Cars24 removes job titles, grades, bands: ‘People mistake position for contribution…’
Calling hierarchy one of humanity’s greatest inventions, Cars24 co-founder Vikram Chopra said it had helped organisations scale when information was scarce.
- Jul 3, 2026,
- Updated Jul 3, 2026 3:29 PM IST
Cars24 has removed job titles, grades and organisational bands across its workforce in one of the biggest restructurings in the company’s history as it seeks to redesign itself for the artificial intelligence era. The Gurugram-headquartered used-car platform said every employee will now share a single designation — Builder — under a new operating philosophy called Flatland.
The company said the change is aimed at moving authority away from formal rank and towards ownership, execution and customer impact, said a report in The Economic Times. Cars24 said the shift reflects its view that businesses in the AI era will need to rethink organisational design rather than simply add AI to existing corporate structures.
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Calling hierarchy one of humanity’s greatest inventions, Cars24 co-founder Vikram Chopra said it had helped organisations scale when information was scarce. “AI fundamentally changes that equation. Today, intelligence and context are increasingly available to everyone. The role of an organisation is no longer to move decisions up and down layers. It’s to help exceptional people solve exceptional problems together. Flatland is our attempt to build an organisation for that reality,” he said.
Chopra said the company was also questioning long-held assumptions about how companies should be structured. “Every generation gets to question one assumption that previous generations took for granted,” he said. “Ours may be the assumption that companies need to be organised the way they have been for the last hundred years. We don’t claim to have the final answer. But we believe that question is now worth asking and worth building around.”
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Under the new structure, Cars24 said employees will no longer be identified by organisational rank, but by the problems they own and the outcomes they deliver. Leadership, it said, will be based on judgment and execution rather than position, with ideas evaluated on merit regardless of whether they come from a founder or a new recruit.
The company said it has also redesigned its human resources systems by removing hierarchy-based distinctions in benefits, travel policies, reimbursements and IT asset allocation. New employees will no longer be assigned grades or levels when they join.
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Cars24 said the transition has been rolled out in phases over the past several months, starting with senior leadership and then extending across the organisation. It said accountability, performance expectations and decision-making responsibilities remain clearly defined, with only the basis of authority changing from position to ownership.
“We don’t believe removing titles automatically creates a great culture,” Chopra said. “Culture comes from behaviour. Flatland simply removes the shortcuts that let people mistake position for contribution. We want the person closest to the problem to feel empowered to solve it regardless of where they joined or how long they’ve been here.”
Cars24 has removed job titles, grades and organisational bands across its workforce in one of the biggest restructurings in the company’s history as it seeks to redesign itself for the artificial intelligence era. The Gurugram-headquartered used-car platform said every employee will now share a single designation — Builder — under a new operating philosophy called Flatland.
The company said the change is aimed at moving authority away from formal rank and towards ownership, execution and customer impact, said a report in The Economic Times. Cars24 said the shift reflects its view that businesses in the AI era will need to rethink organisational design rather than simply add AI to existing corporate structures.
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Calling hierarchy one of humanity’s greatest inventions, Cars24 co-founder Vikram Chopra said it had helped organisations scale when information was scarce. “AI fundamentally changes that equation. Today, intelligence and context are increasingly available to everyone. The role of an organisation is no longer to move decisions up and down layers. It’s to help exceptional people solve exceptional problems together. Flatland is our attempt to build an organisation for that reality,” he said.
Chopra said the company was also questioning long-held assumptions about how companies should be structured. “Every generation gets to question one assumption that previous generations took for granted,” he said. “Ours may be the assumption that companies need to be organised the way they have been for the last hundred years. We don’t claim to have the final answer. But we believe that question is now worth asking and worth building around.”
DON'T MISS | Ford is rehiring former employees, says it relied too much on automation, AI
Under the new structure, Cars24 said employees will no longer be identified by organisational rank, but by the problems they own and the outcomes they deliver. Leadership, it said, will be based on judgment and execution rather than position, with ideas evaluated on merit regardless of whether they come from a founder or a new recruit.
The company said it has also redesigned its human resources systems by removing hierarchy-based distinctions in benefits, travel policies, reimbursements and IT asset allocation. New employees will no longer be assigned grades or levels when they join.
MUST READ | Volkswagen layoffs: German auto giant to axe 100,000 jobs, shut down four plants
Cars24 said the transition has been rolled out in phases over the past several months, starting with senior leadership and then extending across the organisation. It said accountability, performance expectations and decision-making responsibilities remain clearly defined, with only the basis of authority changing from position to ownership.
“We don’t believe removing titles automatically creates a great culture,” Chopra said. “Culture comes from behaviour. Flatland simply removes the shortcuts that let people mistake position for contribution. We want the person closest to the problem to feel empowered to solve it regardless of where they joined or how long they’ve been here.”