Apeejay Stya Group - Senior Manager - Product Strategy & Development

Senior Manager - Product Strategy and Development

About Us:

Apeejay Stya Group is a leading Indian Industrial & Investment House with interests in Automotives, Chemicals & Plastics, Distribution, Logistics & Retail, Pharmaceuticals & Life Sciences, Real Estate, International Trading and other sectors. It is one of the major corporate houses in India and has several alliances and foreign collaborations with a significant presence in Europe, Middle East and East Asia. The Group also has a large social commitment under the aegis of the Apeejay Education Society.

The Group has set up a new business - Valedra, which is focused on providing Value Added Education opportunities to students so that they achieve their true potential. This is a unique opportunity to join an entrepreneurial team at a respected Industrial house of India and create a large impact. We are looking for high achievers with an excellent execution capability, ownership attitude, customer focused orientation, long term relationship building approach and the ability to work aggressively in cross-functional teams.

About the role:

- You should have Product Management experience with a terrific reputation of execution while focusing on the end customer. You should also be a self-starter who is prepared to develop and execute against an annual operating plan and consistently deliver on product launch and scale targets. You will ideate and identify potential product/ service lines, get market research conducted, generate product/service requirements, determine specifications, pricing, USPs, and introduce timeline driven product/service introduction plans with appropriate marketing strategies - in short, assemble and deliver products/services.

- You should be thinking all the time and visualise clearly the different tier of products which will be attractive to different customer segments. The Product Manager will be an exceptionally strong analytical thinker in addition to the above and will ensure that Valedra comes up with products and tiering which is not present in the educational space in India.

Position is based out of Gurgaon.

Roles and Responsibilities:

Business Achievement:

In alignment with the annual operating plan, develop and achieve a product plan for assigned existing or new products which ensures monthly, quarterly and annual:

- Top line achievement - product wise and unit wise

- Product wise expense to sales ratio achievement as a thriving profit centre

- Ideating for new product and service lines (which can delivered in India and abroad), with their marketing plans and ROI analysis. Make business case for new products and services for viability and scalability.

- Create the Pricing and Delivery Strategy of new product and service lines

- Successful launches for new products and services with development and execution of Sales strategies

- Optimal product and brand health

- Market share in chosen territories and markets

- Work with the Ops & Delivery Team at the assigned locations to ensure full satisfaction of customers and consumers

Product and Market Insight with Product Marketing:

- Ensure an in-depth understanding of the assigned product(s) and the related markets dynamics via customer analysis, market analysis, competition analysis and promotional strategies. Work with the Marketing team to create marketing collateral for all products which will help Sales team to convert easily.

Vendor and Partner Management:

Find and onboard the right kind of vendors and partners to deliver the product for us which will ensure high NPS and repeat sales. Ensure that our vendors are fully satisfied in working with Valedra. In cases where we are ourselves delivering the product, build the right team on the ground.

Product Delivery:

Work with the Ops and Delivery Team to ensure that the consumers have an amazing experience during the product delivery span and that we map out their lifecycle to get them enrolled into new products. Ensure problems escalated by sales, other corporate functions related to the product(s) through direct efforts and/ or coordination are solved within the desired TAT SLA.

Product Training:

To provide product specific trainings to new joinees and refresher courses for existing sales team in collaboration with L&D to enable them to learn about the product, market and sell the product efficiently.

Reporting & Feedback:

- Implementation of strategic inputs from management & BU Head

- Coordination with reporting manager and need based corporate functions for product requirements

- Timely reporting of daily/ weekly/ monthly review formats/ report/ online tool that may be required from time to time

- Maintenance of role relevant data in an easily accessible and useful manner

- Proactively seeking and sharing the feedback from customer with concerned departments and individuals at Valedra

- Ensuring that the feedback of customers is responded to within the agreed timeframe

Team Support:

- Assisting marketing and sales team members in varied efforts towards achieving/ enhancing the overall performance of the marketing and sales departments and the organization.

Background and Educational Requirements:

- Education - Full time MBA from a reputed institute.

- Must have atleast 3 - 5 years of experience in Product Management roles. Preferred industries would be Insurance, Financial Services, Education, Pharma, FMCG and Retail.

- Excellent communication skills in English and Hindi.

- Deep understanding of Consumer Behavior, Product Development, Requirements Analysis, Pricing, Planning, Competitive Analysis, Sales Planning, Financial Planning and Strategy.

- Ability to learn quickly, think independently, and convince others is required.

- Why should you consider this seriously-

- High impact role with potential to fundamentally change the way education is imparted in schools and universities across the world, starting from India. Backed by one of the most reputed industrial houses in India, with a proven expertise in execution across sectors and in delivery of value based education over many decades. We are driven by the passion to make the lives of students and parents exponentially better, and bring about a major change in the education system, thereby, deciding the future of our country. Opportunity for you to learn and grow quickly in a rapidly scaling entity, within a large corporate structure.

Compensation: Not a constraint for a right candidate.

Openings: 1

To Apply:

In your cover letter, tell us why you are perfect for this role. Include links to your past projects - especially those which are not covered in your resume. If you have worked on challenging product lines or have introduced new products in your previous tenure, we would love to know about them.