National sales head - distributor partnerships

Title: National Sales Head (Domestic Generics)

Location: Mumbai

Industry: Pharmaceutical Manufacturing

Experience: 12+ years of experience in the Pharma Industry

OVERVIEW

We seek a seasoned and strategic National Sales Head to lead and scale the Domestic Generics business for pharmaceutical manufacturing operations across India. The ideal candidate will have a strong track record of building, appointing, and managing distributor networks that drive further sales. The role requires strong channel management capability, distributor relationship-building, and the ability to scale a nationwide distribution-led sales organisation.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership

Develop and execute the national sales strategy for the Domestic Generics business, aligning with organisational growth objectives. Drive revenue, profitability, market share expansion, and business development initiatives across India through the distributor channel. Identify emerging market and channel opportunities and formulate strategies to strengthen the company's competitive positioning as a generics manufacturer. Collaborate with senior leadership to define annual business plans, sales forecasts, and growth targets.

Distributor & Channel Management

Identify, evaluate, and appoint distributors across target geographies to drive primary, secondary, and tertiary sales of the generics portfolio. Build and manage a robust nationwide distributor network, ensuring adequate coverage, credit management, and consistent performance across all regions. Monitor and drive distributor performance against sales targets, working closely with them to expand reach into pharmacies, retail chemists, and other trade partners. Design and implement distributor engagement programs, incentive structures, and periodic business reviews to strengthen partner relationships and drive mutual growth. Ensure appropriate distributor onboarding, agreements, credit terms, and compliance with company policies. Continuously evaluate and optimise distributor network structure to improve coverage, efficiency, and profitability.

Sales Management

Lead and manage nationwide sales operations across multiple regions, zones, and territories through the distributor network. Drive achievement of sales targets through effective planning, execution, and performance management at the distributor and field team level. Monitor key business metrics including primary/secondary/tertiary sales, distributor productivity, sales velocity, and market penetration. Establish robust sales governance frameworks, reporting systems, and performance tracking mechanisms across the distribution chain.

Team Leadership & Development

Build, mentor, and lead a high-performing sales organisation. Foster a culture of accountability, performance excellence, and partner-centricity across the internal team and distributor network.

Market & Trade Development

Build and strengthen relationships with distributors, stockists, retail chemists/pharmacies, and other trade partners. Ensure effective coverage and expansion of the company's generics product portfolio across target markets through the distribution network. Monitor competitor activities, market trends, distributor pricing/margins, and trade requirements. Drive market and channel intelligence initiatives to support business decisions and product/portfolio strategy.

Business Planning & Commercial Excellence

Lead annual sales planning, territory and distributor network optimisation, incentive design, and resource allocation. Partner closely with cross-functional teams to ensure business alignment and adequate product supply to distributors. Optimise distribution and channel sales processes, enhancing field force and distributor effectiveness through data-driven decision-making. Ensure efficient management of sales budgets, distributor credit exposure, and trade scheme spends.

Qualifications and Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Pharmacy, Life Sciences, Science, or a related discipline. MBA in Marketing, Sales, or General Management preferred. Significant experience in Domestic Generics sales within a pharmaceutical manufacturing organisation, with a distributor/channel-led sales background. Proven track record of appointing, managing, and scaling distributor networks that drive further sales into pharmacies and retail trade. Proven success in leading national or multi-regional distributor-driven sales operations. Experience managing large field sales teams across India with a strong focus on channel/distributor management rather than institutional or prescription-based selling. Strong understanding of the Indian pharmaceutical distribution ecosystem, trade channels, stockist/distributor economics, and retail pharmacy dynamics. Demonstrated track record of consistently delivering ambitious revenue and growth targets through channel partners.