Category Service Lead - Water Purifier

Role Purpose

Own and drive the complete Water Purifier Service across the product lifecycle, ensuring superior customer experience, service excellence, operational efficiency, revenue growth, and profitability. The role will work closely with Product Management, R&D, Quality, Sales, Marketing, Supply Chain, and Service teams from product conception to end-of-life support.

Key Responsibilities

Service Operations Excellence

• Ensure achievement of category service SLAs, TAT, FFR, productivity, and customer satisfaction targets.
• Drive operational excellence through Daily Work Management (DWM), Lean, Six Sigma, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Monitor installation, complaints, warranty, and preventive maintenance performance across Direct Service Centers (DSC) and ASP networks.
• Ensure effective CRM utilization, customer registration compliance, and consumer database management.

Category Ownership & Business Responsibility

• Own the overall Water Purifier Service Category performance, including customer satisfaction, operational KPIs, revenue, cost management, and profitability.
• Manage end-to-end service P&L, including warranty cost, spare parts profitability, AMC business, accessories sales, installation revenue, and finished goods referrals.
• Develop and execute category service strategy aligned with business growth objectives.

Product Development & NPD Support

• Represent Service as a key stakeholder in New Product Development (NPD) and stage-gate reviews.
• Provide field insights, voice of customer, serviceability inputs, reliability requirements, and cost optimization recommendations during product design.
• Drive service readiness activities before product launch, including service manuals, spare parts planning, troubleshooting tools, training modules, and SOPs.
• Monitor post-launch performance and drive corrective actions through RCA and CAPA initiatives.

Product Quality & Process Improvement

• Analyze field failures, recurring complaints, and service trends to identify improvement opportunities.
• Lead root cause analysis (RCA) and collaborate with Quality, R&D, and Supplier Development teams for corrective and preventive actions.
• Monitor product reliability, warranty performance, spare consumption trends, and service cost optimization.

Training & Capability Development

• Develop and implement comprehensive training programs for Direct service technicians, Service managers, call center teams, and ASP partners.
• Create technical training modules, e-learning content, SOPs, installation guides, service advisories, videos, and knowledge repositories.
• Drive capability enhancement through field coaching, skill assessments, certification programs, and performance monitoring.

Service Content & Knowledge Management

• Develop and maintain service documentation, troubleshooting guides, installation procedures, technical bulletins, warranty policies, and service advisories.
• Ensure timely communication of product updates and service process changes to all stakeholders.

Spare Parts & Supply Chain Management

• Own spare parts strategy, forecasting, inventory planning, availability, and lifecycle management.
• Optimize spare parts cost, fill rate, inventory health, and service readiness across the network.
• Drive standardization and cost-effective sourcing initiatives.

Customer Experience & Digital Service

• Drive NPS, CSAT, customer retention, and service experience enhancement programs.
• Monitor customer feedback from CRM, contact center, MTRSS customer and marketplaces.
• Lead digital initiatives related to service automation, field mobility, self-service tools, customer communication, and analytics.

Revenue & Business Growth

• Drive AMC, accessories, consumables, spare parts, upgrades, and installation revenue growth.
• Develop service-led business opportunities and customer lifecycle monetization programs.
• Enable referral generation and conversion for Water Purifier finished goods sales.
• Monitor revenue realization, margins, and profitability across all service revenue streams.

Partner & Stakeholder Management

• Manage relationships with DSC team, Branch CS team, ASP partners, Category Business lead, Digital marketing team, Ecom partners, and KAMs.
• Ensure alignment between service operations and business objectives through regular reviews and governance mechanisms.
• Drive marketplace ratings, reviews, and service performance metrics.

Performance Management & Reporting

• Establish and monitor category KPIs, dashboards, and governance mechanisms.
• Review business performance, identify improvement opportunities, and implement corrective actions.
• Prepare periodic MIS, management reviews, business forecasts, and performance reports for leadership.

Key KPIs

• NPS / CSAT
• Service SLA & TAT Achievement
• First-Time Fix (FTFR)
• Installation Success Rate
• Warranty Cost % to Sales
• Spare Parts Availability & Fill Rate
• AMC Revenue Growth
• Accessories & Consumables Sales
• Service Revenue & Profitability
• Field Productivity
• Field Failure Rate (FFR)
• Marketplace Ratings & Reviews
• Product Reliability & Quality Metrics
• Overall Category P&L Performance

Preferred Experience

• 10+ years of experience in Service Operations, Product Support, Consumer Durables, Water Purifiers, Appliances, or Similar Categories.
• Strong exposure to Product Development, Service Operations, Quality, Spare Parts Management, Revenue Generation, and Business Management.
• Proven experience in leading large field service networks and driving customer experience transformation.
• Strong analytical, commercial, stakeholder management, and leadership capabilities.

Education Qualification:

Bachelors degree, MBA with any specialization

Key Skills/Competencies:

• Global mindset - Ability to understand different markets, competitor overview and set the differentiated trend for Vguard
• Excellent domain knowledge
• Problem Solving & Decision making
• Influencing
• Business Acumen
• Strategic Thinking
• Interpersonal Relationships
• Effective Decision Making
• Enabling Change Management and Developing People
• Familiarity with MS office, CRM systems and other CRM related practices
• Excellent communication and presentation skills
• Ability to multi-task, prioritize, and manage time effectively