Zahaan Bharmal read Physics at the University of Oxford. His early career was spent as a policy adviser and speech-writer for the British Government and the World Bank. He studied as a Fulbright Scholar at Stanford University where he earned an MBA. Since graduating, he has worked for Google, based in London and Silicon Valley, and is currently a senior director of strategy.

Outside work, Zahaan writes about science for The Guardian and has won NASA's Exceptional Public Achievement Medal for services to science communication. He is a trustee of the National Autistic Society and lives in Yorkshire with his wife and two young sons.