About the Client:

Our client is one of India's fastest-growing premium kids' essentials brands, building bold, design-led products across lunchboxes, bottles, bags and tableware - products kids love and parents trust. The brand has earned the trust of a large and growing base of families across India and is scaling fast. Headquartered in Bengaluru.

About the Role:

We are looking for someone to build the Client's next growth engine. This role is responsible for identifying, evaluating and launching entirely new product categories beyond the existing business. You will work directly with the founders to define where the company should expand next and build those categories from the ground up. You won't inherit an existing category or product portfolio. Instead, you'll identify high-potential opportunities, validate customer demand, develop the category strategy, build the first product range, and take it from concept to market. This is a high-ownership role for someone who enjoys solving ambiguous problems, making commercial decisions, and building new businesses from scratch.

Key Responsibilities:

Identify New Category Opportunities:

- Continuously identify new product categories with strong growth potential by analysing consumer trends, market dynamics, global innovations and emerging brands.

- Conduct detailed market research to understand category size, customer demand, competition, pricing, growth potential and profitability.

- Analyse customer reviews, search trends, marketplace insights and retail data to uncover unmet consumer needs and whitespace opportunities.

- Benchmark leading Indian and global brands to understand successful product strategies, innovation trends and market positioning.

- Evaluate every opportunity based on strategic fit, scalability, competitive advantage, commercial viability and long-term business potential.

Build Category Strategy:

- Define the long-term vision and strategy for every new category.

- Recommend which categories the company should enter, supported by customer insights and commercial data.

- Build comprehensive business cases covering market opportunity, investment requirements, revenue potential, pricing strategy, cost structure, margins and profitability.

- Define target customer segments, product positioning, assortment strategy, pricing architecture and category expansion roadmap.

- Present recommendations to the founders and drive alignment on category priorities and investment decisions.

Lead New Product Development:

- Convert category opportunities into commercially viable product concepts.

- Define product specifications, customer proposition, key features, materials, pricing, target costs and positioning.

- Work closely with Design teams through concept creation, product development, prototype reviews and design iterations.

- Collaborate with Sourcing and Manufacturing teams to identify suppliers, evaluate manufacturing capabilities, review samples and finalise production-ready products.

- Drive product development from concept through sampling, validation, testing and commercial launch.

Build Commercially Successful Products:

- Develop detailed costing models and pricing strategies for every product.

- Build SKU-level financial models covering gross margins, contribution margins, unit economics and profitability.

- Ensure every product delivers the right balance of customer value, quality, pricing and commercial performance.

- Review commercial viability before approving products for production and launch.

Drive Cross-Functional Execution:

- Partner closely with Design, Sourcing, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing, Finance and Sales teams throughout the product development lifecycle.

- Drive alignment across functions to ensure projects progress on time and meet business objectives.

- Identify risks, resolve execution challenges and ensure smooth product development and launch.

Launch & Scale New Categories:

- Develop go-to-market strategies for new categories across D2C, marketplaces, retail and other sales channels.

- Work with Marketing to define positioning, launch campaigns, product communication and brand storytelling.

- Monitor category performance after launch by analysing sales, customer feedback, ratings, reviews, inventory, margins and overall business performance.

- Continuously identify opportunities to improve products, expand the assortment and scale the category based on customer insights and market performance.

What We're Looking For:

- MBA from a top-tier business school (IIMs, ISB, XLRI, FMS, SPJIMR, MDI, JBIMS or equivalent premier institutes).

- 3-8 years of experience in Category Management, New Product Development (NPD), Brand Management, Product Strategy, Consumer Strategy or Management Consulting.

- Proven experience identifying and launching new products or building new product categories from concept to market.

- Strong commercial acumen with the ability to size markets, build business cases, evaluate unit economics and develop pricing strategies.

- Experience working cross-functionally with Design, Product Development, Sourcing, Manufacturing, Marketing and Operations teams.

- Excellent analytical, problem-solving and decision-making skills, with the ability to make data-driven recommendations.

- Comfortable working in a founder-led, fast-paced environment with high ownership, ambiguity, and the ability to build new businesses from scratch.