Category Head Beauty

Lifestyle; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 1,800,000 - 3,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Max Fashion is building a Beauty business for the Indian value customer. The Senior Buyer / Category Head – Beauty will lead end-to-end category strategy, product proposition, and sourcing, shaping the category from concept to launch.

We seek a Beauty expert and builder who can develop a differentiated offering, establish a robust vendor ecosystem, and drive commercial performance across price, quality and accessibility in a fast-moving retail environment.

Qualifications

• 8–15+ years in Beauty/Cosmetics/Personal Care.
• Strong Buying, Merchandising, Product Development or Category Management.
• Deep understanding of the Indian Beauty industry and its consumer.
• Strong knowledge of Beauty manufacturers, OEM/ODM ecosystem and sourcing landscape.
• Strong understanding of product quality, formulations, packaging and manufacturing.
• Proven ability to identify trends and convert them into commercially successful products.
• Strong commercial understanding of pricing, margins, MOQ, inventory and category economics.
• Demonstrated experience working with multiple vendors and managing product development end-to-end.

Responsibilities

• Lead Beauty category strategy aligned to the Indian value-fashion customer.
• Own end-to-end product development and assortment architecture.
• Build and manage the Beauty vendor ecosystem in India and internationally.
• Set up quality benchmarks and regulatory compliance for Beauty products.
• Collaborate with Marketing/Brand to define product expression and packaging.
• Own category P&L, pricing, margins, and inventory turns.
• Lead cross-functional teams across Design, Supply Chain, Finance, and E-commerce.

Skills

Beauty category management

Sourcing & vendor management

Product development

Brand building

Commercial acumen

Leadership

Strategic thinking

Job description

Job Description Senior Buyer / Category Head – Beauty

About Max Fashion

Max Fashion is one of India’s leading value-fashion retailers, offering contemporary fashion across Apparel, Footwear, Accessories and Non-Apparel categories. As we expand our Non-Apparel portfolio, we are building a Beauty business from the ground up for the Indian value customer.

This is a high-ownership, entrepreneurial opportunity to build a new category within Max, with the potential to shape the product, brand, sourcing, vendor ecosystem and overall Beauty proposition.

Role

Position: Senior Buyer / Category Head – Beauty
Function: Buying – Non-Apparel
Location: Bangalore
Reporting to:

Role Objective

Lead the development and launch of the Beauty category at Max, with end-to-end ownership of the category strategy, product proposition, assortment, sourcing, vendor ecosystem, pricing and commercial performance.

The ideal candidate will be a Beauty industry expert and builder, rather than a traditional buyer. We are looking for someone who has demonstrated the ability to build a category, brand or business in the beauty industry from scratch whether offline or online and can combine deep product knowledge with strong commercial and entrepreneurial thinking.

Key Responsibilities

1. Build the Beauty Category Strategy

• Develop the long-term Beauty strategy for Max aligned to the Indian value-fashion customer.
• Identify consumer needs, trends, white spaces and emerging opportunities.
• Define the category architecture across makeup, nails, lips, eyes, beauty accessories and future Beauty extensions.
• Develop a differentiated Beauty proposition versus value players in retail ecosystem.
• Build the category roadmap from initial launch through scale-up.

2. Product & Assortment Ownership

• Own the product development process end-to-end, from concept to final product.
• Define the right assortment, SKU architecture, shades, finishes, formats, packs and price points.
• Identify trends globally and translate them into commercially relevant products for India.
• Develop hero products as well as a pipeline of newness and trend-led launches.
• Ensure the product proposition balances fashionability, quality, affordability and commercial viability.
• Establish product quality benchmarks appropriate for a national Beauty brand.

3. Sourcing & Vendor Ecosystem

• Build and own the Beauty vendor ecosystem in India and internationally.
• Identify, evaluate and onboard manufacturers, OEMs/ODMs, packaging partners and specialist suppliers.
• Develop strategic relationships with key Beauty manufacturers and suppliers.
• Negotiate commercial terms, MOQs, lead times, exclusivity and innovation partnerships.
• Develop a robust and scalable sourcing architecture that can support significant future growth.
• Identify opportunities for localisation, cost optimisation and supply-chain efficiencies.

4. Product Quality & Technical Expertise

• Bring strong understanding of Beauty product quality, formulation and manufacturing processes.
• Evaluate product specifications, formulations, ingredients, packaging and performance.
• Work closely with Quality, Regulatory and vendors to ensure products meet all applicable Indian regulatory and safety requirements.
• Establish quality standards and product approval processes for the Beauty category.
• Ensure that affordability never compromises consumer safety or product performance.

5. Brand Building

• Partner with Marketing/Brand teams to build the Beauty brand proposition within Max.
• Define the product expression, packaging direction and visual identity from a product perspective.
• Ensure strong alignment between fashion trends, Beauty trends and the Max customer.
• Develop launch calendars, newness strategies and trend drops to create excitement and repeat purchase.

6. Commercial & Business Ownership

• Own category sales, margin, sell-through, inventory and profitability targets.
• Develop the category P&L and commercial plan.
• Establish pricing architecture and opening price points.
• Drive high inventory turns and disciplined SKU productivity.
• Identify opportunities to improve sales density and category productivity.
• Use data and consumer insights to continuously optimise assortment.

7. Cross-functional Leadership

Work closely with:

• Design
• Marketing / Brand
• Quality & Regulatory
• Supply Chain
• Planning
• Finance
• Store Operations
• E-commerce
• Packaging / Product Development

The candidate will be expected to lead through influence and create the operating model required to build Beauty as a new category within Max.

What We Are Looking For

Must Have

• 8–15+ years of relevant experience in Beauty / Cosmetics / Personal Care / Colour Cosmetics.
• Strong experience in Buying, Merchandising, Product Development or Category Management.
• Deep understanding of the Indian Beauty industry and its consumer.
• Strong knowledge of Beauty manufacturers, OEM/ODM ecosystem and sourcing landscape.
• Strong understanding of product quality, formulations, packaging and manufacturing.
• Proven ability to identify trends and convert them into commercially successful products.
• Strong commercial understanding of pricing, margins, MOQ, inventory and category economics.
• Demonstrated experience working with multiple vendors and managing product development end-to-end.

Strongly Preferred

Experience in building a Beauty brand, category or product business from scratch, including:

• Launching a new Beauty brand
• Building a private-label Beauty portfolio
• Setting up a Beauty sourcing/vendor ecosystem
• Launching a new category within a retailer
• Working with OEM/ODM partners to develop proprietary products
• Scaling a Beauty business from early stage to meaningful scale

Experience with value / mass / masstige Beauty will be particularly relevant.

The Profile We Want

We are specifically looking for an individual who demonstrates:

Entrepreneurial mindset
Someone comfortable operating in ambiguity, creating processes from scratch and making decisions without an established playbook.

Beauty expert
Someone who genuinely understands products—not just the commercial side of Beauty.

Builder
Someone who has launched something new and can demonstrate what they personally built, rather than only managing an established portfolio.

Product obsessed
Strong understanding of formulations, shades, finishes, packaging, consumer usage and product quality.

Sourcing expert
Deep knowledge of manufacturers, OEMs/ODMs, packaging suppliers and the broader Beauty ecosystem.

Commercially sharp
Able to translate consumer insight and product trends into the right price point, margin, MOQ and volume equation.

Fast & agile
Beauty at Max will operate with a fashion mindset—high newness, fast trend translation and rapid product development.

Influential leader
Able to build relationships with vendors and cross-functional teams and lead a new business without requiring a large team from day one.

Key Thought

This is not a traditional Buying role.

We are looking for a Beauty entrepreneur within a large retail organisation—someone who can take an opportunity, build the product and supplier ecosystem, create the proposition and ultimately build Beauty into a meaningful business for Max.