Background At USD 1.5T globally, textiles is one of the world's largest industries. While retail has had a lot of innovation over the years - both physical as well as e-commerce driven - the textiles supply chain is highly resilient with a well-established manufacturing footprint that has not seen major disruptions over the last few decades. However, recent technological developments mean that the industry is set to undergo several simultaneous transformations on the supply side. Arvind is a diversified Indian conglomerate with a market capitalization of ~USD 2BN. The group's core business is in textiles, where it has a significant presence across all parts of the value chain. We are the 3rd largest manufacturer of denim in the world, manage one of the strongest brand portfolios in Indian fashion retail, and are a key strategic supplier to most of the world's leading apparel brands e.g. GAP, Levi- s, H&amp;M etc. Our business interests also include advanced materials e.g. fire-proof clothing, real estate, telecommunication, heavy engineering and environmental solutions. Overview of the Role Innovation has long been a cornerstone of the group's success, with customers recognizing us as one of the most innovative and forward-thinking players in textiles. The group has recently created a dedicated team to drive disruptive innovation, led by a member of the Board. The team's core mandate is to introduce cutting edge thinking and disruptive innovations to existing businesses AND open up fundamentally new opportunities in areas of interest/synergy. Examples include dramatically reducing time-to-market, enabling mass customization for apparel, setting up decentralized supply chains, creating commercially viable smart garments. The Head, Corporate Innovation - along with his / her team - will constantly evaluate the best possible ways to leverage the external environment to enable access to technologies of interest for Arvind; and work with internal business teams to evaluate, and where feasible, scale specific initiatives. A strong pipeline of promising ideas, as well as several mature initiatives that are ready for scaling is already in place, providing an ideal platform for the right individual to hit the ground running. Examples include a potential joint-venture with a high-tech European company, joint product development agreements, licensing agreements with US-based research organizations, and preferential access agreements for unique one-of-its-kind technology. This is an extremely challenging, high visibility - externally, as well as internally - role in an exciting conglomerate, with the potential to build out independent business lines over time. Major responsibilities Setting Direction: - Use both outside-in, and inside-out perspectives of the business to identify key long-term focus areas - Build deep expertise on identified thematic areas - define, and constantly refine, internal business cases for each focus area - Drive alignment with internal BUs and corporate functions on identified focus areas Scanning the eco-system and forging external partnerships: - Constantly scan the external environment to identify relevant players across the globe that we could potentially partner with: individuals, academic institutions, research labs, start-ups or large corporates - Maintain and nurture specific relationships to ensure that Arvind is top of mind for external players as a potential partner - Help drive the most optimum partnership structure for Arvind through routes such as licensing, JVs, acquisitions etc. Evaluating and Scaling Initiatives: - Follow a stage-gated approach to take technologies from an idea to an independent business line; work closely with internal business and functional teams at each stage of the funnel - conducting technical tests, running pilots, concept-selling to customers and anything else that may be needed Key Interactions Internal: CEOs and department heads in individual businesses; Corporate functional heads, particularly strategy and finance; Technical / operational teams External: Individuals; Start-ups; Research labs; Universities; Corporates with aligned areas of interest; Accelerators and incubators Requirements This is not a typical well-defined corporate role. Fundamentally, if you are innately curious, love making sense of ambiguity and charting an independent course for yourself, genuinely enjoy working with people, see failures as stepping stones to success, and want to make a sizeable dent (or two!) to a giant industry that hasn- t changed for long, we would like to hear from you! Education: - Bachelors in any engineering discipline needed - Masters / MBA preferred Skills: - Ability to think from first principles and structure ambiguous situations - Ability to quickly understand different technologies and articulate them to laymen - Ability to evaluate different technologies as - black boxes- - Excellent written and oral communication skills, especially in focused one-one situations - Excellent listening skills Personality Traits: - Intellectual curiosity, with an openness to considering new ideas and possibilities - Tenacity: going at a problem again and again till you get it right - Ability to form strong relationships and influence people, often without authority / frequent in-person interactions - Resilience: the path to innovation is riddled with mistakes and naysayers. You need to be comfortable in making mistakes and learning from them Experience: One or more of the following backgrounds: - Product/ Corporate innovation - Early-stage venture capital or equivalent e.g. accelerators / incubators - Manufacturing R&amp;D / digital product management - Tier 1 strategy consulting firm - Tier 1 technology players - Entrepreneurial experience

Ahmedabad

Arvind Group - Head - Innovation 

Arvind Group - Head - Innovation  ,Job Description for Arvind Group - Head - Innovation  in Arvind Limited in  Ahmedabad for (10-15) years of experience. Apply Now!

Job Description for Arvind Group - Head - Innovation  in Arvind Limited in  Ahmedabad for (10-15) years of experience. Apply Now!