Head - General Trade - FMCG

Role Overview:

The Head of General Trade will be responsible for driving the company's offline sales growth across traditional trade channels. The role will focus on owning the P&L for General Trade, expanding distribution, building strong channel partnerships, improving market execution, and creating scalable GTM systems for long-term growth. This role requires someone who combines strong execution capability with strategic thinking, and has experience building and scaling FMCG brands in General Trade.

Key Responsibilities:

Business Growth & Strategy:

• Own the complete General Trade P&L.
• Lead the overall General Trade strategy across regions and markets.
• Drive primary and secondary sales growth while ensuring sustainable and profitable expansion.
• Be responsible for revenue growth, profitability, trade spends, margins, and overall channel health within the GT business.
• Identify new market opportunities, regional priorities, and expansion plans.
• Build annual, quarterly, and monthly GT business plans aligned with company goals.

Distribution & Market Expansion:

• Build and strengthen distributor, super-stockist, and retail networks across India.
• Increase numeric and weighted distribution across key markets.
• Ensure strong outlet coverage, route productivity, and market penetration.
• Drive expansion into new towns, cities, and high-potential geographies.

Market Execution Excellence:

• Ensure strong on-ground execution across visibility, merchandising, activations, and retailer engagement.
• Improve secondary sales tracking and in-market execution systems.
• Monitor stock movement, availability, and market hygiene.
• Ensure effective implementation of trade schemes and channel programs.

Team Leadership:

• Lead and manage the General Trade function across India, with all regional and field GT teams reporting into this role.
• Build, lead, and mentor a high-performing General Trade sales team across geographies.
• Ensure strong discipline, accountability, ownership, and execution standards across the GT organization.
• Create robust review mechanisms, KRAs, reporting structures, and performance management systems.
• Drive a culture of integrity, transparency, and operational excellence across teams and channel partners.
• Support capability building and coaching for regional and field sales teams.

Cross-functional Collaboration:

• Work closely with Marketing, Supply Chain, Finance, and Operations teams to ensure seamless execution.
• Partner with marketing teams on trade activations, launch plans, and visibility initiatives.
• Coordinate with supply chain teams to improve fill rates and inventory management.

Commercial & Operational Discipline:

• Ensure healthy distributor ROI and commercial sustainability.
• Monitor collections, claims, trade spends, and scheme effectiveness.
• Drive data-led decision making through sales analytics, forecasting, and reporting.
• Build scalable systems and processes for long-term GT growth.

What We're Looking For:

• 8 - 15 years of experience in FMCG sales, with significant exposure to General Trade.
• Strong experience in building and scaling distribution networks.
• Proven track record of driving sales growth across multiple regions.
• Experience working with emerging or fast-growing consumer brands is preferred.
• Strong leadership, execution, negotiation, and relationship management skills.
• Ability to operate in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment.
• Data-driven mindset with strong commercial understanding.

Success in This Role Would Look Like:

• Strong growth in GT sales, profitability, and distribution reach.