- Role
- Modern Trade & Key Accounts Executive
- Experience
- 3–5 years in modern trade or key accounts, in packaged foods
- Location
- Gurugram. Split between account offices, store visits and the desk work modern trade demands.
Who we are, and why we exist
Ashnoor is a mustard oil brand run by a family that has been in this trade since 1998. For twenty years we sold other people's oil across a counter in Agra. That is long enough to learn which names a shopkeeper reaches for without being asked, and which ones he has to talk a customer into. In 2018 we put our own name on a bottle.
That is a harder thing than it sounds. A family does not walk in and ask for mustard oil. They ask for the one they had last time — wahi wala dena. Earning that one sentence is the entire business. It is why we would rather be plain about what is in the pack than clever about what it does. We make no health promises and no miracle claims. We promise the same oil, in the same pack, every time, carrying a batch code that leads back to a person who answers for it.
We are still a small house. These roles are open because the work has outgrown the people doing it — not because a deck said to hire. Whoever takes these seats will set how a young brand behaves for a long time.
So, who are we looking for?
General trade is a conversation with a shopkeeper. Modern trade is a contract with a buyer, and then a hundred small operational things that decide whether the contract was worth signing.
A listing means nothing on its own. What matters is whether the purchase order actually arrives, whether we fill it, whether the stock reaches the shelf instead of the back room, whether the planogram we agreed to is the planogram in the aisle, and whether the margin left after listing fees, promotions, damages and claims is a margin at all. Plenty of brands are listed in chains that lose them money.
This role owns that whole chain of events for our modern trade accounts. It is part relationship, part operations and part arithmetic — and the arithmetic is the part most people skip.
What you’ll be owning
The accounts themselves
Buyer relationships across the chains we sell into — regional supermarkets and national ones. Annual terms, listings for new pack sizes, the joint plan for the year, and the quarterly conversation about what is and is not working. You are the face of Ashnoor to those desks.
Fill rate, which is where trust is earned
A purchase order we cannot fill is worse than a listing we never had. You will keep our fill rate high by working the order forecast against what is actually packed and available — and by telling the buyer early when something will not land, rather than letting them find out at the dock.
The shelf, in the actual store
Planogram compliance, share of shelf, correct pack sizes in the right aisle, price tags that match what was agreed, and secondary displays that went up where they were paid to go up. This means store visits, regularly, with photographs and a list of what got fixed.
Promotions, and whether they paid
You will plan promotions with the account and then measure them honestly — what it cost in listing and promo spend, what it sold, and what the baseline looked like after it ended. A promotion that only moved volume while it ran gets called what it is.
The claim and reconciliation file
Modern trade runs on deductions — promotion claims, damages, returns, listing charges. Left alone for two quarters this becomes an unreadable file that nobody can dispute. You will keep it current, reconcile it against what we actually agreed, and chase what was wrongly deducted.
Promoters and in-store staff, where we use them
Briefing, rostering and checking the people who represent Ashnoor inside a store. What they say about the oil matters — and it must stay inside what we are allowed to claim. No health promises, no cures, no invented comparisons.
What we’re looking for
3–5 years handling modern trade or key accounts for a packaged food or FMCG brand. Direct experience with chain buyers, purchase orders and the claims cycle is essential — this is not a role to learn those in.
Beyond the years
- You have owned a chain account end to end: terms, listings, fill rate, claims — not just the relationship half.
- You can build and defend an account P&L, and you have walked away from or renegotiated terms that did not work.
- You are comfortable in a spreadsheet. Much of this job is reconciliation, and the ones who avoid it lose money quietly.
- You visit stores. Buyers tell you what was agreed; the aisle tells you what happened.
- You are organised about follow-up. In modern trade, most money is lost by not chasing something within its window.
You’re probably not right for this if
- You see this as purely a relationship role, and the claims and reconciliation side feels like someone else's job.
- You have only worked with accounts where a large team handled operations, forecasting and settlement behind you. Here, that is largely you.
- You want scale on day one. We are a young brand in modern trade — some of this year is about earning the second order, not celebrating the first.
How we’ll know you’re doing this well
Fill rate stays high enough that buyers stop asking about it. Listings we win are still selling two quarters later. The claim file is current, and the deductions that were wrong get recovered. Planogram compliance in the stores you cover is something you can show in photographs. And each account's margin is a number you can state without checking.
Hiring here is free at every stage. Ashnoor never asks a candidate for money — if anyone does in our name, it is fraud.