Hello, I'm Nikhil!
You'll find me at the intersection of product, design, and engineering.

Update: I will be joining Sprig as their second PM. Stay tuned for more!

🎬Most recently, I led i18n for TV & movie recommendations on Search, expanding the product to 70+ new countries.

📱Before that, I worked on the Pixel/Android team, where I launched the Pixel 4a (the best-selling Pixel phone) and Bedtime in Google's Clock app.

🏹Many moons ago, I did product/engineering/design at Archer, a social impact venture (product startup + nonprofit incubator) that built tech for investigative journalism, human rights, and illicit finance. I built and launched SanctionsExplorer, which was recognized by the U.S. Treasury.

• View résumé

Experience

• APM @ Google (Search)

  Aug 2020 - present

  I led internationalization for What to Watch (TV show/movie recommendations on Search). I launched the product to 70+ new locales (X mil DAU) and improved the featureset of an additional 100 locales. As part of the effort to improve the product in other countries, I led a program piloting a faster way to onboard i18n streaming services, reducing onboarding time from 6-12 months to weeks using web crawling.

  I also led metrics for the product, developing & driving a new metrics strategy. I introduced new methodologies like cohort analysis to guide our experimentation and make more data-driven launch decision.

• APM @ Google (Android / Pixel)

  Aug 2019 - 2020

  Pixel 4a: As the software PM for the Pixel 4a, I was responsible for the holistic software experience and collaborated with... well, everyone. I was involved in everything from the product marketing narrative, to software deadlines, to keeping regional teams in the loop, to crafting PR comms and customer support responses.
  
  I represented the device internally and externally — briefing 40 journalists from top publications (WIRED, Forbes, The Guardian), presenting at Pixel-wide All-Hands, and presenting weekly updates to Pixel VPs and other senior leaders.

  Pixel Essential Apps: I defined a product vision for the Bedtime experience in the Google Clock app, driving the project from concept to a successful launch (Bedtime now sees X mil DAU). It was a complex effort that required forging relationships with multiple internal teams and external partners (e.g. Calm, Spotify), developing and displaying results from an ML model that can detect time spent in bed, and crafting a pixel-perfect UI for our millions of users.

• Head of Product & Design @ Archer

  May - Sept 2018

  Our mission at Archer was to make public data accessible. We created Archer Public, a platform to visualize how companies and people are connected across borders, datasets, and documents — and make these insights verifiable and actionable to everyday citizens.

  My role was spanned full-stack engineering, design, product strategy, and more. I built the data API and parts of the React frontend, as well as architected the underlying knowledge graph. Additionally, I worked on all of the design, including the platform's branding and UI/UX.

  I also created mocks as part of a contract with eyeWitness. The mocks were for a database for storing and verifying evidence of war crimes to submit to the UN, International Criminal Court, and domestic courts. I sat down with their analysts and lawyers to understand their workflow and design an interface that best suited their needs.

• Project Lead @ Archer Labs

  Aug 2017 - May 2018

  I built SanctionsExplorer, the most modern (and most loved by the community!) publicly-available platform for searching and understanding U.S. Treasury sanctions. (Note: C4ADS has since acquired the project; it used to look like this.)

  I conducted user interviews, designed the platform's interface, and built the frontend and backend (Python, NodeJS, ElasticSearch) [GitHub]. I worked with two other Berkeley students on the cloud deployment and XML data parser.

  We launched in April 2018 to an overwhelming amount of positive feedback from the international community, including multiple government agencies (including a certain Bureau...), journalists & media organizations, academic researchers, NGOs, and private banks & companies around the world. The Treasury recognized our work, and now I'm the proud owner of a Challenge coin!

Hacking

Here's a few of my recent personal projects (2020 only).