permissions will be set before each engagement starts.
Skilligent plans to hire in two phases:
Open roles will be listed on Skilligent’s careers page at https://skilligent.in/careers/.
Planned roles for the hub include machine learning engineers, data engineers, LLM application engineers, MLOps engineers, and AI testing engineers, corresponding to the five disciplines covered by the hub.
Hiring is planned to be done by the recruiting team at Skilligent in Bengaluru. Each applicant goes through the same selection process as the engineers who will start working in the hub, which includes scoring on pre-set role criteria, along with a reason recorded for each choice.
Engineers will be part of teams of two to three, each with a lead engineer, so that the client teams do not have to change their existing hierarchy. Engineers join a client team only after the client approves the role scope.
Bengaluru professionals interested in working on AI projects for U.S. companies can apply via the career page or send their queries via the candidate form.
“A change in visa policies for U.S. employers has made long-term hiring plans harder to set,” explained Gautham Chidambaram, founder of Skilligent. “A dedicated team in Bengaluru gives U.S. companies AI capabilities they can plan around, and they will work alongside the company’s engineers and not replace them.”
“We are beginning with five engineers because we would like our teams to be right before we expand,” Chidambaram explained. “With our goal of 15 engineers by October 2027, we can scale with U.S. companies who are embedding AI into their products and hire engineers at the rate at which we are able to vet them.”
The hub plans come during a period of change in U.S. high-skilled visa policy:
Based on Envoy Global’s Corporate Immigration Trends Report for 2026, which surveyed 519 U.S. HR and global mobility experts, 68% said they expected to turn to nearshoring or offshoring in 2026 because of immigration challenges and workforce shortages.
The number of global capability centers in India stands at 2,117, where 2.36 million individuals are employed, representing a 32% increase in terms of numbers from fiscal year 2021, according to Nasscom and Zinnov’s FY2026 India GCC Landscape report.
Skilligent is a Bengaluru-based technology staffing and managed execution company, run by LP Hirevue Recruiting Solutions Private Limited. It was established in 2025 by Gautham Chidambaram. Skilligent offers the United States firms dedicated technology talent and managed teams out of Bengaluru. The services offered by this firm include technology staffing, contract staffing, payroll services, recruitment delivery, dedicated resources, white-labeled teams, and execution teams. Learn more at https://skilligent.in.
Gautham Chidambaram is the founder of Skilligent and the founder and CEO of Passion Farms, which is a multi-state cannabis company headquartered in Houston, Texas, that operates in the states of California and Oklahoma for its cultivation and distribution business. Gautham has also founded ZipLine, a cannabis delivery app for consumers, and he invests in residential and commercial real estate through Passion Holdings LLC. Learn more at https://gauthamchidambaram.com.
The hub is scheduled to launch from March 2027 onwards from the office located at 45, Anjanapura, Main Rd, Golahalli, Tulasipura, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560108. This office already houses the HR and Recruitment department of Skilligent. Besides the existing services, the hub will now offer AI engineering practice services.
The first five engineers will focus on machine learning engineering, data engineering, LLM applications development, MLOps, and AI testing and evaluation. The planned activities include enhancing software products with LLM functionalities, data pipeline development, deployment, and monitoring of models, and AI output verification for their accuracy using Python, PyTorch, AWS, and Azure.
The U.S.-based companies will be able to utilize the services of the hub under the Skilligent Dedicated Resources, White Labeled Teams, and Execution Teams frameworks. The engineers will be available from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern Time from Mondays to Fridays. Each engagement is conducted through Skilligent’s four-stage framework and a weekly operational report.
There will be five engineers at the outset, who will scale up to 10 engineers by June 2027 and 15 engineers by October 2027. This will be done using Skilligent’s recruiting delivery team in Bengaluru, who will evaluate each candidate based on pre-set role criteria. Open roles will be listed at https://skilligent.in/careers/