Assistant Vice President/Deputy Vice President Distribution HR

1. Strategic HR Business Partnership:

Serve as the trusted senior HR advisor to the Bancassurance and Direct Sales leadership, embedding HR strategy into business strategy rather than responding to it after the fact.

• Co-create and execute the annual and multi-year HR agenda for both channels in direct partnership with the respective Channel Heads, translating business growth plans (branch/partner expansion, sales force ramp-up, productivity targets) into workforce and organization design implications.

• Sit as a core member of the channel leadership forums, bringing an independent, data-backed HR point of view to business reviews rather than a purely administrative presence.

• Proactively diagnose organizational health across the channels attrition patterns, span of control, cost-to-serve, capability gaps and convert diagnosis into a prioritized action plan agreed with business leaders.

• Own organization design and manpower planning for the channels, including role rationalization, span-of-control norms and structure changes as the channels scale or restructure.

• Represent the channels' HR interests in enterprise HR forums, ensuring central HR policy, systems and initiatives are adapted sensibly to the realities of a large, geographically dispersed, target-driven field sales force.

2. Talent Acquisition & Employer Branding:

Own hiring end-to-end for the channels not merely oversee it including strategy, sourcing mix, cost and quality of hire, and time-to-fill against aggressive field expansion targets.

• Design and own the talent acquisition strategy for Bancassurance and Direct Sales, covering leadership hiring, feet-on-street sales hiring, and specialist roles, in line with the channels' growth and expansion plans.

• Build and manage a scalable hiring engine appropriate to high-volume field sales recruitment including channel partners, recruitment agencies, campus/lateral pipelines and internal mobility while keeping cost-per-hire and quality-of-hire within target.

• Own onboarding and induction for new joiners across levels, ensuring faster time-to-productivity for field sales hires in particular.

• Build and protect employer brand for the channels in the market, positioning the organization as an employer of choice for sales and bancassurance talent nationally.

• Partner with business to forecast workforce demand against sales targets, branch/partner rollouts and seasonal hiring cycles, and maintain a rolling manpower plan rather than a reactive one.

• Track and report TA metrics (fill rates, sourcing mix effectiveness, early attrition of new hires, cost of hire) to business and HR leadership, and course-correct sourcing strategy accordingly.

3. Talent & Performance Management:

Own the full talent lifecycle for the channels identifying, developing and retaining critical talent, and running a credible, differentiated performance management system.

• Drive the annual performance review cycles for the channels, ensuring calibration rigor, differentiation of ratings and timely closure across a large, dispersed employee base.

• Own talent reviews and succession planning for critical and leadership roles within the channels, building bench strength for key sales leadership and bancassurance relationship roles.

• Identify high-potential talent and partner with L&D to build development and career pathing interventions specific to a sales/bancassurance career track.

• Drive retention strategy for critical and high-performing talent, including early-warning attrition analytics and targeted retention interventions.

4. Employee Relations & Stakeholder Management:

Own employee relations end-to-end for the channels, and manage the complex, multi-party stakeholder ecosystem that bancassurance and direct sales channels operate within.

• Own resolution of employee grievances, disciplinary matters, and workplace conduct issues across the channels, ensuring fair, consistent and timely closure in line with policy and law.

• Build and sustain top-class relationships with senior stakeholders on both sides of the table internal Channel Heads and sales leadership.

• Act as the primary HR escalation point for sensitive, high-visibility, or reputationally significant people matters within the channels, exercising sound judgment on when to involve Legal, Compliance or the SVP HR.

• Manage relationships with external stakeholders relevant to the channels bank partners, staffing/recruitment partners, and industry bodies ensuring HR is seen as a credible, responsive partner rather than a bottleneck.

5. HR Policy, Engagement & HR Projects:

Own the policy and engagement charter for the channels, and lead or co-lead HR projects that materially improve how the channels operate.

• Design, adapt and implement HR policies and processes for the channels that meet industry, regulatory (IRDAI) and organizational standards, while remaining fit for the realities of a field sales workforce.

• Own the employee engagement calendar for the channels recognition programs, connect sessions, team-building initiatives and pulse surveys and convert survey/listening insights into concrete action plans.

• Lead or co-lead cross-functional HR projects and change initiatives relevant to the channels for example, incentive redesign, organization restructuring, HRIS/tech rollouts, or culture-building initiatives from scoping through to adoption.

• Bring an enterprise mindset to policy design balancing what is right for the channel against what is sustainable and consistent for the wider organization.

6. Team Management & Capability Building:

Build and lead a high-performing HR team dedicated to the channels, and personally raise the HR capability bar within it.

• Provide clear direction, priorities and performance standards to the Banca and Direct Sales HR team, ensuring the team operates as a proactive business partner function rather than a transactional one.

• Coach and develop the HR team through regular feedback, stretch assignments and structured development plans, building a pipeline of HRBP and TA talent within the function.

• Set and hold the team accountable to clear service standards and turnaround times for hiring, ER resolution and query handling, given the scale and geographic spread of the channels.

• Model and reinforce a data-driven, business-first way of working within the HR team, using people metrics and dashboards to drive decisions rather than anecdote.

SUCCESS OUTCOMES / WHAT GOOD LOOKS LIKE:

• Channel leadership consistently views HR as a strategic co-owner of business outcomes, not an administrative support function.

• Time-to-fill, cost-of-hire and early attrition for field sales roles are within agreed benchmarks, with a healthy, forecastable hiring pipeline at all times.

• Attrition of critical and high-performing talent within the channels is proactively managed and trending favourably.

• Employee relations matters are resolved fairly, consistently and within defined turnaround times, with no unresolved reputational or compliance exposure.

• Engagement scores and participation for the channels meet or exceed enterprise benchmarks.

• The channel HR team is seen as high-performing, well-regarded internally, and a source of promotable HR talent for the wider organization.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE:

• MBA/PGDM in Human Resources or equivalent postgraduate qualification from a reputed institute.

• 12-16 years of progressive HR experience, with a significant portion in HR Business Partnering and Talent Acquisition roles within BFSI, preferably life insurance.

• Demonstrated experience partnering with sales/distribution leadership in a target-driven, geographically distributed business environment.

• Prior experience managing bancassurance or partner-channel HR, or equivalent experience managing HR for a channel that operates through external partner relationships, is strongly preferred.

• Proven track record of owning high-volume recruitment engines and building employer brand in a competitive talent market.

• Strong exposure to performance management, talent reviews, succession planning and incentive/variable pay design for sales organizations.

• Experience leading and developing HR teams, including HRBPs + TA specialists, across multiple locations.

KEY COMPETENCIES:

• Strategic & Long-term Orientation connects channel HR decisions to enterprise business goals and long-term organizational value.

• Enterprise Mindset balances channel-specific needs against enterprise consistency and long-term organizational value.

• Stakeholder & Relationship Management builds trust-based relationships with internal leadership and external bank/partner counterparts.

• Business Acumen understands the commercial and operating drivers of bancassurance and direct sales distribution.

• Talent & People Leadership builds and develops high-performing teams and identifies/nurtures critical talent.

• Judgment & Decision-Making resolves complex, sensitive ER and stakeholder situations with sound, defensible judgment.

• Drive for Results owns outcomes end-to-end in a fast-paced, high-volume, target-driven environment.

• Change Leadership leads HR projects and organizational change through to adoption, not just design.