Meller India Head

Lenskart.com; Gurugram District; On-site; INR 4,000,000 - 7,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Lenskart's Meller India is seeking a founder-minded leader to own the P&L and drive growth across retail, e-commerce, and brand building from the India HQ in Gurgaon.

You will define strategy, build the team, and run store and online channels, shaping category, pricing, partnerships, and performance to make Meller India a category leader in sunglasses.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in business leadership, general management, or P&L ownership with D2C exposure.
• Ability to own and grow a P&L balancing revenue, margin and working capital.
• Strong grounding in brand building, retail operations, and consumer behaviour.
• Entrepreneurial track record building or scaling a business, brand, or new market.
• Experience collaborating with global teams and balancing brand consistency with local relevance.
• Proven cross-functional leadership across commercial, retail, marketing, and finance.

Responsibilities

• Own Meller India's P&L end-to-end including revenue, margin, and profitability.
• Define and drive Meller India's growth strategy and market entry sequencing.
• Lead retail rollout and performance across stores and online channels.
• Shape category and assortment strategy for Indian consumers.
• Drive D2C growth on Lenskart app and website.
• Identify new channels and partnerships to extend reach.
• Build and lead a lean India team and report to Meller and Lenskart leadership.
• Collaborate with Barcelona team and local functions to ensure alignment.

Skills

P&L ownership

Brand & retail

Entrepreneurial mindset

Cross-border collaboration

Stakeholder leadership

Team leadership

Founder's mentality

Education

Bachelor's/Master in Business

MBA preferred

Job description

Mission Brief: Build and Scale Meller as a Business in India

Meller, Lenskart's Barcelona-born, D2C-first sunglasses brand is entering its next chapter in India. Known for bold silhouettes, expressive colourways, and a design language rooted in Barcelona's street culture, Meller has a cult following of 700K+ on Instagram and a strong Gen Z and Millennial fan base across Europe and the U.S.

This role owns Meller as a business in India end-to-end P&L, growth strategy, and operational execution across retail, e-commerce, and marketing. Sitting at Lenskart's India HQ, you will effectively run Meller India as a founder would: setting the strategy, building the team, and making the commercial, brand, and operational calls that turn Meller to a category-leading sunglasses brand in India.

This is a builder's role at the intersection of business leadership, brand, and retail. You'll work closely with the global Meller team in Barcelona, Lenskart's leadership, and internal functions spanning category, retail, e-commerce, supply chain, and finance while building a lean India team to execute the mission.

Core Mandate: Business Ownership & P&L Leadership

1. Business Strategy & P&L Ownership (The Founder Focus)

P&L Ownership: Own Meller India's P&L end-to-end — revenue, margin, and profitability — making the trade-offs needed to build a healthy, scaling business.

Business Strategy: Define and drive Meller's India growth strategy — market entry sequencing, channel mix, pricing, and expansion roadmap across retail and online.

Brand Architecture Fit: Position Meller within Lenskart's house-of-brands portfolio (alongside John Jacobs, Owndays, and Le Petit Lunetier), with clear differentiation in price, design, and audience.

Investment & Resource Allocation: Decide where to invest — stores, marketing, people, technology — to maximise growth and return, and build the business case for future investment.

2. Retail, Category & Channel Execution (The Growth Focus)

Retail Rollout & Performance: Own store performance and expansion across the ~500 launch stores and beyond — driving sell-through, productivity, and the store economics that justify further rollout.

Category & Assortment Strategy: Partner with category and buying teams to shape the assortment strategy, ensuring product-market fit for Indian consumers while staying true to Meller's global design DNA.

E-commerce & D2C Growth: Drive Meller's presence and growth across Lenskart's app, website, and D2C channels, balancing brand experience with commercial performance.

Channel & Partnership Development: Identify and build new channels and partnerships — marketplaces, collaborations, wholesale, or others — that extend Meller's reach in India.

3. Brand, Marketing & Consumer Experience

Brand Custodianship: Ensure Meller's brand voice, positioning, and consumer experience in India stay true to its bold, design-led, youth-first DNA within global brand guidelines.

Marketing Strategy Oversight: Set the direction for Meller's marketing engine in India — brand campaigns, influencer and community building, and performance marketing — and hold the team accountable for outcomes.

Consumer Insight: Build a strong read on the Indian Gen Z and Millennial consumer — fashion trends, buying behaviour, and sentiment — to keep Meller's proposition sharp.

4. Global Coordination, Team & Stakeholder Leadership

Global Coordination: Serve as the primary interface between the Barcelona-based Meller team and Lenskart's India leadership — aligning on strategy, brand consistency, and market learnings.

Cross-Functional Leadership: Work closely with Retail, E-commerce, Category, Supply Chain, and Finance to ensure the business runs as one integrated system.

Team Building: Build, mentor, and lead a lean, high-performing India team capable of running Meller as an independent, founder-led business within Lenskart.

Leadership Reporting: Own business reviews and reporting cadences with Lenskart and Meller global leadership — covering performance, strategy, and course corrections.

The Essentials

• Experience: Proven experience in business leadership, general management, or P&L ownership roles, with meaningful experience building or scaling a D2C brand; exposure to fashion/lifestyle, retail, or consumer brands is a strong plus, as is an entrepreneurial bent of mind.
• P&L & Commercial Acumen: Proven ability to own and grow a P&L — balancing revenue growth, margin, and working capital while making sound commercial trade-offs.
• Brand & Retail Understanding: Strong grounding in brand building, retail operations, and consumer behaviour, particularly within fashion, lifestyle, or eyewear categories.
• Entrepreneurial Track Record: Experience building or scaling a business, brand, or new market with founder-like ownership, ideally in a fast-growing or category-disrupting environment.
• Cross-Border Collaboration: Experience or strong aptitude for working with global teams, balancing brand consistency with local market relevance.
• Stakeholder & Team Leadership: Proven ability to lead cross-functional teams and influence senior leaders across commercial, retail, marketing, and finance functions.
• Education: Bachelor's or Master's in Business, Marketing, Economics, or a related discipline. MBA preferred.

The Mindset

• Founder's Mentality: You think and act like you own the business — chasing outcomes, not just tasks, and taking full accountability for Meller's success in India.
• Brand Storyteller: You understand how to turn a brand's design DNA into stories and experiences that resonate with a new generation of consumers.
• Globally Minded, Locally Grounded: You carry a brand's global identity faithfully while adapting it with nuance for Indian consumers and platforms.
• Commercially Grounded: You balance brand ambition with the discipline of running a healthy, profitable business.
• Entrepreneurial Bent of Mind: You're comfortable with ambiguity, quick to take ownership, resourceful with limited support, and driven to make things happen rather than wait for a playbook.
• Collaborative Operator: You move easily between strategic, creative, and commercial conversations, working across category, retail, and global brand teams to get things done.
• Execution-Focused: You don't just set strategy — you see it through, chase details, and hold the bar high at every touchpoint.