BYJU'S elevates Jiny Thattil to CTO as Anil Goel departs amid business restructuring

Beleaguered edtech company BYJU'S has elevated Jiny Thattil to the role of Chief Technology Officer, succeeding Anil Goel, who is departing from the company. Thattil, formerly the Senior Vice President of Engineering, will now head the technological initiatives of the organisation, which is currently undergoing a business restructuring.

Thattil has worked with Happay, Amazon and InMobi in the past. In a statement, the company said Thattil brings “extensive experience in building and scaling engineering teams, delivering business and customer outcomes, and driving innovation across multiple product lines and platforms.”

“We are delighted to promote Jiny Thattil as the CTO of BYJU’S. His extensive experience and leadership skills make him the ideal candidate for this crucial role as we continue to rebuild for greater efficiency and sustainability. We would also like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to Anil Goel, the outgoing CTO, for his exemplary work and dedication to driving technological innovation at BYJU’S.” Said Arjun Mohan, the India CEO of BYJU'S

The company said this transition is part of its ongoing restructuring under Mohan’s leadership.

The business restructuring has resulted in the recent resignations of several high-ranking executives, including Chief Business Officer Prathyusha Agarwal, WhiteHat Jr's CEO Ananya Tripathi, and the head of international business, Cherian Thomas. Most recently, Chief Financial Officer Ajay Goel exited the edtech firm and Nitin Golani, President - Finance, assumed additional responsibility as India CFO.

Mohan, who was appointed as India CEO in mid-September, replacing Mrinal Mohit, is leading a payroll and non-payroll cost reduction as part of the restructuring. An alumnus of IIM Kozhikode, Mohan was part of the founding team of Byju’s and previously served as its Chief Business Officer before joining upGrad as CEO in 2020.

He is currently in the process of merging the company’s various business units into two lines of businesses—K12 and test prep. All sales and marketing functions are regionally allocated with one sales head responsible for all of the functions. Within the regions, the company is now setting clear demarcation between inside sales business and offline business—or BYJU'S tuition centres (BTCs). Consequently, the company has shuttered approximately 20 offices, and consolidated the workforce into just five regional offices while centralising all finance functions under the CFO.

The consolidation has led to the elimination of numerous overlapping roles, resulting in approximately 3,500 more individuals departing the organisation. In May, the company had a total workforce of over 24,000 employees—from over 58,000 in March 2022—and the ongoing job cuts are expected to reduce the total count to nearly 20,000.

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