Kanishka Sahu
Applied AI Engineer at Mercor
I work on reinforcement learning, model evaluations, AI agents, post-training, fine-tuning, and synthetic data generation. Previously CTO & Cofounder at Neurix AI. CSE graduate from Punjabi University with experience scaling products from zero to 500k+ users.
About
I've been building things since I was a kid — from robots and IoT-powered taxi-top billboards to AI voice agents and commerce platforms. I graduated in Computer Science from Punjabi University in 2021 and have been shipping products ever since.
Currently I work on RL environments, post-training pipelines, evals, and synthetic data generation at Mercor. Before that, I co-founded Neurix AI, scaled Oyela from 0 to 500k+ MAU, and was recognized as the Youngest Child Scientist.
Beyond engineering, I chase adrenaline. I've done the world's highest paragliding in Bir Billing at 2,400m and the world's second-highest bungee jump in Nepal at 228m. I completed an 11-day Vipassana silent meditation retreat — no phone, no talking, 8 hours of daily meditation.
I've explored 30+ places across India and Nepal. By day I build products, by night I'm a tech geek who loves food, travel, dogs, and solving problems that matter.
Experience
Jul 2025 — Present
Applied AI Engineer (MTS) · Mercor
Working on reinforcement learning environments, model evaluations, AI agents, post-training pipelines, fine-tuning, and synthetic data generation for frontier AI systems.
Feb 2025 — Jul 2025
CTO & Cofounder · Neurix AI
Built a full-stack generative AI company delivering custom agents, copilots, and internal automation systems for startups and businesses. Led engineering from infrastructure to deployment.
Aug 2024 — Jan 2025
Co-Founder · Sixeye — AI Voice Agent
Built the next communication layer for organizations. Led product development end-to-end, from architecture to shipping code, and engaged with customers to identify best use cases.
Mar 2023 — Aug 2024
Chief Engineering Officer · Oyela
Promoted to Chief Engineering Officer to lead Oyela's scaling phase. Scaled the platform from 100k to 500k+ MAU and grew API volume from 10k to 250k+ daily calls. Expanded the engineering team from 2 engineers to 12+, owning hiring, architecture decisions, and technical execution across all products.
Jun 2021 — Mar 2023
Founding Member · Oyela
Joined as the first engineer and built the entire tech stack from scratch — the Oyela buyer-side commerce platform, Frontway seller app, internal admin panel, and FastBuy quick checkout. Owned everything from product UX to backend infrastructure. Set up CI/CD pipelines with GitHub Actions and Docker, integrated payment gateways (Juspay, Razorpay), optimized page load from 12s to under 3s, and built the foundation that the platform scaled on.
Nov 2019 — Apr 2021
Founder & Director · Lys Labs Pvt Ltd
Designed and developed IoT-powered taxi-top ad displays using real-time cab data, AI, and analytics to target specific audiences. Built the product to early customer stage before COVID-19 forced shutdown.
Dec 2019 — Dec 2020
President · Entrepreneurship & Skill Development Cell
Led the university's entrepreneurship organization. Managed 8 team leads and 40+ members. Organized talks, hackathons, and provided startup mentorship, labs, and grants to student founders.
Dec 2018 — Nov 2019
VP of Technology · Entrepreneurship & Skill Development Cell
Maintained organization website and empowered students to transform their projects into real-world applications.
Tech Stack
Languages
TypeScript, Python, JavaScript, C++
AI & ML
RL Environments, Post-Training, Evals, Fine-Tuning, Synthetic Data Generation, TensorFlow, PyTorch, OpenAI API, Hugging Face
Frontend
React, Next.js, Tailwind CSS, Bootstrap
Backend
Node.js, Django, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis
Cloud & DevOps
AWS, Docker, Kubernetes, GitHub Actions, Azure
Mobile
React Native, Flutter, iOS (Swift), Android (Kotlin)
Testing
Jest, Cypress, Playwright, Vitest
Tools
Git, VS Code, Figma, Postman
Awards & Recognition
2025
Research Paper — The AI Productivity Index (APEX)
arXiv
Co-authored research on APEX-v1-extended, a benchmark evaluating whether frontier AI models can perform economically valuable professional tasks across investment banking, consulting, law, and medicine.
Know more2023
Raised $2M in Seed Funding
Prime Venture Partners
Led the technical execution that helped Oyela Technologies secure $2 million in seed funding to expand the team and empower 2 million small businesses in India.
Know more2021
Award of Excellence
Punjabi University
Highest honor given by the university for exceptional performance in academics, robotics, and AI research.
Know more2018
Youngest Child Scientist Award
Government of Uttar Pradesh
Awarded by the Chief Minister for contribution and research in plated bomb detection systems. Youngest recipient of this honor.
Know more2016
Northern India Science Fair
Government of India
Represented Uttar Pradesh at the National Science Centre, New Delhi. Won first prize for the plated bomb detection system project.
Beyond Work
Adventure
World's highest paragliding in Bir Billing at 2,400m above sea level. World's second-highest bungee jump in Nepal at 228m. Explored 30+ places across India and Nepal.
Meditation
Completed 11-day Vipassana meditation course at Dhamma Vipula, Mumbai. No phone, no speaking, 8 hours of daily meditation. Wake up at 3:30 AM, discipline until 9 PM.
Building
I code because I love it. From AI-powered chatbots to scalable commerce platforms to IoT hardware — I enjoy turning ideas into products that work and ship.
Travel
Mountains are my second home. From Manali and Sissu to Nainital and Khajjiar — from spiritual Mathura to bustling Mumbai and Bangalore. Always looking for the next destination.
Gallery
Paragliding in Bir Billing at 2,400m
Vipassana meditation retreat
Mountains — Manali
At work
Kanishka Sahu
Youngest Child Scientist Award
Oyela $2M funding
Award of Excellence — Punjabi University
Get in Touch
Have a question, want to collaborate, or just want to say hi? I'd love to hear from you.