Category Manager/ Portfolio Manager

About the Role

You will own our full product portfolio as a business: crop nutrition (fertilizers, micronutrients, biostimulants, organic inputs) and crop protection (insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, plant growth regulators). You decide what we sell, at what price and margin, and what we launch or retire, and you make sure sales and marketing execute on it. You will lead the category team, starting with the Category Manager for crop nutrition, and report to the leadership team.

What You Will Own

• Portfolio strategy: set strategy and the investment balance between nutrition and protection; classify the portfolio every season (for example, ABCD by contribution) and decide which SKUs to grow, fix, or retire.
• Pricing and margin: set prices against competitor reference prices, own gross margin and contribution by SKU and category, and keep scheme spend under control.
• New products: identify launch opportunities from farmer needs, pest and deficiency trends, and market gaps; take launches from decision to first-season result, including crop-stage packs that combine nutrition and protection.
• Execution with sales: turn category priorities into focus SKUs, call scripts, incentives and daily tracking for a telesales and app-based sales team.
• Execution with marketing: brief content, app, WhatsApp and campaign teams by crop, stage, pest and season, and measure the sales impact.
• Demand and inventory: plan seasonal demand with supply chain, and manage stock cover and liquidation of ageing stock.
• Vendors and regulatory: negotiate pricing and terms with manufacturers; work with the regulatory team on registrations, FCO compliance and label claims.
• Competition: track competitor products, prices and schemes in our key states and respond to them.
• Team and reviews: lead and develop the category team; run weekly and monthly category reviews with sales, supply chain and finance, and present growth plans to leadership.

What Success Looks Like in Year One

• Higher category contribution margin, with scheme spend under control.
• Both portfolios classified, with dead SKUs retired.
• Successful kharif and rabi launches in both categories.
• Crop-stage bundles that lift order value.
• Focus SKUs selling through telesales and apps without depending on discounts.
• A category team running a reliable weekly review rhythm.

What We Are Looking For

• Degree in Agriculture, Agronomy, Horticulture, or Agribusiness. An MBA is a plus.
• 5 to 10 years in the agri-input industry, including at least 5 years in category, product, or brand management with direct ownership of pricing, portfolio, or launches.
• Hands-on experience in both crop nutrition and crop protection. Deep expertise in one with working knowledge of the other is acceptable.
• Experience leading a team and getting sales and marketing to execute without direct authority.
• Strong knowledge of leading molecules and brands, crop cycles and farmer buying behaviour in central and north India.
• Comfortable with margin, contribution, and scheme economics; makes decisions from data.
• Fluent Hindi is required. Our sales team and most of our customers work in Hindi.
• Experience in direct-to-retailer, agritech, or app-based selling is preferred.