Job Description

Head of Growth & Distribution — India

Location: Mumbai preferred; Bengaluru considered
Employment Type: Full-time
Seniority: Senior Management / Business Head
Travel: Regular travel across India

About the Opportunity

We are hiring a senior commercial leader to build and scale a new Growth & Distribution organisation in India.

This is a zero-to-one leadership role for someone who has successfully created sales, distribution, direct marketing, field promotion or customer-acquisition organisations from the ground up.

The successful candidate will design the India growth strategy, recruit and develop local leaders, establish operating systems and build a scalable online-and-offline customer-acquisition model.

This is not a role focused only on digital advertising or managing an established team. We are looking for an entrepreneurial organisation builder who can turn strategy into practical execution.

Key Responsibilities

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  Develop and execute the India growth and distribution strategy.
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  Build the local Growth & Distribution organisation from the ground up.
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  Recruit, develop and manage managers, team leaders and execution teams.
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  Establish the organisational structure, operating procedures, reporting systems and management routines.
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  Design KPIs, incentive plans, performance-management systems and career-development pathways.
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  Build and optimise customer-acquisition channels, including:
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    Field marketing and local activation
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    Direct sales
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    Referral programmes
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    Affiliate partnerships
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    Community marketing
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    Brand ambassador programmes
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    Distribution and channel partnerships
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  Identify suitable market-entry opportunities across different Indian cities and regions.
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  Design practical go-to-market and local execution plans for different projects.
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  Build recruitment, onboarding, training and leadership-development systems.
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  Test new channels, assess performance and improve customer-acquisition efficiency.
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  Develop repeatable operating models that can be expanded into additional cities.
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  Work closely with founders and senior stakeholders on India market expansion.
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  Personally lead the initial implementation rather than acting only as a strategic adviser.

Candidate Requirements

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  Strong experience in the Indian market, including local business practices, regional differences and customer behaviour.
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  Proven experience building a sales, distribution, direct marketing, field-sales or customer-acquisition organisation from scratch.
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  Experience recruiting and developing managers and team leaders.
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  Demonstrated success managing multi-city, multi-state or nationwide operations.
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  Strong understanding of several of the following:
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    Direct selling
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    Channel distribution
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    Field sales or field marketing
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    Market activation
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    Referral marketing
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    Affiliate marketing
  • 
    Community growth
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    Sales-network development
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    Market expansion
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    Online-and-offline customer acquisition
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  Experience establishing operating procedures, KPIs, incentive systems and management processes.
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  Strong commercial judgement and entrepreneurial mindset.
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  Comfortable working in an early-stage or rapidly changing environment.
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  Able to balance strategic planning with hands-on execution.
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  Strong stakeholder-management and cross-functional communication skills.
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  Willing to travel regularly across India.

Preferred Background

Candidates from one or more of the following industries are encouraged to apply:

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  Direct selling
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  Insurance distribution
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  Financial services
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  Fintech and payments
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  Telecommunications
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  FMCG
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  Consumer products
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  Retail and chain operations
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  Franchise businesses
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  Consumer internet
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  O2O operations
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  Field sales and market activation
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  Channel distribution

Additional Advantages

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  Experience working with Chinese companies, founders or management teams.
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  Understanding of Chinese business culture.
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  Experience supporting China–India cross-border projects.
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  Mandarin communication ability.
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  Experience in a start-up or rapidly growing company.
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  Existing networks in Indian sales, distribution, direct selling or field marketing.

What Makes This Role Different

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  Opportunity to build the India organisation from the beginning.
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  Direct exposure to founders and senior decision-makers.
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  Broad ownership across strategy, organisation building and market execution.
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  Opportunity to design a scalable model rather than inherit a mature structure.
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  Potential to expand the business across multiple Indian cities and regions.

Application Information

Please include the following information in your application:

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  Current role and location
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  Industries and markets covered
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  Team size and geographical scope managed
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  Examples of teams or organisations built from scratch
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  Experience recruiting managers and team leaders
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  Relevant distribution, direct selling or field-growth experience
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  Key business and organisation-building achievements
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  Current compensation
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  Expected compensation
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  Notice period
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  Willingness to be based in Mumbai or Bengaluru