Business Leader, Contact Lenses

About the role

Lenskart's contact lens business is built to grow and formalize the Indian contact lens category across e-commerce, general trade (optical and medical stores), modern trade, and Lenskart's own retail network. The business competes on quality, affordability, and category education in a market that is still under-penetrated relative to global benchmarks. This is a founder-mode, build-from-the-ground-up mandate for someone who wants P&L ownership of a scaling consumer business.

Role Summary

We are looking for a Business Leader for the Contact Lens business who can operate as the Business Head— owning the P&L end-to-end, building it into a category-defining business, and driving deep, profitable penetration through General Trade (optical stores, chemists, medical stores) alongside e-commerce and modern trade. The ideal candidate is equally comfortable setting brand strategy and walking a market to close a distributor deal — someone who has demonstrably taken a brand from a smaller base to significant scale and translated brand equity into hard revenue and margin outcomes.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the full P&L for the Contact Lens business — revenue, gross margin, trade spends, marketing ROI, and profitability — with direct accountability to leadership for scale and unit economics.
• Define and execute the brand-building agenda: positioning, category creation/education, brand architecture, and communication strategy that builds a top-of-mind contact lens brand in India.
• Build and scale the General Trade (GT) channel — distributor and stockist network, optical/medical store penetration, retailer schemes, margins, and field sales force — as a core growth engine alongside online channels.
• Translate brand investment into measurable revenue: set channel-wise targets, pricing and trade-margin architecture, and promotional calendars that convert visibility into sell-through.
• Lead go-to-market for new product launches (new lens categories, colored lenses, solutions, value packs) from concept through distribution readiness.
• Build and lead a high-performing, multi-functional team across sales, trade marketing, brand marketing, and category management; instill a strong sales and execution culture.
• Partner with manufacturing/supply chain partners to ensure product availability, cost competitiveness, and quality standards are maintained as volumes scale.
• Drive competitive intelligence and market-share tracking (versus brands such as Bausch + Lomb, Johnson & Johnson Acuvue, CooperVision, and regional GT players) to sharpen strategy.
• Own budgeting, forecasting, and business reviews; present performance, risks, and growth plans to CEO/leadership on a regular cadence.
• Build long-term brand equity (NPS, awareness, repeat purchase, trust) in parallel with short-term revenue delivery — balancing brand health with sales pressure.

What We're Looking For

• 10–14 years of overall experience with a proven track record of building or significantly scaling a consumer brand — FMCG, healthcare/pharma, personal care, D2C, or optical/eyewear categories are strong fits.
• Demonstrated General Trade expertise — has built or managed distributor networks, retail schemes, and field sales in a GT-heavy environment; comfortable in the field, not just in a boardroom.
• Strong brand-building credentials — has owned brand strategy/marketing and can show a before/after story of brand scale-up (awareness, market share, or revenue growth).
• P&L ownership experience — has run a business unit, category, or region with full accountability for revenue and profitability, not just a functional mandate.
• Ability to operate at both altitudes: setting 3-year brand vision and personally troubleshooting a distributor escalation in a tier-2 market.
• Strong commercial acumen — pricing, trade margins, working capital, and promotional ROI should be second nature.
• Excellent stakeholder management and team-building skills; experience scaling a lean team into a full-fledged business function.
• An entrepreneurial, hands-on mindset — this is a build role, not a maintain role.
• MBA or equivalent from a reputed institute preferred, though we prioritize demonstrated business outcomes over pedigree.

Why Join

This is a rare opportunity to run a scaling, category-defining contact lens business with the backing, distribution muscle, and manufacturing relationships of the Lenskart Group — while still operating with the speed, ownership, and accountability of a founder. You will build the brand, the channel, and the team from a growth-stage base, with a direct line to leadership and real influence over the category's future in India.