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

Originally posted on Himalayas