Category Head - Agrochemicals

ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY:

We are partnering with a leading agrochemicals organisation to identify a Category Head who will take end-to-end ownership of the agrochemicals business.

This is a build-and-scale mandate, not a caretaker role. The Category Head owns the P&L, sets the strategic direction of the category, and carries the business from opportunity identification through to commercial delivery with direct leadership of Sales, Procurement and R&D across geographies.

It is designed for a management or strategy consulting professional ready to move from advising on decisions to owning them, or for an operator who has already made that transition and built a business line from the ground up.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

P&L Ownership:

- Lead the P&L for the agrochemicals business unit end to end revenue, gross margin, contribution and market share.

- Drive pricing architecture, product mix and margin management across the portfolio.

- Build and defend the annual operating plan; own forecast accuracy and inventory health in a seasonal, weather-linked demand environment.

Business Building:

- Identify and size the opportunity, define the value proposition, craft the strategy and execute the go-to-market plan.

- Take the category from concept to commercial scale - establishing customers, channels, suppliers and operating rhythm from the ground up.

- Set up the systems, metrics and governance the business needs to scale.

Category Strategy:

- Define the near-term and long-term direction of the category - where to play, how to win, and which crops, segments and geographies to prioritise.

- Shape the portfolio roadmap across technicals and formulations, spanning generics, differentiated combinations and premium brands.

- Evaluate partnership and inorganic routes in-licensing, co-marketing, distribution tie-ups and technical sourcing arrangements.

Portfolio & New Product Development:

- Expand the portfolio in line with market opportunity; own the NPD pipeline from identification through to commercial launch.

- Build the business case for new molecules, combinations and formulations; drive stage-gate decisions with R&D, Regulatory and Supply Chain.

- Partner with Regulatory Affairs on registration strategy and timelines, sequencing launches around registration milestones.

- Own launch excellence positioning, pricing, channel readiness and market activation.

Sourcing, Supplier Development & Supply Chain:

- Secure and develop a reliable supplier base across India and International; build depth and redundancy in critical sourcing lines.

- Negotiate commercial terms and drive landed-cost improvement through the sourcing mix.

- Optimise the end-to-end supply chain lead times, working capital, logistics and inventory balancing cost against service levels.

- Manage exposure to raw material volatility, freight cycles and regulatory or trade disruptions.

- Manage Global Sourcing Team.

Go-to-Market & Commercial Excellence:

- Translate category strategy into channel and field execution across domestic and export markets.

- Define product positioning, agronomic proposition and demand-generation programmes for the relevant customer set distributors, formulators, retailers and growers.

- Strengthen commercial analytics pricing corridors, trade terms and ROI on promotional spend.

Market & Competitive Intelligence:

- Track molecule lifecycles, patent expiries, competitor launches, pricing movements and regulatory shifts and convert these into portfolio actions.

- Build a structured, crop-wise and region-wise view of where the opportunity sits.

Leadership:

- Lead and develop distributed teams across Sales (Global), Procurement (India & China) and R&D.

- Act as the connective tissue across Regulatory, Manufacturing, Supply Chain and Finance.

- Represent the category in leadership reviews and board-level discussions.

CANDIDATE PROFILE:

Background:

- MBA from a Tier-1 institute.

- 814 years of experience with a strong grounding in management / strategy consulting.

- Candidates who have already made the consulting-to-industry transition into a category, product or business-facing role will be preferred.

- A demonstrated record of building a business or BU from scratch - identifying the opportunity, defining the proposition and taking it to market will be a significant differentiator.

Domain:

- Exposure to agrochemicals, crop protection, agri-inputs, fertilisers, seeds or allied agribusiness is a strong advantage.

- Adjacent specialty chemicals experience CASE, performance chemicals, intermediates will also be considered where the business-building track record is strong.

- Familiarity with global sourcing out of India and China, and with US / export market dynamics, will be valued.

Competencies:

- Demonstrated commercial ownership and comfort carrying a number.

- Structured problem-solving and analytical rigour, balanced with pragmatism in execution.

- Ability to lead distributed, cross-cultural teams across time zones.

- Strong negotiation and supplier-management capability.

- Ability to influence senior stakeholders and lead across functions without direct authority.

- Willingness to spend real time in the market with customers, channel partners and suppliers.

WHAT'S ON OFFER:

- Full ownership of a business unit with clear growth ambition and leadership visibility.

- A genuine strategy-to-execution mandate, with the freedom to build rather than inherit.

- Global exposure across sourcing, R&D and commercial markets.