Lead - Partner Management

Croma; Mumbai; On-site; INR 5,000,000 - 8,500,000; Full time

Job summary

Croma is seeking a Lead - Partner Management to govern India's service partner ecosystem, driving performance, customer satisfaction, and service excellence across geographies.

You will lead strategy, onboarding, governance, capacity planning, and commercial management for service partners, ensuring alignment with Tata's promises and business objectives. This leadership role requires collaboration with Finance and Operations teams to deliver a distinguished customer experience.

Qualifications

• 12–18 years in service operations, partner management, or related fields.
• Minimum 5 years in a leadership role managing large partner ecosystems.
• Exposure to consumer durables, retail, telecom, e-commerce, or related industries.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute the national partner management strategy aligned with business and customer objectives.
• Govern the end-to-end partner ecosystem including service centers, logistics, installation, and repair partners.
• Establish governance frameworks, scorecards, and escalation mechanisms for accountability.
• Drive partner development and onboarding, including RFPs and commercial assessments.
• Lead capacity planning, demand forecasting, and resource deployment across locations.
• Collaborate with Finance, Stores Operations, Technology, and Marketing to align customer experience.

Skills

Partner management

Customer experience

Vendor management

Operations governance

Commercial management

Strategic planning

Leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering/Management/Operations

Job description

The Lead - Partner Management will be responsible for governing Tata Croma's service partner ecosystem at a national level to deliver a seamless, scalable, and customer-centric service experience. The role will drive partner performance, customer satisfaction, service excellence, operational governance, commercial management, and strategic partner development while ensuring alignment with organizational objectives and customer promises.

The incumbent will serve as the central leader for partner strategy, onboarding, performance governance, capacity planning, commercial management, process transformation, and customer experience outcomes across all service partners.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and execute the national partner management strategy aligned with business, customer experience, and operational objectives.
• Govern the end-to-end partner ecosystem, including authorized service centers, logistics partners, installation partners, repair partners, and specialized service providers.
• Establish governance frameworks, review forums, performance scorecards, and escalation mechanisms to drive accountability and continuous improvement.
• Drive strategic partner development initiatives to support future business growth and service transformation.

2. Service Delivery & Customer Experience

• Lead end-to-end service delivery through partner networks, ensuring achievement of customer experience and service delivery objectives.
• Own customer experience metrics including CSAT, NPS, DSAT, SLA adherence, service quality, ageing complaints, repeat complaints, and escalation management.
• Drive service recovery mechanisms and ensure timely resolution of customer escalations.
• Identify recurring customer pain points and implement corrective action plans in collaboration with internal and external stakeholders.

3. Partner Performance Management

• Establish performance measurement frameworks for all service partners.
• Monitor adherence to contractual commitments, KPIs, SLAs, compliance requirements, and operating standards.
• Conduct periodic business reviews and performance audits.
• Design improvement plans to enhance service quality, productivity, turnaround time, first-time resolution, and customer satisfaction.

4. Partner Selection, RFP & Onboarding

• Lead the complete partner evaluation and onboarding lifecycle.
• Define partner assessment criteria covering operational capability, service coverage, compliance, technology readiness, commercial viability, and customer service capability.
• Manage RFP processes, partner selection, commercial assessments, due diligence, and contract recommendations.
• Ensure successful onboarding and integration of partners into Croma's service ecosystem.
• Manage partner commercials, rate cards, payment governance, penalties, incentives, and financial reconciliations.
• Collaborate with Finance and Procurement teams to ensure commercial compliance and budget adherence.
• Drive productivity and cost optimization initiatives without compromising customer experience.
• Monitor partner billing accuracy, contract obligations, and financial performance.

6. Capacity Planning & Operational Readiness

• Ensure adequate partner capacity, manpower deployment, technician availability, and infrastructure readiness across locations.
• Drive demand forecasting and resource planning to support seasonal peaks, business growth, and new service launches.
• Monitor operational readiness and service continuity across all partner locations.
• Lead all service improvement programs across partner operations.
• Identify gaps through customer feedback, VOC, audits, operational reviews, complaint analysis, and partner scorecards.
• Drive process standardization, automation, digitization, and operational excellence initiatives.
• Lead implementation of new operating models, policies, technologies, and customer service processes.

8. Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with Stores Operations, Technology, Product, Finance, Marketing, Buying, Supply Chain, HR, Training, and Customer Experience teams.
• Support design and deployment of customer service journeys for new products, services, subscription plans, and service propositions.
• Ensure operational alignment across all stakeholders impacting customer experience.

9. Risk, Compliance & Control

• Identify and mitigate operational, financial, compliance, partner, and customer experience risks.
• Ensure adherence to organizational policies, statutory requirements, audit controls, and service governance frameworks.
• Drive corrective actions arising from audits and compliance reviews.
• Develop business continuity plans for partner operations.
• Drive a culture of accountability, customer centricity, ownership, and continuous improvement.

Education

• Bachelor's Degree in Engineering, Management, Operations, Customer Service, or related discipline.

Experience

• 12-18 years of experience in Service Operations, Partner Management, Customer Experience, Vendor Management, or After-Sales Service.
• Minimum 5 years in a leadership role managing large-scale partner ecosystems across multiple geographies.
• Exposure to Consumer Durables, Retail, Telecom, E-commerce, Technology, Automotive, or Service Industries preferred.
• Proven experience in managing RFPs, partner onboarding, service governance, commercial negotiations, and operational transformation programs.