BUSINESS HEAD - K-12 SCHOOLS AND PRESCHOOLS

Hi, I'm Prasad. Don't let my INSEAD MBA fool you. I've been an entrepreneur all my life - and education is the problem I have chosen to spend my life solving.

My own experience with education taught me something important: children don't fail education; too often, education fails to recognise how differently children learn. I was good at mathematics, numbers and logic, but struggled with subjects that didn't play to my strengths. It was only later that I realised that when people are allowed to learn in ways that work for them, they can find their stride and discover what they are truly capable of.

That belief has shaped what we have been building ever since.

Our ambition isn't merely to run good schools. We want to build schools where children learn better, parents see genuine value, teachers are proud to work, and every campus becomes one of the most respected schools in its community.

But purpose alone doesn't build great schools.

Great schools need great academics. They also need full classrooms, delighted parents, outstanding Principals, motivated teachers, disciplined operations, strong financials and leaders who take complete ownership of outcomes.

That is why we are looking for a Business Head:

This isn't a conventional school administration position.

You will effectively be the CEO of our K-12 business - responsible for its growth, performance and health.

You will own the numbers.

You will drive admissions, but you cannot build a great school without outstanding academics.

You will manage Principals, but your job isn't simply to review them - it is to make them better leaders.

You will build systems, but you must never allow process to become more important than outcomes.

And while this is a senior leadership position, we are definitely not looking for someone who wants to manage everything from a conference room.

Sometimes you will analyse a P&L.

Sometimes you will sit with a Principal trying to solve a difficult parent issue.

Sometimes you will dissect an admissions funnel.

Sometimes you will walk through a school and notice something that everyone else has stopped noticing.

And sometimes you will have to roll up your sleeves and show the team how it is done.

We want someone who can think like a CEO, operate like an entrepreneur and care like an educator.

If that sounds exciting rather than exhausting, read on.

The Role:

The Business Head - Schools will have end-to-end responsibility for the business performance of multiple schools and the preschools attached to these campuses.

The role will combine P&L ownership, enrolment growth, school operations, parent experience, academic partnership, people leadership and expansion.

The Business Head will work closely with School Principals, Centre Heads and Academic Leadership while partnering with central functions including Finance, HR, Marketing, Admissions, Projects, Technology and Procurement.

The ultimate mandate is simple: Build outstanding schools that deliver excellent learning outcomes, exceptional parent experiences, strong enrolment and sustainable financial performance.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Own the Business and P&L:

Take complete ownership of the business performance of the K-12 portfolio and attached preschools.

- Own annual revenue, expenditure, EBITDA and profitability targets.

- Create annual operating plans, budgets and school-wise business plans.

- Drive enrolment growth, fee realization and capacity utilisation.

- Understand school-wise unit economics and identify opportunities for revenue growth and cost optimisation.

- Review actual performance against budgets and forecasts and initiate corrective action quickly.

- Build sustainable growth without compromising educational quality or parent experience.

- Develop a clear 3-5 year growth roadmap for the K-12 vertical.

The Business Head should know not only what the numbers are, but why they are what they are and what needs to change them.

2. Drive Admissions and Enrolment Growth:

Admissions will be one of the most important business outcomes owned by this role.

- Establish annual, quarterly and monthly admission targets for every school.

- Build a predictable enrolment engine than depending on seasonal campaigns.

- Analyse the complete funnel: Lead - Enquiry - School Visit - Application - Admission - Fee Collection - Retention - Referral.

- Track conversion ratios at every stage and identify leakage.

- Work with Marketing and Admissions teams on digital, BTL, community and local-area marketing.

- Develop preschool, corporate, residential-community and local institutional partnerships.

- Build strong referral engines using existing parents and alumni.

- Analyse lost admissions and competitor movement.

- Personally understand why parents choose - or don't choose - our schools.

Every empty seat represents both a lost learning opportunity and lost revenue. The Business Head must understand both.

3. Build the No. 1 School in Each Catchment:

Every school should aspire to become one of the most preferred schools in its micro-market.

The Business Head will:

- Understand each school's catchment deeply.

- Map competitors, pricing, parent demographics and emerging demand.

- Define the school's differentiated positioning.

- Continuously improve the perceived and delivered value of the school.

- Build strong community visibility and local brand equity.

- Ensure every campus reflects the quality and premiumness promised by the brand.

The question should constantly be: Why should a parent living within this catchment choose us over every other school available to them?

4. Deliver an Exceptional Parent Experience:

Parents are not merely fee-paying customers. They are partners in the child's education and powerful ambassadors for the school.

Own the complete parent journey: Discovery - Enquiry - Counselling - Admission - Onboarding - School Experience - PTMs - Communication - Issue Resolution - Renewal - Referral.

- Build measurable standards for parent experience.

- Track parent satisfaction and grievances.

- Ensure fast and sensitive resolution of escalations.

- Create meaningful parent-engagement programmes.

- Build strong communication systems between school and home.

- Develop referral and advocacy programmes.

- Personally engage with parents to remain close to the customer.

A great parent experience should ultimately translate into trust, retention and referrals.

5. Partner with Academic Leadership:

The Business Head is not the Academic Head, but cannot be disconnected from academics.

Work closely with Principals and Academic Leadership to:

- Ensure the promised academic product is delivered consistently.

- Track important academic and student-experience indicators.

- Ensure teaching resources and infrastructure support academic objectives.

- Understand parent feedback relating to academics.

- Support teacher quality and capability-building initiatives.

- Balance academic priorities with operational and commercial realities.

- Ensure commercial pressures never compromise educational integrity.

The Business Head and Academic Leadership should operate as partners with a common objective: Better outcomes for children and stronger schools.

6. Drive Operational Excellence:

Ensure every campus runs with discipline, consistency and high standards.

Own or oversee: Campus administration, Infrastructure and maintenance, Transport, Safety and security, Housekeeping, Vendor management, Procurement coordination, Fee collection, Technology adoption, Statutory and regulatory compliance, SOP implementation, School readiness and audit standards.

Build systems that allow schools to scale without becoming bureaucratic.

7. Lead Principals and Build Leadership Capability:

One of the Business Head's most important responsibilities will be building a strong leadership bench.

- Lead and coach School Principals and other senior school leaders.

- Establish clear KRAs and measurable outcomes.

- Conduct structured weekly/monthly business reviews.

- Identify high performers and future leaders.

- Address performance gaps decisively.

- Partner with HR on leadership hiring, succession and retention.

- Build a culture of ownership rather than dependency.

Use the principles of: Mastery (Help people continuously become better at what they do), Autonomy (Give capable leaders freedom to make decisions and take ownership), Purpose (Ensure every person understands how their work contributes to improving children's lives).

The objective is not to create Principals who wait for instructions. It is to create Principals who think and act like owners of their schools.

8. Build a High-Performance, Purpose-Led Culture:

Create an environment that combines the heart of education with the discipline of business.

Build a culture characterised by: Child centricity, Parent centricity, Ownership, Accountability, High performance, Data-driven decision making, Speed, Collaboration, Continuous learning, Innovation, Integrity.

Set a personal example through honesty, courage, humility, selflessness and bias for action.

9. Use Data to Run the Business:

The Business Head should be intensely data-driven.

Build and review dashboards covering: Enquiries and leads, School visits, Applications, Admissions, Conversion ratios, Student strength, Capacity utilisation, Retention, Attrition, Fee collection, Revenue, Cost per acquisition, Marketing ROI, Parent satisfaction, Employee attrition, Teacher vacancies, Academic indicators, School-wise profitability.

Data should not merely explain what happened. It should tell us what to do next.

10. Drive Expansion and Future Growth:

Partner with the leadership team on the next stage of growth.

- Evaluate potential new school locations.

- Analyse catchment potential and competition.

- Develop business cases for new campuses.

- Participate in pricing, capacity and investment decisions.

- Support new-school launches from planning through stabilisation.

- Identify opportunities to expand preschool, daycare, activities or other complementary offerings around existing campuses.

- Build systems and leadership capability ahead of expansion.

What We Are Looking For:

We are looking for a Business Leader, not simply an experienced Administrator.

Experience:

Ideally 12+ years of professional experience, with significant leadership experience.

The candidate should preferably have:

- Led multiple business units.

- Managed Senior Leadership teams.

- Owned substantial revenue targets.

- Managed P&L or significant budgets.

- Led large, distributed teams.

- Worked in a professionally managed organisations.

- Exposure to new launches, expansion or turnaround situations.

- Strong understanding of the Indian competitive landscape.

- Experience in Education Industry would be advantageous.

Education:

- Postgraduate qualification / MBA preferred.

- Strong academic credentials desirable.

- Educational leadership qualifications would be an advantage but are not mandatory.

The Person:

We are looking for someone who is: Commercially sharp, but education-first; Strategic, but extremely hands-on; Data-driven, but capable of understanding people beyond spreadsheets; Process-oriented, but comfortable with ambiguity; Demanding about performance, but capable of building committed teams; Experienced, but still hungry.

You should be comfortable moving seamlessly between a boardroom discussion on strategy and a school-level discussion about why admissions dropped last week.

You should understand parents, children, teachers, Principals, markets and numbers.

Most importantly, you should still feel that you have something significant left to build.

Measures of Success:

Success in this role will ultimately be measured through a balanced scorecard covering:

Growth: Admissions, Revenue growth, Capacity utilisation, New-school growth.

Financial: P&L / EBITDA, Fee realisation, Cost efficiency, Marketing ROI.

Customer: Parent satisfaction, Student retention, Referrals, Complaint resolution.

Product: Academic delivery, Student experience, School quality standards.

People: Principal effectiveness, Teacher/staff retention, Leadership pipeline, Employee engagement.

Execution: Operational audits, Compliance, Project delivery, Achievement of annual strategic priorities.

Why This Role?:

Because this isn't about running another set of schools.

It is an opportunity to build an education business where purpose and performance reinforce each other.

Where strong financial performance allows us to invest more in children.

Where better schools create happier parents.

Where happier parents create stronger brands.

Where stronger brands allow us to reach more children.

And where growth allows us to create even greater impact.

We are looking for someone who wants to own that entire cycle.

Someone who doesn't merely want the title of Business Head, but wants the responsibility that comes with it.

If you have the hunger to build, the courage to challenge convention, the discipline to deliver numbers and the desire to make a genuine difference to education, we'd like to talk.