Dhairya Nagpal
Making things — digital, physical, and somewhere in between.
I’ve spent my career at the intersection of product craft, policy, research, and art — with the conviction that building well and building responsibly are the same job.
DTU Gold Medal · Convocation Speech
Stay humble enough to keep learning. Curious enough to never stop starting.
“You will never know until you try. Wake up one morning, run for the bus, and catch it — it was always yours. Run and miss it — it was never yours. But stay in bed and skip the run entirely, and you will never know: that bus was yours to take. The only move is to try.”
— Gold Medal Convocation Address, Delhi Technological University
Background
The Story
Dhairya currently heads Product & UX at Damco Group, where he built a product and design studio from scratch inside a global enterprise. 15+ UX designers and product thinkers, 30+ active engagements across travel, healthcare, BFSI, enterprise AI, and agentic systems. He built the operating system — project tracking, delivery governance, AI-assisted automation, and LLM-native interaction patterns for enterprise clients. 90%+ RFP win rate.
Before this, he was at Zomato owning the logistics cost charter — rider payouts, incentives, earnings, cost-per-order: the full system that keeps delivery partners motivated and the economics viable. One launch was recognised as a top rider product of the year with 100% positive partner feedback nationwide. He has also shipped lending products at Housing.com (loan origination +47%, disbursement +129%), worked on Web3 product strategy at MPL’s GGX Studios, and ran usability studies for blockchain gaming at Hike.
His research spans IIT Delhi, Concordia University, ISB, SPJIMR, and UPES. Work covers cookie consent mechanisms and user autonomy (ICoRD 2025), self-gifting behaviour and credit card reward economics (9th Pan IIM World Management Conference), and persuasive technology and dark patterns. Four peer-reviewed publications.
He led the New Technology & AI track as a United Nations Foundation Fellow — responsible tech policy, AI governance, youth-led foresight. Co-authored “India in Future Tense: 47 Words for 2047” and “Our Future India,” a youth blueprint for Viksit Bharat 2047. Spoke at AIESEC International Congress to 400+ leaders from 105+ countries, and at the GCC Summit 2025 policy roundtable with the Government of Uttar Pradesh. He is also a certified Enterprise Risk Trainer with IRM India, delivering risk management frameworks to enterprise organisations.
He graduated from DTU with a Gold Medal and Department Rank 1 in Human-Computer Interaction, and studied the Foundation in Data Science & Programming at IIT Madras. Outside of all this, he is an artist and sculptor who hosts exhibitions and conducts workshops — Palo Alto Networks, Creencia, and more. He plays drums and keyboard, dances, runs on weekends, and creates content that crosses 10M+ monthly reach.
Phases
Six ways of working.
Build from scratch
Designed from scratch, never from template. Built Damco’s Product & UX studio, the DNS art store, and every delivery system from first principles.
Find what’s hidden
Looking through complexity to find what’s hidden. IIT Delhi, Concordia, SPJIMR, ISB — four institutions, four publications, one question: why do people do what they do?
Navigate the system
Rider economics, lending funnels, enterprise delivery — nested systems under pressure. The work that makes human stakes visible in every product decision.
Move governance forward
Governance in motion, not in theory. UN Foundation, AIESEC International Congress, GCC Summit 2025 — putting responsible AI frameworks into practice.
Start small, scale fast
Zero to one to many. A 15-person studio. 30+ enterprise engagements. 10M monthly reach. One principle: start, then scale.
Never stop making
Always mid-creation. Paintings, sculptures, resin, drums, dance — the practice that keeps building honest and the process never finished.
Experience
Career Timeline
Every role, chronologically.
Head, Product & UX
Damco Group
NowApr 2025 – Present
Building and scaling the Product & UX studio, running 30+ enterprise engagements, deploying Claude-powered agentic AI workflows.
Enterprise Risk Trainer
IRM India — Institute of Risk Management
NowApr 2026 – Present
Certified enterprise risk trainer with IRM India, delivering structured risk management training and frameworks to enterprise organisations.
New Technology & AI Lead, Next Generation India Fellow
United Nations Foundation
NowNov 2023 – Present
Leading the New Technology & AI theme. Co-authoring 'India in Future Tense' and 'Our Future India'. Organising Youth Sabha 2047.
Technology, Policy & Ethics Fellow
CEEW
NowNov 2023 – Present
Technology policy and ethics research supporting responsible AI governance in India.
AI Literacy and Ethics Fellow
Aula Fellowship
NowMar 2025 – Present
AI literacy initiatives, dark pattern audits, inclusive governance, youth engagement.
Tech Policy Advocate
Privionix
NowDec 2024 – Present
Advocating for data privacy and digital ethics standards.
Founder, Artist & Creative Director
Dhairya Nagpal Store (DNS)
NowJun 2020 – Present
Limited-edition prints, original artwork, commissioned pieces and merchandise. 25+ global clients.
Content Creator
May 2016 – Present
10M monthly reach, 20,000+ followers, 2,500+ artworks shared. Brand collaborations with OnePlus, Philips, Oral-B, and more.
Product Manager, Logistics Cost
Zomato
May 2024 – Apr 2025
Rider payouts, incentives, earnings transparency, and cost-efficiency charter.
Product Manager, Xtreme by Zomato
Zomato
Jan 2024 – Jun 2024
Last-mile delivery expansion, B2B merchant dashboard, C2C marketplace.
Responsible Tech UNet Director
All Tech Is Human
Jan 2024 – Dec 2024
Steering student-focused responsible tech programmes and policy co-creation.
Student Ambassador
OnePlus
Nov 2023 – Jun 2024
Selected from 25,000+ applicants. Led marketing campaigns and live events.
Behavioural Economics & Consumer Analytics Researcher
SPJIMR
Dec 2021 – Apr 2024
Sound symbolism and credit card reward gamification research. Published at Pan IIM 2023.
UX, Strategy & Engagement Researcher
ISB
Mar 2023 – Feb 2024
Redesigned Beingfulness mindfulness platform for global audience.
Product Manager
Housing.com
Apr 2023 – Jan 2024
Housing Edge lending product. Loan origination +47%, disbursement +129%, revenue +55%.
HCI Researcher
University of Manitoba
Jul 2023 – Sep 2023
Human-computer interaction research.
Student Ambassador
Philips
Apr 2023 – Sep 2023
Selected from 2,000+ applicants. Handpicked as top 2 for Annual Global Philips Event.
HCI Researcher
Concordia University, Montreal
Jul 2022 – Feb 2023
Speculative design for South Asian dating platforms at TAG research lab (FRQSC-funded).
Product Strategy Manager
MPL / Mayhem Studios
Oct 2022 – Jan 2023
Web 3.0 strategy across RMG, blockchain, tokenomics, P2E, M2E, F2P.
Product Manager
Atom EI
Oct 2022 – Dec 2022
Gamified onboarding, behavioural science, mascot, streak mechanisms.
UX Researcher
Hike
Mar 2022 – Sep 2022
Blockchain gaming UX for Indian Tier 2/3 gamers. 40+ research studies. CryptoBits newsletter.
HCI Researcher
UPES
Jun 2022 – Aug 2022
Facebook Marketplace trust, neuroscience methods, AI chatbots, fake review handling.
UX Researcher & Designer
Dental For Home
Feb 2022 – May 2022
Sole UX designer for a dental care startup.
HCI Researcher
IIT Delhi
Apr 2021 – Mar 2022
Dark patterns research — cookie banners and user autonomy. Published at ICoRD 2025.
UX Designer
The Playbook / Ridvig Technologies
Dec 2021 – Jan 2022
Children's development product UX design.
Founder
Specurate
May 2021 – Dec 2021
'Art for Covid' initiative — 300,000+ reach, ~₹20,000 raised.
Visual Communication Designer
Songdew
Apr 2021 – Aug 2021
Visual identity and communication design for a music platform.
How I Build
Product Development Toolkit
The full lifecycle — from the first user interview to post-launch analytics — and the tools I reach for at each stage.
Life outside work
Beyond Work
Art & Sculpting
Making art since childhood — paintings, sculptures, pottery, resin, mixed media. The Dhairya Nagpal Store launched in 2020 with 25+ global clients. Competition wins at Cambridge School, Kiran Nadar Museum, and DTU. Also ran “Art for Covid” — 300,000+ people reached.
See the art
Content & Brand
10M monthly Instagram reach, 20,000+ followers, 2,500+ artworks shared. Brand collaborations with OnePlus, Oral-B, Philips, Manyavar, PVR IMAX, Bella Vita Luxury.
Instagram
Music
I play drums and keyboard — mostly for the same reason I make art: to stay honest about the process of learning something difficult.
Dance & Movement
I enjoy freestyle and contemporary, and I’m currently learning salsa. Dance is the kind of practice that keeps you genuinely humble — you’re always a beginner somewhere.
Running
I love to run — weekend long runs are non-negotiable. There’s something about the rhythm of it that clears everything else out.
Travel
Travel is one of my greatest passions. There’s nothing quite like being somewhere completely new — different food, different languages, different ways of moving through a city. It changes how you see people, problems, and everything in between.
Academic background
Education
Bachelor’s in Human-Computer Interaction
Gold Medalist · Rank 1Delhi Technological University (DTU)
9.5
CGPA
Foundation in Data Science & Programming
IIT Madras
8.0
CGPA
CBSE XII
Top 5%Vishwa Bharati Public School, Noida
94.8%
Board Score
CBSE X
Top 10%Vishwa Bharati Public School, Noida
93.4%
Board Score
+10Online Certifications▾
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What I’m Available For
Leadership
Product and design leadership roles in AI, product, UX, or as a founder/co-founder.
Speaking
Keynotes, panels, fireside chats, podcasts, and guest lectures at universities and conferences.
Workshops & Training
UX, product thinking, AI-native design, enterprise delivery — for teams and student audiences.
Consulting & Advisory
Product strategy, studio operations, agentic AI — for teams building ambitious products.
Research Collaboration
HCI, responsible AI, behavioural design, policy intersections.
Writing Collaboration
Co-authoring, editorial review, thought leadership on product, AI, and tech governance.