Havas
Website:
havas.com
Job details:
THE MANDATE- Build and scale Havas India’s Marketplace & Quick Commerce practice—combining strategic consulting, retail media, digital shelf, data and integrated network capabilities to create measurable client growth and a profitable, differentiated business for Havas.
About the role
Havas India is seeking a commercially driven commerce leader to establish Marketplace & Quick Commerce as a scaled, high-impact practice across the network. This is a practice leadership role—not an operational marketplace account-management position. The Vice President will define the proposition, own the business plan and P&L, advise senior clients, lead new-business growth, and build the specialist talent, partnerships and intellectual property required to deliver consistently at scale.
Working across Havas Media, Creative, CX, data, technology and production capabilities, the role will create connected commerce solutions that link brand demand, retail media, digital shelf execution and commercial outcomes. The successful candidate will be equally credible in the boardroom and with platform, sales, media, analytics and delivery teams.
What you will lead:-
Practice strategy, proposition & P&L
- Define the vision, three-year growth roadmap, market positioning and operating model for Havas India’s Marketplace & Quick Commerce practice.
- Own the practice P&L, including annual planning, revenue forecasting, pipeline, pricing, margin, utilisation, investment and profitability.
- Build differentiated, repeatable offerings across marketplace growth, quick-commerce acceleration, retail media, digital shelf, commerce content, analytics and consulting.
- Create scalable commercial models, scopes, governance standards, delivery playbooks and quality controls that protect client outcomes and agency margin.
- Identify emerging commerce opportunities and make clear build, buy or partner recommendations to Havas India leadership.
Business development & growth
- Own commerce revenue targets and convert a qualified pipeline across new and existing Havas clients.
- Lead senior-level pitches, credentials, diagnostic workshops and solution design; turn client challenges into compelling, commercially viable propositions.
- Expand existing relationships by connecting commerce opportunities with Havas capabilities across media, creative, CX, data, technology and production.
- Develop proprietary frameworks, benchmarks, accelerators, case studies and commercial narratives that differentiate Havas in the market.
- Partner with client leaders and internal growth teams to shape account plans, cross-sell strategies and multi-market opportunities.
Executive client advisory
- Serve as a trusted commerce adviser to CMOs, CDOs, e-commerce leaders and sales leadership on growth, transformation and investment priorities.
- Lead annual commerce planning, executive business reviews and transformation roadmaps grounded in category dynamics, consumer behaviour and commercial economics.
- Frame complex marketplace and quick-commerce issues into clear decisions on assortment, availability, pricing, promotions, content, media and measurement.
- Build senior stakeholder alignment across marketing, sales, category, supply chain, finance and agency teams.
- Act as executive sponsor on priority accounts, ensuring strong governance, high-quality work, measurable value and durable client relationships.
Retail media & commerce media
- Set the strategic approach to retail media across marketplaces, quick-commerce platforms and emerging retail media networks.
- Integrate commerce media with broader media planning so audience, creative, investment and measurement work as one connected system.
- Shape full-funnel programmes across sponsored search, display, video, audience activation and off-platform media, aligned to availability and digital-shelf readiness.
- Advance measurement beyond platform-reported ROAS toward incrementality, contribution margin, new-to-brand growth, share gains and longer-term business impact.
- Establish investment governance, experimentation standards and executive reporting that improve both effectiveness and accountability.
Marketplace & quick-commerce strategy
- Lead growth strategies across priority marketplaces and quick-commerce ecosystems, including Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, Nykaa, Blinkit, Zepto and Swiggy Instamart, while adapting to category and client needs.
- Develop advisory frameworks covering portfolio and assortment, pricing, promotions, discoverability, content, ratings and reviews, availability, conversion and profitability.
- Design quick-commerce acceleration plans at city, category and SKU level, linking demand generation with stock, fulfilment and platform economics.
- Guide launch, peak-event and always-on growth planning; identify structural barriers and mobilise the right client, platform and Havas teams to resolve them.
- Maintain a forward view of platform models, advertising products, data access, category shifts and regulatory or ecosystem changes relevant to clients.
Analytics, measurement & intelligence
- Define the commerce measurement architecture across sales, traffic, conversion, availability, share of search/shelf, media efficiency, incrementality and profitability.
- Build executive-ready dashboards and business narratives that turn platform, category, competitor and consumer signals into decisions and actions.
- Create benchmarks and diagnostic methodologies that can be applied consistently across clients, platforms and categories.
- Champion testing and learning, including clear hypotheses, test design, decision rules and knowledge-sharing across the practice.
- Collaborate with Havas data and technology teams to connect first-party data, audience strategy, automation and advanced analytics to commerce use cases.
Partnerships & ecosystem leadership
- Build strategic relationships with marketplace and quick-commerce platforms, retail media networks, commerce technology providers and data partners.
- Develop joint propositions, training, certifications, beta access and innovation programmes that create advantage for Havas clients.
- Establish partner governance and evaluate solutions on client value, interoperability, data quality, scalability and commercial fit.
- Represent Havas India at relevant industry forums and contribute a credible point of view on the future of commerce.
Team & capability building
- Build and lead a multidisciplinary team spanning consulting, marketplace strategy, quick commerce, retail media, digital shelf, content and analytics.
- Define organisation design, roles, career paths, hiring priorities, capacity plans and performance standards for a scalable practice.
- Create a Commerce Centre of Excellence with playbooks, tools, training, quality assurance and reusable knowledge.
- Coach senior talent and upskill account, media, creative, strategy and analytics teams to recognize and activate commerce opportunities.
- Create a culture of commercial accountability, curiosity, collaboration, speed and high standards.
What success looks like
- A differentiated Havas India commerce proposition with clear market relevance and strong executive sponsorship.
- Sustained growth in practice revenue, qualified pipeline, client expansion, gross margin and profitability.
- Material improvements in client commerce outcomes, supported by robust measurement and senior stakeholder confidence.
- High-quality integrated work across Havas disciplines, with effective governance and repeatable delivery standards.
- Strategic platform and technology partnerships that improve capability, access and client value.
- A strong, engaged specialist team with visible career development, retention and succession depth.
- Recognized thought leadership and proprietary IP that strengthen Havas’s reputation in commerce.
Experience & credentials
- Typically 15–18+ years of relevant experience across commerce consulting, agencies, marketplaces, quick-commerce platforms, retail media, consumer brands or related businesses.
- Demonstrated success building or scaling a commerce capability, business unit or consulting proposition—with direct responsibility for revenue and profitability.
- Strong knowledge of India’s marketplace, quick-commerce and retail media ecosystem, with the ability to adapt expertise across categories and markets.
- A track record of advising senior client stakeholders, leading complex pitches and converting strategy into measurable commercial outcomes.
- Experience leading multidisciplinary teams and cross-functional programmes across media, creative, data, technology, sales and operations.
- Commercial fluency in pricing, scoping, forecasting, resource planning, margin management and negotiation.
- Strong analytical judgement and the ability to communicate a clear point of view from imperfect or fragmented data.
Useful platform & tool exposure
Hands-on familiarity with advertising and analytics environments across Amazon, Flipkart, Blinkit, Zepto, Swiggy Instamart and other relevant platforms is valuable. Exposure to commerce intelligence, digital-shelf, pricing or retail-media tools—such as NielsenIQ, Profitero, DataWeave, CommerceIQ or comparable solutions—is helpful, but strategic leadership, commercial impact and learning agility matter more than any single tool.
Leadership attributes
- Enterprise-minded: builds for the network, not only for an individual account or channel.
- Commercially accountable: balances growth ambition with margin, delivery quality and sustainable scale.
- Executive presence: earns trust in senior rooms and communicates with clarity, pragmatism and conviction.
- Integrative: connects specialists and capabilities around the client’s business problem.
- Entrepreneurial: creates propositions, opens doors, makes decisions and builds momentum in ambiguity.
- Talent multiplier: attracts strong people, raises standards and develops future leaders.
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