From Human Operations to Systemic Innovation

Starting work after (GCE) Advanced Level

After completing his schooling at Ananda College, Colombo, Rajiva chose to enter the workforce rather than follow a conventional academic route. His early exposure included a temporary assignment at AES Kelanitissa Power Plant and a trainee role at Trans Screen Pvt Ltd, where he built discipline through real working environments.

That decision set the tone for everything that followed: learning through real environments, not abstraction.

HSBC and Pan Asia Bank

HSBC was a defining stage. As a Banking Assistant in the call centre, Rajiva worked within international banking standards — sharpening work ethic, stress management, teamwork, and interpersonal skills under constant pressure.

At Pan Asia Bank, that base evolved into service quality work, including reporting, ATM error analysis, team productivity tracking, and early exposure to operational data.

Hospitality, frontline operations, and cross-training

In 2015, Rajiva moved to the UAE and joined Royal Rose Hotel as a Delighted to Serve Agent. He progressed through roles as Front Office Receptionist, Shift Leader, and Acting Night Manager, gaining full exposure to frontline operations, team coordination, and real-time decision-making in a high-pressure hotel environment.

In 2018, he was recognized with the General Manager’s Award for Outstanding Performance.
A reflection of consistency, discipline, and operational reliability.

Despite that upward trajectory, he chose to step away from the front office and cross-train into Human Resources. It was a deliberate shift, trading visible operational success for a broader understanding of people, structure, and systems.

That transition mattered. It connected guest-facing discipline with internal operations: onboarding, employee structure, performance handling, and the real friction points that exist behind the scenes.

Royal Rose Hotel to City Seasons Al Hamra Hotel

Rajiva formally stepped into Human Resources in March 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic — a period where standard HR practices were no longer sufficient, and adaptability became essential.

Beginning his HR coordination role at Royal Rose Hotel under these conditions, he gained direct exposure to crisis-driven workforce management, policy shifts, employee concerns, and operational uncertainty.

His HR journey then accelerated in Abu Dhabi. In October 2021, he moved to City Seasons Al Hamra Hotel as an HR Executive, where his responsibilities expanded into structured people operations, onboarding, policy handling, and day-to-day HR execution within a busy hospitality environment.

By the time he left in 2023, he had progressed to Assistant HR Manager, carrying hands-on experience in managing real operational challenges, building structured workflows, and supporting people systems at scale.

Migration, reset, and the turn toward systems

The move to the UK was driven by family settlement and a broader pursuit of career exposure within a different working culture. Entering the UK workforce as a Marketing Analyst, Rajiva later held roles including Store Manager, gaining further experience in operations, customer behaviour, and business performance.

However, a key gap became clear — the absence of structured HR thinking, people-centric workflows, and systems that truly supported operations. At the same time, AI-augmented solutions were rapidly evolving.

With that alignment, Rajiva began re-skilling through bootcamps, guided learning, and exposure to industry pioneers. This marked a deliberate pivot back into the HR domain — not in its traditional form, but as a more strategic discipline shaped through human-centered systems and digital thinking.

Novaadramen emerged from this phase — not as an idea, but as a response to real operational gaps observed across industries.