Locus has appointed Deepa Subbaiah as its chief human resources officer (CHRO), as the AI-driven logistics technology company strengthens its people strategy to support its next phase of global growth. In this new role, her focus will be on enabling the company to scale without unnecessary complexity while creating an environment where employees can do their best work.
Announcing the move on LinkedIn, Subbaiah said she looks forward to helping Locus “grow with clarity” by strengthening role evolution, decision-making, ownership, and cross-functional collaboration as AI reshapes the future of work.
Subbaiah brings over 25 years of HR leadership experience across product, engineering, SaaS, technology, IT services, and commercial organisations. She has extensive expertise in strategic HR business partnering, organisational design, workforce planning, talent management, leadership development, compensation and benefits, DE&I, HR transformation, people analytics, employee experience, and HR operations across global, matrixed organisations spanning APAC, the US, Europe, and emerging markets.
Prior to joining Locus, she took an 11-month career break after serving as AVP & head HR–APAC & India, Amadeus for over a year. There, she led the people agenda for more than 7,000 employees across APAC, partnering with engineering, product, sales, customer experience, and corporate leadership. She also led workforce strategy, transformed the regional HR operating model, established HR centres of excellence across talent, rewards, HR operations, analytics, DE&I and employer branding, and strengthened HR governance across North and Southeast Asia.
Before Amadeus, Subbaiah was senior director–HR (product & engineering), Freshworks, for nearly two years, leading HR strategy for over 1,900 global product and engineering employees during an AI-led transformation. She drove workforce planning, succession management, leadership pipeline development, organisational restructuring, internal mobility, reskilling initiatives, and chaired the company’s POSH Committee.
Earlier, she spent almost four years at Cisco as human resources consultant (HRBP) – engineering, supporting more than 5,500 engineering employees.
She also served as general manager (HR) at 3M, where she led HR for the industrial, consumer and strategy businesses, driving diversity and inclusion initiatives and large-scale organisational change.
A significant part of her career was with Wipro, where she spent more than four years in multiple HR leadership roles.
According to her LinkedIn profile, Subbaiah’s leadership philosophy is rooted in business partnership, data-driven decision-making, and pragmatic change management. She is passionate about building inclusive, high-performing cultures and creating people strategies that enable sustainable business growth.
She holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration (HR & Marketing) from the Mount Carmel Institute of Management, Bangalore, and a BSc in Microbiology, Zoology and Chemistry from Mount Carmel College, Bangalore University.
