Vice President - New Product Development - Rural Commerce

We are looking to hire who will be spearheading New Product Development (NPD) for our Non-Food FMCG vertical under our private label portfolio. The candidate is expected to build the category from scratch-right from selecting the right SKUs to ensuring quality, supply chain, vendor ecosystem, and long-term strategy.

About Rozana

Rozana is India's fastest-growing rural e-commerce company, delivering everything from groceries to electronics in over 20,000 villages. We are building the commerce backbone of Bharat-connecting India's heartland to quality products and services, affordably and efficiently.

Key Responsibilities

1. Product Strategy & Pipeline

- Identify and prioritize high-potential non-food product categories (e.g., personal care, home care, utility goods, etc.)

- Conduct consumer need-gap analysis, competitive benchmarking, and pricing strategy

- Build a long-term private label roadmap aligned with Rozana's rural-first retail thesis

2. Vendor Development & Manufacturing

- Scout, evaluate, and onboard 3rd-party manufacturers and white-label vendors

- Negotiate contracts, ensure quality standards, and manage vendor relationships

- Drive tech-enabled visibility across vendor performance and cost levers

3. Quality & Packaging Excellence

- Own product testing, safety norms, and quality control frameworks

- Drive innovation in cost-effective and sustainable packaging tailored to rural markets

- Ensure regulatory and labeling compliance for all SKUs

4. Supply Chain Coordination

- Collaborate with central supply chain, warehousing, and store ops teams to ensure seamless supply

- Optimize for availability, low return rates, and efficient logistics across our presence

- Solve for rural pricing, pack sizes, and inventory turns

5. Team Building & Cross-Functional Execution

- Build a high-performance NPD team (product dev, packaging, QC, sourcing)

- Work closely with marketing, category, finance, and analytics teams to drive business

outcomes

- Represent the non-food vertical in leadership reviews and strategy discussions

What We're Looking For

- Experience in FMCG, preferably in private label or NPD roles

- Demonstrated expertise in building products from scratch-right from concept to shelf

- Strong network of contract manufacturers and packaging vendors

- Experience working with rural or mass-market consumer products is a big plus

- Analytical and cost-conscious mindset with deep operational ownership

- Strong negotiation, vendor management, and execution skills