Vice President - Global Talent Engine
A great workplace is evident as soon as someone starts their day. They’re able to come in with a clear mind, connect easily with their teams, and feel comfortable being themselves. This is the kind of environment where they can do their best work. At Ascendion, these small moments have shaped a place where people learn from one another, feel supported, and grow into new opportunities. Over time, this has created a workplace where people feel good about what they do and see the purpose behind it.
Learning is a daily part of the job here. When GenAI started to take hold in the industry, employees were given tools and time to understand it and try it out. Now, many teams are hands-on with agentic AI, building agents, designing workflows, or using skills from earlier in their careers, in new ways.
Our people talk about how quickly things change in our field, and how the support around them makes it easier to keep learning. There’s a lot of curiosity within the teams, which helps everyone adjust as the work shifts. You see the same themes in public Ascendion reviews, people mentioning the chance to learn, the support they get from their teams, and the exposure to newer technologies.
Success at Ascendion truly comes down to mindset. Does an employee have a growth mindset? Are they ready to learn and grow every day? When teams stay open to new ideas, new tools, and feedback, the outcomes are incredible. Many employees first started in one area and discovered skills they didn’t expect, often because someone encouraged them or gave them space to try something different.
That mindset shows up in the way people support one another, too. Wellness programs, recognition, and regular check-ins help people manage both busy times and personal challenges. Teams look out for each other and step in when someone needs help, whether it’s with workload, a new skill, or just figuring something out together. These habits give people confidence and a sense of steadiness as they take on new work.
As Ascendion grows, this mindset keeps the culture alive. Curiosity and commitment influence how ideas take shape and how teams show up for the work.
AI has changed what daily work looks like. When teams automate routine tasks, they can focus on work that requires human judgement or creative thinking. By using agent-assisted code reviews and test generation with AAVA, they cut down on repetitive validation work. Instead, their efforts go towards architecture decisions, peer reviews, and higher-order problem solving.
Internal time studies across delivery teams reflect this shift as well, demonstrating a rebalance of where time and attention are now spent. Pressures are still part of the day, but teams have gained better support and are able to navigate complexity with greater focus and autonomy. The real difference shows in how people describe their days: more breathing room, more focus, and a healthier balance of their days.
This rhythm carries into how teams coordinate across locations and time zones. Because Ascendion is a global company, collaboration tools matter. AI-powered systems help teams stay connected even when schedules don’t align. It makes it easier for people to stay on track and get the work moving forward.
Leadership plays a steady role in how people feel at work. Senior leaders stay close to teams and notice the effort people put in. When someone builds an AI workflow that makes a real difference, it is recognized directly, even from the CEO, which encourages people to try new skills or take ownership of projects.
Support also shows up when people need time, flexibility, or understanding. Leaders value the effort people put in while still helping them work toward the right outcomes, and that gives employees room to grow at a pace that makes sense for them.
Careers at Ascendion can take many directions, depending on what people want to explore. People have the flexibility to grow and pivot when they want to try something different or feel excited about a new challenge. I’ve seen this across departments. Engineering graduates in talent acquisition dove into AI and began building agents. Team members in learning and development moved into HR after completing specialized programs through our partnership with eCornell. Others joined corporate initiatives that broadened their view of the company.
My own path has changed along the way. I started in talent acquisition, and over time my work stretched into areas I never pictured for myself—financial modeling, forecasting, talent management, even global operations. A lot of that came from working side-by-side with other teams and picking things up as we solved problems together. Leaders noticed what I was interested in and gave me room to try. You hear similar stories across the company. People figure out they’re good in areas they hadn’t thought of before, and they grow because someone believed they could.
While everyone has their daily tasks, our culture goes beyond the day-to-day. Sustainability groups, cultural programs, capability-specific Circles, and hackathons bring employees together in ways that reflect their values and interests. People help build internal tools, support community efforts, and get involved in programs that help children and families.
I’ve been at this company for almost twenty years. I’ve seen how much people enjoy getting involved beyond their daily workload. There are plenty of chances to volunteer or support local efforts, and teams take those opportunities whenever they can. We share those moments on our website and social media platforms because they matter to us; they show what people care about and how they choose to spend their time together. It brings a different kind of connection into the workplace and adds to the sense of community that already exists across teams.
You feel the meaning of the work most when you see how it shows up in someone’s life. Teams support healthcare systems during open enrollment, improve gaming experiences, help cruise lines deliver better customer interactions, or work with retailers to keep products moving. When employees see these results, whether it’s through friends, family, or their own daily lives, it creates a sense of pride—we helped build that.
As Ascendion grows, this feeling stays with people. It influences how they show up, what they want to learn next, and how they take on new challenges. For many, the reward is simple: knowing their work helped someone. Over time, that feeling shapes what the company becomes.
Vice President - Global Talent Engine
Saqib Khan is the Vice President of Ascendion’s Global Talent Engine for North America and LATAM, leading a 200+ member team that drives high-quality talent delivery for clients. With 19 years of experience across talent acquisition, strategy, P&L management, and organizational leadership, he has a proven record of building high-performing teams and scaling recruitment operations for Fortune 100 enterprises across multiple industries. Known for his urgency, decision-making, analytical mindset, and people-first leadership, Saqib consistently elevates productivity, trust, and business outcomes.
[Brochure]Ascendion: Turning Salesforce Agentforce Into Real-World Advantage
[Podcast] The birth of Services-as-Software
[Podcast] Why the CEO Must be the Chief AI Officer
[POV] Agile is Dead!
[Whitepaper] AAVA: Agentic COBOL Modernization
[Whitepaper]DURESS Monitoring in Distributed Systems: A Practical Guide to Keeping Systems Healthy
