Thoughtworks Taps Veteran to Lead Agentic AI Push Amid Market Boom

CHICAGO, IL – February 03, 2026 – Global technology consultancy Thoughtworks has announced a significant strategic move into the next frontier of artificial intelligence, appointing industry veteran Karthik Srinivasan as its new Global Head of Agentic AI Platforms. The appointment signals a major push to scale its proprietary AI/works™ platform, positioning the firm to capitalize on the burgeoning market for autonomous AI systems.

In his new role, Srinivasan will be responsible for the entire lifecycle of the AI/works™ platform, from vision and strategy to development, commercialization, and client adoption. The platform is designed to help enterprises use "agentic engineering" to modernize complex legacy systems and accelerate the creation of new digital products, a core focus for the 30-year-old consultancy.

The Dawn of the AI Agent

The move comes as "agentic AI" transitions from a niche concept to a transformative force in the technology landscape. Unlike generative AI models that excel at creating content, agentic AI systems are designed for action. They function as autonomous agents capable of understanding complex goals, planning multi-step tasks, and executing them with limited human intervention. These agents can orchestrate software tools, access memory, and make decisions, operating more like a digital team member than a simple tool.

This emerging technology is at the heart of a market undergoing explosive growth. Industry analysts project the global agentic AI market to skyrocket from approximately $5 billion in 2024 to nearly $200 billion by 2034, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 43%. Forecasts from firms like Gartner predict that by 2028, a third of all enterprise software applications will incorporate agentic AI, a dramatic increase from less than 1% today.

Thoughtworks is entering a highly competitive arena. Tech giants like Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI are aggressively developing their own agent platforms, while a host of agile startups are carving out specialized niches. Success will depend not just on technological prowess but on the ability to demonstrate clear business value and navigate the significant hurdles to enterprise adoption.

A Bet on Proven Leadership

To steer this critical initiative, Thoughtworks has turned to a leader with a deep history of turning advanced technology into commercial success. Karthik Srinivasan brings over 27 years of experience from leadership positions at top-tier consultancies McKinsey and Accenture.

"Karthik brings deep product leadership and a strong track record of turning advanced technology into commercial platforms," said Mike Sutcliff, Chief Executive Officer of Thoughtworks, in the official announcement. "As enterprises look to realize AI value inside complex, real-world systems, his experience will help us scale AI/works™ and deliver meaningful outcomes for our clients."

Srinivasan's background is particularly relevant to Thoughtworks' ambitions. During his tenure at Accenture, he was instrumental in building and leading its Cloud Native and Platform Engineering practice in North America. At McKinsey, he continued to focus on product leadership for digital and AI-powered platforms. This experience in building and scaling platform-based businesses from the ground up provides him with the precise playbook needed to commercialize AI/works™. This strategic hire is seen by industry watchers as a crucial move for Thoughtworks, which, despite its strong brand, has faced revenue declines in recent quarters and is looking to new, high-growth areas like agentic AI to reignite its performance.

From Ambition to Real-World Impact

While the promise of agentic AI is immense—automating everything from cybersecurity monitoring and financial trading to software development and supply chain optimization—the path to implementation is fraught with challenges. Many enterprises struggle with "agent washing," where vendors overstate the capabilities of their products, leading to disillusionment. Furthermore, issues of trust in AI-driven decisions, poor data quality, and the complexity of integrating autonomous systems into legacy IT environments remain significant barriers.

Thoughtworks aims to differentiate AI/works™ by combining its platform with its long-standing consultancy expertise. The goal is to provide not just a tool, but an end-to-end solution that addresses these real-world problems. This client-centric approach is central to the mission Srinivasan is now tasked with leading.

"I am excited to join Thoughtworks at a moment when agentic AI is reshaping how software is built and modernized," Srinivasan stated. "Thoughtworks has a unique combination of platform capability and engineering talent. I look forward to working with teams across the company to scale AI/works™ and help clients move from AI ambition to real-world impact."

This focus on tangible outcomes is critical. The platform's success will be measured by its ability to help clients in sectors like finance, healthcare, and retail automate complex workflows, enhance decision-making, and ultimately achieve a measurable return on their AI investments.

Navigating the Adoption Journey

The appointment and the focus on AI/works™ represent a pivotal moment for the consultancy. With a global workforce of over 10,000 "Thoughtworkers" and a reputation for engineering excellence, the company possesses the human capital and brand trust necessary to guide large enterprises through the complexities of AI adoption. The challenge will be to translate that expertise into a scalable, market-leading platform product.

As Srinivasan takes the helm, his primary focus will be on defining the clear use cases where agentic engineering can deliver the most immediate value. This includes helping organizations refactor monolithic legacy applications, automate software testing and deployment pipelines, and build intelligent, self-adapting digital services. By proving the technology's worth on concrete business problems, Thoughtworks hopes to build the momentum needed to establish a strong foothold in this fast-evolving market.

The journey will require navigating not only technical and commercial hurdles but also the cultural and regulatory challenges surrounding autonomous systems. Building governance frameworks and ensuring ethical, secure, and reliable AI operations will be as important as the underlying code. With this strategic leadership appointment, Thoughtworks is making a clear statement that it intends to be a key player in defining how enterprises harness the power of AI agents to drive the next wave of digital innovation.