PeopleStrong
Website:
peoplestrong.com
Company:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/peoplestrong
Seniority: Mid-Senior level
Industries: Wholesale Building Materials and Building Construction
Job details:
Role Purpose
This role sits at the intersection of technology, commercial strategy, and market development — translating formulation expertise and market intelligence into profitable, differentiated products that strengthen Pidilite's leadership in the Indian construction, woodworking, automotive, and industrial maintenance segments.
The role requires an individual who combines deep technical knowledge of polymer with strong commercial instincts — capable of managing product P&L, driving innovation pipeline, and engaging directly with customers, distributors, and internal stakeholders at the highest levels.
Product Portfolio Management & Strategy
- Own the complete product lifecycle across all SKUs and pack sizes.
- Define and execute the multi-year product strategy for each category — positioning, lifecycle management, portfolio rationalization, and SKU pruning based on volume, margin, and strategic fit.
- Develop and maintain product differentiation frameworks — clearly articulating USPs, competitive advantages, and application benefits for each product vs. competition.
- Drive annual and long-term product planning in alignment with Business Head — including volume projections, capacity requirements, and market opportunity sizing.
- Conduct product profitability analysis across SKUs, regions, and channels — identifying opportunities to improve Contribution Margin through pricing, formulation, or pack-size decisions.
Manage product rationalization: analyse slow-moving inventory, negative-CM products, and regional demand imbalances — provide structured recommendations for lifecycle decisions.
New Product Development & Launch (NPD)
- Lead the innovation pipeline for assigned categories — define new product briefs, prioritize projects, and drive commercialization through Pidilite's stage-gate process (Pi2M).
- Build and present board-level investment cases for new product projects — including market sizing, competitive analysis, formulation feasibility, financial projections, risk assessment, and go/no-go recommendation.
- Coordinate with R&D teams for timely development and launch of new products — define product specifications, performance targets, and application trial parameters.
- Conduct product trials with end-users and distributors — gather structured feedback, manage consumer trial panels, and generate trial evaluation reports.
- Define the annual NPD plan for the category — communicate pipeline progress quarterly to R&D, SCM, and Commercial teams.
- Coordinate with SCM and packaging teams for production readiness, BOM finalization, and supply chain alignment for new product introductions.
- Develop launch materials — product technical notes (PTN), USP documentation, sales training decks, application guides, and field demonstration kits.
- Work closely with R&D to align external raw material sourcing for core business growth and formulation improvement projects.
- Manage monthly NPD pipeline reviews — track milestone adherence, identify bottlenecks, and escalate delays proactively.
Market Intelligence & Competitive Analysis
- Develop, collate, and maintain structured market intelligence for assigned segments — covering competitor products, pricing, distribution, and application innovations.
- Identify and analyse key emerging trends in end-use industries (construction, automotive, woodworking, industrial) — translate insights into product development priorities and commercial strategy.
- Conduct regular competitive benchmarking — product performance, pack size, price point, channel strategy, and marketing claims of key competitors.
- Visit customers, their end-customers, applicators, and distributors across India — gather voice-of-customer insights and feed back into innovation pipeline.
- Scout, identify, and evaluate new application opportunities and customer segments for portfolio expansion.
- Conduct product replication analysis for new product launches — benchmark against best-in-class global alternatives.
Product Promotion, Branding & Communication
- Develop product literature, technical brochures, application guides, success stories, and promotional materials
- Create and deliver technical training programs for internal sales teams, distributor teams, and key retail partners — covering product chemistry, application techniques, and competitive differentiation.
- Work with Technical Development / Business Development teams to identify critical Unique Selling Propositions — promote these through technical presentations, application demonstrations, and field visits.
- Develop digital and field-level product knowledge tools — FAQs, quick reference cards, video demonstrations — to enable effective customer-facing conversations.
- Represent Pidilite at industry events, trade shows, and customer seminars as the technical and product expert.
Complaint Management & Technical Support
- Manage product quality, application, and packaging complaints — from receipt to closure.
- Conduct or support Root Cause Analysis (RCA) using structured methodologies— implement and verify CAPA effectiveness.
- Provide technical application support to regional sales teams and key customers — including on-site visits for critical complaint resolution.
- Develop and maintain a complaint tracking system — generate monthly complaint analysis reports for Business Head highlighting trends and systemic issues.
- Liaise with R&D and quality teams to implement formulation or process improvements arising from complaint patterns.
- Manage PCMS portal.
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