Bharat Banking: Learning & Development Head - Microfinance

About Bharat Banking
The increasing income diversification, evolution of the tech stack, various government schemes to improve livelihoods, and integrating the country via roads and the internet have provided strong tailwinds to the rural and semi urban (RUSU) or Bharat markets.

To better capitalize on the growth runway and open the world of possibilities for the Bharat customer, the bank has set up a separate Bharat Bank vertical. It is an amalgamation of products and geography, handling certain core products across the country and all the products in the RUSU branches.

The objective is to accelerate the growth journey by expanding distribution reach via branches, partnerships, and digital presence, creating tailored products and processes, and using the One Axis strategy to harness synergies in all parts of the Bank to deliver to the Bharat customer.

The Bank also continues to focus on growing the book profitably by enhancing productivity, improving operational efficiency to reduce cost, and containing risk by leveraging technology such as AI and ML & rigorous portfolio monitoring.
About the Role
.The L&D Head for the Microfinance vertical will be responsible for leading the capability development strategy across the assigned Zone. This role will directly manage the ZMTMs and MTMs to drive functional, behavioral, and compliance training for Field Executives (FEs), Relationship Managers, and ASM across sales and collections. The candidate will play a pivotal role in strengthening frontline effectiveness, managing attrition, enabling digital adoption, and fostering leadership capabilities in alignment with business objectives.
Key Responsibilities
. Strategic Learning & Development Planning
.Design and implement the zonal training calendar aligned with business goals (disbursement, collections, ETB activation, scrub pool utilization).
.Translate business challenges into learning needs through stakeholder consultations and field diagnostics.

.Team Management (ZMTMs & MTMs)
.Provide leadership, guidance, and performance oversight to ZMTMs and MTMs across clusters and branches.
.Ensure coverage, consistency, and quality of delivery across geographies.

.Program Development & Delivery
.Own end-to-end execution of induction, functional, compliance, and behavioral training programs for FEs, RMs, ASMs and other sales/collection hierarchy
.Design and drive Train-the-Trainer (TTT) frameworks with regular certification audits.
.Build custom modules to address zonal-specific challenges

.Capability Building for Productivity and Retention

.Integrate L&D efforts with career progression pathways
.Collaborate with HR to support structured onboarding, refresher programs, and cross-sell capability.
.Introduce FE scorecard-based upskilling interventions.

.Digital Adoption & Training Analytics
.Lead Dista adoption through structured digital training interventions.
.Track training effectiveness using KPIs: productivity uplift, digital penetration, attrition drop, etc.
.Generate monthly dashboards for zone-level L&D performance and present to zonal leadership.
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.Stakeholder Management
.Work closely with Business Heads, Zonal Business heads, Audit, Compliance, and Risk teams.
.Serve as a zonal SPOC for central L&D initiatives and cascade central mandates efficiently.
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. Qualifications & Experience:
.Minimum 8-12 years of L&D experience in BFSI or Microfinance domain.
.At least 3-5 years in a leadership role managing geographically dispersed teams.
.Strong knowledge of microfinance operations, especially field sales & collection rhythms.
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. Skills & Competencies:
.Deep understanding of frontline capability development and adult learning principles.
.Strong communication, facilitation, and stakeholder engagement skills.
.Analytical and tech-savvy, with the ability to interpret training data to drive decisions.
.Proven track record of leading training outcomes tied to business performance.
.Fluency in local language(s) preferred.

Qualifications
Optimal qualification for success on the job is:
.MBA / Postgraduate/Graduate
.4+ years of experience in Banks, NBFC's preferably from Retail banking Program Management, cross sell background, Channel sales or distribution handling roles
Role Proficiencies:
For successful execution of the job, a candidate should possess the following:
.Knowledge
In Depth Knowledge of banking, asset, and liability products.

.Skills
Strong Experience in channel management
Sales planning and development
People Skills/Team management
In Depth knowledge of asset and liability business
Good communication (both verbal & written) and inter-personal skills.

.Abilities
Self-motivated with a passion for taking ownership of your work and delivering outcomes
Proactive, thoughtful, & highly organized able to work under tight deadlines while maintaining impeccable attention to detail.
Ability to work effectively across functions and demonstrated ability to coach and mentor others
Ability to manage risk and uncertainty for self and team within a dynamic priority-setting environment
Ability to prioritize and make decisions in a fast-paced environment Ability to work as a part of team and contribute towards team goals Ability to manage multiple tasks/projects simultaneously.