Dharma Life - Chief Operating Officer

Role summary :

- The COO will lead and manage Dharma Life in India, supporting the CEO in developing and executing Dharma Life's business plan.

- She/he will lead business strategy and execution, focusing on profitability and operational efficiency, be accountable for team and financial performance, nurture strategic partnerships and build a strong organisational culture geared towards achieving the Dharma Life's 2020 vision.

Primary Responsibilities :

- Lead Dharma Life's business strategy, translating goals into functional operating plans and actions. Champion the company's vision and mission, strategy and performance to build the organisation's image and reputation in the industry.

- Drive operational efficiency across all functions, Work closely with cross functional teams like category management, channel & sales, marketing, supply chain, finance and research to ensure long term and day to day operational efficiency.

- Own and institutionalize business processes at all levels from districts to Head Office; Focus on achieving unit level economics in each district and constantly evaluate district level profitability, drive down operational costs and innovate in transportation and logistics.

- Ensure the entrepreneurs have right mix product margins, research and marketing activities; consumer financing options, and working capital.

- Own Dharma Life's strategic financial planning collaborating with all parts of the business to form coherent, ambitious business plans. Work closely with the senior GM finance and accounts and oversee all financial accounting, with the help of established objectives, budgets commercial policies.

- Oversee and provide strategic guidance in the IT strategy to position innovation and technology at the center of the organisation.

- Constantly evaluate and manage core business performance, and innovate.

- Engage with key public and private stakeholders, funders and international corporations to create a network of business and vision partners.

- Unleash the productivity of the organization through effective leadership and inspiration to create a strong values culture which attracts and retains talent.

Desired Skills, Attributes & Experience :

- With at least 5-7 years in a general management role overseeing all aspects of business operations and business disciplines. A Bachelor's degree in any stream with post graduate qualification (PGDM / MBA).

- An excellent people's person who leads by example, should have matured leadership and people management skills across all stakeholder groups - from Board members to internal employees and proven competence in managing large teams and managing change.

- Prior experience should include deep domain knowledge in rural sales and distribution acquired over at least a decade of experience, coupled with familiarity of IT implementation and use of technologies to achieve business goals.

- Implementation experience of application development, IT infrastructure building, and designing and deploying innovative technology solutions in a senior supervisory capacity. Experience in financial strategy formulation and implementation, P&L and budget management and designing management information, including working capital.

- Experience in creating business growth and revenue generation. Understand the importance of local and global strategies working together within one organization.

- An entrepreneurial spirit who can thrive in a fast-pace, start-up environment; comfortable with ambiguity and rapid change; and able to troubleshoot independently while continually building capacity and improving processes.

- Lead from a strategic mind-set, always keeping the long-term vision in mind. Ability to visualize what an operation will look like at scale, and can garner and manage the resources needed to get there.

- Experienced in building diverse teams, empowering team-members, and driving toward results and accountability. Ability to build strong relationships, to forge and maintain alliances.

- Excellent standard of written and verbal communication - Hindi and English

Travel Requirement :

- You should be able to travel within and outside country as required in order to meet with entrepreneurs, partners, vendors, key stakeholders and other team members, as per business necessity on a consistent basis.