Business Head - Expansion

Job Description: Business Head - Expansion

Location: Bangalore

Department: Business / Expansion

Experience: 5 - 8 Years

Qualification: MBA from a Top-Tier Business School

About the Company

We are one of India's leading K-12 school networks with a large and rapidly growing presence across the country. As part of our next phase of growth, we are expanding aggressively across existing and new cities through new school launches, takeovers and other expansion formats.

We are looking for a high-calibre Business Head - Expansion who can take complete business ownership of new schools from the pre-launch stage through launch, admissions ramp-up and operational stabilization.

This is a high-impact role requiring a combination of sales orientation, operational excellence, analytical ability and strong execution skills.

Role Overview

The Business Head - Expansion will be responsible for successfully launching and scaling new schools across India.

The individual will work cross-functionally with Sales, Marketing, Operations, Academics, HR, Projects, Finance and other central teams to ensure that every new school is launched on time and achieves its business objectives.

The role requires someone who can move comfortably between strategy and ground-level execution, analysing a market and building a business plan on one day, while solving sales, staffing or operational bottlenecks at a school on another.

Key Responsibilities

1. New School Launches:

- Take end-to-end business ownership of new school launches.

- Develop detailed launch plans covering admissions, marketing, manpower, operations and academic readiness.

- Establish clear timelines and milestones for each new school.

- Coordinate with multiple central and regional teams to ensure that schools are operationally ready before launch.

- Identify potential launch bottlenecks early and drive rapid resolution.

- Ensure smooth transition from project / construction stage to fully operational school.

2. Admissions & Sales:

- Own student admission targets for new schools.

- Develop the sales strategy for each new location based on catchment, competition, pricing and market potential.

- Build and manage the initial admissions / sales teams for new campuses.

- Establish lead management, counselling, follow-up and conversion processes.

- Monitor the complete admissions funnel; leads, appointments, walk-ins, applications and admissions.

- Review sales performance frequently and intervene wherever conversion or productivity is below expectations.

- Drive a strong target-oriented sales culture across expansion schools.

3. Market & Catchment Analysis:

- Evaluate the business potential of new school locations.

- Understand catchment demographics, competing schools, fee structures, parent profiles and market positioning.

- Work with internal teams to determine appropriate pricing, positioning and launch strategy for each school.

- Conduct competitive benchmarking and identify opportunities for differentiation.

- Translate market insights into actionable sales and operating plans.

4. Business Planning & P&L:

- Prepare business plans for new schools covering student ramp-up, revenue, manpower, operating expenses and profitability.

- Own key financial and operating metrics during the initial years of a school.

- Monitor revenue, admissions, costs and profitability against approved business plans.

- Identify deviations early and develop corrective action plans.

- Work with Finance to review budgets, forecasts and unit economics.

- Drive each school towards targeted enrolment, operational efficiency and profitability.

5. School Operations:

- Ensure new schools are operationally ready across all critical areas before opening.

- Establish processes for front office, parent communication, transport, security, housekeeping, facilities and other school operations.

- Ensure high standards of parent and student experience from the first day of operations.

- Monitor operational issues during the stabilization period and drive rapid resolution.

- Ensure company SOPs and operating standards are implemented consistently.

6. Cross-Functional Leadership:

- The Business Head - Expansion will act as the central owner for each new school and coordinate extensively with: Sales & Admissions, Marketing, Academics, Recruitment & HR, Projects & Construction, Procurement, IT, Transport, Finance, Legal, and School Operations.

- The individual will be expected to drive these teams towards common launch timelines and business objectives even where the teams do not directly report to them.

7. Team Building & Leadership:

- Help identify and build leadership teams for new schools.

- Recruit, mentor and manage sales and operational teams where required.

- Establish clear KPIs and accountability for teams.

- Conduct structured performance reviews and intervene quickly when targets are not being achieved.

- Build a culture of ownership, urgency and execution excellence.

8. Stabilisation & Handover:

- Remain closely involved with new schools through the initial ramp-up period.

- Establish stable operating processes and management rhythms.

- Ensure admissions, parent experience, academics and operations reach defined performance standards.

- Transition stabilized schools to the appropriate regional / zonal operating leadership based on agreed milestones.

- Capture learnings from each launch and continuously improve the expansion playbook.

Candidate Profile

We are looking for a high-energy business leader with a strong combination of sales, operations and general management capability.

The ideal candidate should:

- Have 5 - 8 years of post-MBA professional experience.

- Hold an MBA / PGDM from a top-tier business school.

- Have substantial experience in Sales and Operations.

- Have managed meaningful revenue, business targets or P&L responsibilities.

- Have experience leading sizeable teams and working across multiple functions.

- Be highly analytical and comfortable working with numbers, dashboards and business metrics.

- Have demonstrated ability to operate in fast-paced and ambiguous environments.

- Be willing to travel extensively across India as required.

Preferred Background

Candidates from high-growth, multi-location consumer businesses would be particularly relevant, including: Education / EdTech, Retail, Consumer Services, Hospitality, Healthcare, Fitness, QSR, Multi-location businesses, and Start-ups with strong offline operations.

Prior experience in K-12 education is not mandatory, provided the candidate has strong sales and operations experience.

Key Competencies

- Strong sales orientation

- Business and commercial acumen

- P&L understanding

- Operational excellence

- Structured problem-solving

- Data-driven decision-making

- Team leadership

- Stakeholder management

- Project management

- High ownership and accountability

- Ability to execute under aggressive timelines

- Strong communication and influencing skills

Why This Role?

This is an opportunity to play a central role in building one of India's largest K-12 school networks.

Rather than managing one function, the individual will have exposure to the complete lifecycle of building a new business unit; market assessment, business planning, marketing, sales, hiring, operations, academics, P&L and scale-up.

The role provides significant ownership and visibility with senior leadership and is particularly suited to someone who wants to develop into a business leader / general manager with end-to-end P&L responsibility.