Country Leader India

Position Overview

The West APAC Commercial Unit leader (Country Leader) will lead the seed business in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, with direct reporting accountability of the commercial function and directional accountability for all supporting functions. This role is responsible for building the culture and values across the organization, delivering overall business performance, and the design and execution the country’s strategic business objectives and priorities to drive profitable growth for the Seed business.

The India seed business represents one of the most compelling high value growth opportunities in the company. India is currently the largest country in the Region, 4th largest country in the world and has the potential to grow to the 3rd largest country in the near-term planning horizon. Well defined organic growth opportunities exist in all four current crops (corn, mustard, rice and millet) to further expand on our market leadership position while supporting key India Govt Agricultural policies. In addition, we are uniquely positioned to support new frontier developments such as Ethanol, SAF, GE and SAT/Biologicals which can all act as near and long-term growth accelerators.

These complex and very compelling opportunities and the growth potential of the business will materially change the profile of the India business both internally and externally. The business will require a leader with very strong strategic leadership skills to shape this business transformation, with exceptional communication skills to internally and externally develop and represent the business, technology and employee group to internal and external stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop, maintain and actively role model company Values and Culture
• Create a high performing and sustainable employee talent pool by developing, supporting and importing talent to meet changing business and technology needs
• Responsible for the P&L and driving rapid and profitable market share growth of the business
• Build and lead a cross-functional team to oversee all aspects of the business and drive business and technology advancement
• Develop and execute a growth strategy in line with market opportunities, organizational goals and expectations
• Build and retain a strong external network of industry/Govt leaders and influencers to understand market/industry dynamics and position our business appropriately for technology expansion and growth
• Internally, represent and report up all aspects of the India business to global and regional stakeholders
• Externally represent the company profile and strategy with Govt, Industry, Regulatory, Media and Investor (as required) stakeholders
• Coordinate as the primary interface with the Regional Leadership and Global Portfolio Leadership for all key strategic elements in the region
  
  

• A Bachelor’s/Master’s degree in marketing or business-related field.
• Senior Management experience in the Food, Pharma or Agricultural marketplace
• Solid track record of P&L management
• Proven people leader and developer of talent
• Established Industry network, where possible
• Exceptional communication skills, internal and external. Media training required.
  
  

• Can build a high functioning Commercial Unit Leadership Team and South Asia Leadership Team to steward company culture/values, develop talent and get strong alignment on strategic objectives.
• In collaboration with country and regional stakeholders, create a clear strategic growth plan with defined investment choices and ROI.
• Conduct customer and market visits to gain knowledge of market and competitors. Understand the future trends in the market, new technologies, etc.
• Curiosity + learning agility. Especially if a non-Ag background, they must be able to show examples of learning agility in near spaces and ability to quickly develop strategic structure.
• Direct and develop communication plans in collaboration with BU senior leadership to be deployed throughout the key customer-facing touchpoints (digital, advertising, packaging, PR, etc) including in collaboration with sales team for execution through partners.
• Help BU leaders drive business initiatives and capture opportunities in key categories.