Continuing with our Employee Spotlight program, this month we will talk about Saurabh Sharma, AKA “Pintoo”, ANRA’s Senior Project Manager at the New Delhi office. Read about his role and what makes him tick

Do you have an office nickname?                         

A: Mostly everyone in office calls me “Saurabh”. But my family and close ones call me “Pintoo.”

Who are your heroes in aviation history?

A: My all-time hero in aviation is Arjan Singh. He was the first and only officer of the Indian Air Force (IAF) to be promoted to five-star rank as Marshal of the Indian Air Force. His services to the Air Force and the nation were invaluable. He flew over 60 different types of aircraft. As a leader he inspired generations and left his imprint in aviation history with outstanding achievements in his career. I also admire Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman with his achievements in dogfight with MiG-21 Bison.

What motivates you to wake up and go to work every day?

A: The feeling and intention that my contribution is making a difference in the Drone domain is a great kick for me to go to work every day. At ANRA, the work environment is enriching, engaging and rewarding and that is a big motivation for me to start my day. Being praised for a job well done and believing in the work I do motivates me. I always have the urge to get better at what I do, and it feels great to know that the work I’m doing is producing results. I thrive on challenging work and my job demands handling different types of tasks every day which makes it interesting and encourages me to put in more effort to make the projects run smoothly.

What’s something most colleagues don’t know about you?

A: I am passionate about automobiles and whenever I get time, I enjoy driving to National parks and hill stations in the Northern Indian region. I have managed team building activities in my previous organizations. Also, I love playing Cricket, Volleyball and Table tennis.

What do you do at ANRA?

A: I am responsible for planning, organizing, and directing the completion of specific projects while ensuring the projects are on time, on budget, and within scope. I am managing a team of Developers, Business Analyst and QA and oversee complex projects from inception to completion. I liaise with the India, UK, and US management team to oversee and manage all technical and operational aspects. I have also set up an Agile Practice, host daily scrum, created intuitive dashboards and made the team aware of best use of powerful work management tools. I’ve also participated in hiring for the team in the past and performed some operations related activities.

If you could meet anyone in the world dead or alive who would it be and why?    

A: Elon Musk. I am always fascinated by his thoughts and vision. Tesla, SpaceX, Hyperloop. The guy is just unstoppable and incredible with his ideas. If I could meet him, I would love to ask him about his next venture. Maybe he’s planning to do something with Aliens.

What has been your favorite project so far at ANRA?

A: Mission Manager has been a very interesting project. Our spread out engineering team has played a significant part in developing integral features of this product. I was entrusted with the responsibility of managing this project and have worked very closely with the India team in making it a success. The platform supports extensive flight automation, including integration into the ANRA SmartSkies™ UTM platform for beyond visual line-of-sight (BVLOS) operations. Meeting multiple releases for this product on time has been a very satisfying experience for me.

What is your proudest moment at ANRA? 
A: During this pandemic, managing a big team working remotely was a huge challenge. The past year saw critical releases of ANRA’s flagship products, and I played a major role in organizing development efforts for multiple projects. I am extremely proud to be part of a hardworking and a dedicated team who met all the project(s) deadlines.