Raghuram Balaga
Alumni
Machine Learning Researcher, Mercor Intelligence
Please tell us about your current role and employer.
I'm a Machine Learning Researcher working with Mercor Intelligence, an AI-powered hiring platform that specializes in connecting highly skilled professionals with leading AI labs. I'm currently working on AI benchmarking projects with leading US AI labs. Alongside this, I work on a contract basis with several Seed and Series-A start-ups across the UK, tackling cutting-edge projects spanning model development, deployment, and applied machine learning research. I'm also working towards launching my own AI venture, backed by investors and in association with highly talented AI researchers across the world.
What does a typical day in your current role look like?
My day is quite straightforward, I solve the toughest problems put in front of me to the best of my ability, and I report on any actionable insights that I find. This spans benchmarking & building and fine-tuning machine learning models, developing end-to-end pipelines, monitoring production systems.
What was your journey to getting a job after graduating from Birmingham?
After graduating from Birmingham, I received a great number of messages from recruiters and companies who were interested in employing me. One of the main reasons for this was the quality of the University, its ranking, and its status as part of the Russell Group. My MSc MORSE with Distinction, combined with a strong statistical and mathematical foundation built through early career research experience at leading Indian institutions, gave me a well-rounded and rigorous academic grounding. This was further strengthened by extensive experience delivering enterprise ML solutions and large-scale statistical modelling projects across the UAE and Middle East, where my work achieved significant recognition, including features in the Middle East North Africa Financial Network and Estate Magazine, one of the most renowned real estate magazines in the UAE, as well as an Excellence Award from my previous organisation. My active portfolio on Hugging Face and GitHub also helped demonstrate real-world capabilities to employers, showcasing deployed models and production-level code.
How do you feel the learning experience on your course helped to prepare you for your career?
The learning experience during my course was excellent. My time and experience at Birmingham had a lot of impact in providing me with the expertise to solve tough machine learning problems. The MSc in Mathematics, Operations Research Statistics and Econometrics gave me rigorous grounding in the statistical and mathematical foundations that underpin modern ML.
How did the University's support services (e.g. Careers Network) help to prepare you for your career?
The Careers Network helped me in understanding the UK job market. The academic environment also encouraged active networking, which opened doors to prestigious conferences at the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge, as well as summer schools at Lancaster and Edinburgh all of which significantly broadened my professional network and research perspective.
What are your top tips for students graduating today?
Build a visible portfolio, publish your projects on GitHub or Hugging Face where employers can see real work. Understand visa pathways early if you are an international student. Network with professionals across your field, it's the key. Leverage the Russell Group status and the University's network to open doors. And never underestimate the statistical rigour from your Birmingham degree; it is highly valued across industry and research.
What were the best things about your course?
The blend of mathematics, statistics, and econometrics was exceptional. The depth of Computational Statistics was particularly outstanding, and the course consistently pushed me to solve advanced machine learning projects, which directly accelerated my professional capabilities and research output.
What was your biggest achievement during your course?
Academically, scoring 95% in Computational Statistics and graduating with a Distinction are achievements I'm very proud of.