What are the Key Deliverables in this role?

Financial Outcomes

• Innovation Vitality Index: Build and execute an aggressive innovation pipeline delivering 10%+ of annual Capital Foods portfolio revenue through Year 1 and Year 2 launches.

• Gross Margin Accretion: Ensure all newly commercialized propositions meet or exceed corporate gross margin hurdle rates (≥ 40%), delivering margin accretion to the existing core portfolio.

• Business Case & Stage-Gate Modeling: Build rigorous financial business cases, P&L models, volume build-ups, Capex paybacks, and launch viability assessments for executive Stage-Gate signoffs.

• Post-Launch Financial Tracking: Track Year 1 and Year 2 Net Sales Value (NSV), ROI, marketing spend efficiency, and channel profitability against AOP targets.

Customer / Consumer Proposition

• Consumer Immersion & JTBD: Lead comprehensive consumer immersion programs (FGDs, IDIs, CLTs, home visits, ethnography) to translate observations into actionable Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD), unmet need states, and high-potential territories.

• Value Proposition & RTB: Craft compelling product concepts, positioning frameworks, claims architectures, and sharp Reasons-to-Believe (RTBs) capable of recruiting consumers from category leaders.

• Sensory Superiority Benchmarking: Partner with R&D to define product benchmarks, sensory targets, and acceptance criteria, securing ≥ 60:40 preference in Central Location Blind Taste Tests against key competitors.

• Packaging & Brand Innovation: Define packaging functional formats and visual identity to maximize shopper disruption on physical shelves and digital clarity on Quick Commerce carousels.

Internal Processes

• End-to-End Stage-Gate Leadership: Champion project management and cross-functional governance across R&D, Packaging, Manufacturing, Procurement, Supply Chain, Regulatory and Sales.

• Speed-to-Market Turnaround: Compress concept-to-commercialization timelines to 6–9 months without compromising safety, regulatory compliance, or product superiority.

• Risk Mitigation & Compliance: Proactively address manufacturing feasibility, pilot plant trials, line changeover hurdles, vendor stability and 100% adherence to FSSAI packaging/claims standards.

• Channel Customization: Formulate differentiated pack-price architectures tailored for GT affordability, MT premium display packs, and Quick Commerce instant consumption packs.

Innovation and Learning

• Pipeline Coverage Multiplier: Build and manage an 18 to 36 month rolling innovation roadmap maintaining 2x pipeline coverage against annual innovation revenue targets.

• Whitespace & Food Trend Mapping: Continuously track emerging domestic dining-out trends, regional flavour profiles, global Asian culinary innovations, and novel processing/packaging technologies.

• Agile Learning & Micro-Launches: Treat early pilot projects as rapid learning investments, executing low-risk market experiments through Nutrikorner to validate concepts before national rollouts.

• Institutional Knowledge Repository: Document post-launch reviews, sensory playbooks, consumer immersion protocols, and innovation SOPs to scale institutional capability across TCPL.

What are the Critical success factors for the Role?

• Education: Full-time MBA / PGDM in Marketing or related field from a premier institute

• Experience: 8 to 9 years of demonstrated FMCG marketing experience, with at least 3–4 years dedicated to Brand Innovation, New Product Development (NPD) or Category Management in Foods.

• Consumer Insight Mastery: Proven expertise in leading qualitative and quantitative consumer immersion (FGDs, CLTs, one on one studies) and translating insights into winning product architectures and RTBs.

• Cross-Functional Leadership: Track record of driving alignment across diverse stakeholders (R&D, Packaging, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Sales).

• Commercial & P&L Acumen: Deep financial literacy, understanding of unit economics, gross margins, price-pack architecture and channel trade margins.

• Language Requirements: English (fluent written & spoken) and Hindi (fluent spoken required for on-ground domestic consumer immersion and trade visits).

What are the Desirable success factors for the Role?

• Culinary Category Familiarity: Hands-on experience in cooking aids, sauces, condiments, noodles, seasonings or ready-to-cook packaged foods in India.

• Omnichannel Innovation: Exposure to crafting tailored offerings for MT and Q-Com formats.

• Growth Mindset & Learning Agility: Intellectual curiosity, high comfort with ambiguity, and resilience in driving fast-paced experimental innovation