Job Description
V-Guard is hiring 2026 MBA graduates (currently pursuing their final year) to join us as Management Trainee under VLEAP (V-Guard Leadership Acceleration Program). We are seeking a dynamic and high-potential individual to join our New Product Development (NPD) Department as a Management Trainee. The NPD function is at the heart of V-Guard’s growth engine - shaping the future portfolio, driving product innovation, and enabling category leadership. During the program, you will collaborate closely with key functions such as R&D, Manufacturing, Sales, Marketing, Service, Supply Chain, Digital, and Key Account teams to understand how product decisions impact business performance, channel execution, consumer experience, and long-term brand competitiveness.
Key Responsibilities
* Build periodic intelligence on category trends, competition, consumer behaviour, pricing, channels, and sales to provide strategic inputs.
* Analyse product portfolio using frameworks such as 3C-4P, Voice of Consumer & Channel (VOC), and internal performance data.
* Develop short, mid, and long-term Product Roadmaps (PRM) with meaningful differentiation vs. market offerings.
* Create segment-specific value propositions and channel-specific variants (GT, MT, E-Com) to mitigate trade conflict.
* Plan and manage Pre-Concept and Concept Projects (CP) aligned to strategic innovation goals.
* Conduct benchmarking of competitor products, pricing, features, communication, and channel positioning.
* Identify emerging business opportunities in the evolving channel landscape.
* Support consumer research through research briefs, opportunity assessment, brand tracking, and competitive analysis.
* Work as a bridge between internal teams and external partners to co-create IoT-enabled, new-age product solutions.
* Co-own NPD deliverables with Key Account Managers, Sales, Marketing, Supply Chain, Service, and Digital teams.
* Provide input for marketing communication, media planning, customer acquisition & retention based on insights
* Monitor revenue, gross margin, SKU-level profitability, and early-stage product economics at each stage gate.
* Conduct post-launch ROI and margin analysis and raise data-backed recommendations for corrective action.
* Review portfolio health, consumer segments, and product mix to drive business performance.
* Support obsolescence planning, Value Engineering initiatives, change requests (CR), and lifecycle improvement initiatives.
*Track performance of newly launched products across channels and geographies and provide insights on product reception, market gaps, and improvement opportunities.
* Contribute to innovation ecosystem development through VFF/CFF analysis, process enhancement, and capability building.
* Support Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) dashboards, Annual Operating Plan (AOP) inputs, and strategic initiative tracking
Qualification & Skills
*2026 MBA graduate
*Excellent Communication, presentation, and interpersonal Skills
*Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities
*Proficiency in Excel
Key Details & Who can apply:
Role: Management Trainee
Location: Kochi/Gurgaon (Open to travel)
Department: New Product Development - Product Planning Strategy
Academics: Minimum 65% Across academics; No Active Backlogs
Detailed JD: Product Planning Strategy MT JD.pdf
Deadline to Apply: 30 March 2026, 2 PM
Eligibility: 2026 MBA graduates (currently in final year, 2 year course)
Eligible Colleges: FMS Delhi, IIFT, IIM A, IIM B, IIM C, IIM I, IIM K, IIM L, IIM Mumbai, IIM S, IIM U, JBIMS Mumbai, MDI Gurgaon, NMIMS Mumbai, SCMHRD Pune, SIBM Pune, SP Jain Mumbai, TISS Mumbai, XLRI Jamshedpur.
Kindly fill out and submit the form below:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdlzDPx3nwFyLM0bjtEo-Hv1jVjaI6i53lEtp_LSi4u-U2JmA/viewform.
Contact us: +91 48430 05000.
