Head of Growth & Distribution India

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

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

Candidate Requirements

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

Preferred Background

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

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

Additional Advantages

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

What Makes This Role Different

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

Application Information

Please include the following information in your application:

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