Head of Growth & Distribution – India

About this role

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

Originally posted on Himalayas