SpaceX appoints Manjunath K as principal – infosec and policy

CALIFORNIA: SpaceX is strengthening its India play. The company has appointed Manjunath K as principal – infosec and policy, tasking him with supporting Starlink’s operations as the satellite broadband service advances its ambitions in the country.

In the role, Manjunath will also serve as head of law enforcement and nodal operations for Starlink India, placing regulatory trust and security coordination at the heart of SpaceX’s market strategy.

He joins from Paytm, where he was vice president, and brings deep regulatory and compliance experience from Google, where he served as regulatory compliance leader. Earlier, he spent nearly six years with the Flipkart Group, working across Flipkart, PhonePe, Myntra and Ekart, giving him frontline exposure to India’s complex digital, payments and logistics landscape.

Manjunath began his career with Coats, Tenneco and Toyota Kirloskar Motor, and is an alumnus of the National Law School of India University.

The appointment underlines SpaceX’s intent to pair innovation with institutional credibility as Starlink moves closer to full-scale operations in India. In a market where regulation can make or break ambition, SpaceX is clearly choosing to lead with trust.