HEAD — CREATIVE — SWADESH

Reliance Retail | Bengaluru, India

Reporting to: Business Head — Swadesh

Reliance Retail is seeking a distinguished creative and merchandising leader to head the Creative organisation of Swadesh, its premium platform for authentic Indian art, craft and handloom.

The Head — Creative will be the custodian of Swadesh’s creative identity and brand vision, and will own the largest engine of the business: all six categories — Art & Décor, Apparel & Accessories, Furniture, Jewellery, Home Linen and Wellness — spanning creative direction, category management, buying, merchandise planning and product design and development. This leader will shape the creative philosophy, storytelling, aesthetic and craft narrative that define Swadesh, and connect the design and buying agenda to the artisans who make the product.

We are looking for a leader who has:

Owned creative philosophy, brand identity and creative direction for a premium lifestyle, fashion, design or luxury business.

Led category, merchandising or design across a multi-category lifestyle, fashion, home or luxury retail business.

Owned assortment, buying, pricing and design outcomes at meaningful scale and complexity.

Balanced commercial performance with brand, creative and aesthetic integrity.

Built and led teams of designers, category managers, buyers and planners.

Championed craft, handloom or artisan-made product, and built relationships across craft clusters, museums or cultural institutions.

Used data and customer insight to drive range, pricing and inventory decisions.

Experience in premium lifestyle, fashion, home, jewellery, craft or luxury retail would be particularly relevant. International exposure through education and/or professional experience in leading global creative, design, luxury, lifestyle, fashion or retail organisations is preferred.

Prior experience in India is valuable but not essential for an outstanding leader with the adaptability to operate across the scale and diversity of the Indian market.

Compensation will be structured to attract and retain world-class leadership talent.

To apply or learn more, respond directly through this posting.

#RelianceRetail #Leadership #Swadesh #CreativeDirection #BrandVision #Merchandising #ProductDesign #Crafts #Handloom #ExecutiveLeadership

PART 2 — FULL

HEAD — CREATIVE — SWADESH

Company: Reliance Retail

Location: Bengaluru, India

Reporting to: Business Head — Swadesh

ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY

Swadesh is Reliance Retail’s premium destination for authentic Indian art, craft and handloom, spanning Art & Décor, Apparel & Accessories, Furniture, Jewellery, Home Linen and Wellness across an omnichannel network of experiential stores and a digital storefront.

We are seeking a Head — Creative to be the custodian of Swadesh’s creative identity and brand vision, and to lead the category, merchandising and design organisation — the creative and commercial core of the business. The role owns Swadesh’s creative philosophy, storytelling and design ecosystem, and all six categories end to end: creative direction, category management and buying, merchandise planning, and product design and development, working in close partnership with the Reliance Foundation Artisan Initiative for Skill Enhancement (RAISE)



artisan-sourcing network that supplies the product.

This is an opportunity to define the creative philosophy, storytelling, assortment, aesthetic and craft narrative of a distinctive premium business, and to build the creative, merchandising and design capability that will carry it as it scales.

THE MANDATE The Head — Creative will own Swadesh’s creative identity and brand vision, and commercial and creative performance across all six categories. The role leads the creative, design and category organisation — designers, category heads, buyers and merchandise planners — and works closely with the Business Head, Operations, Online, Quality, Marketing, Visual Merchandising and the RAISE network to translate craft into a compelling, commercially disciplined range and a unified brand experience.

WHAT YOU WILL LEAD

- Creative and Brand Vision Leadership

Explicit ownership of Swadesh’s creative philosophy, brand identity, creative direction, design budget, mood boards and seasonal creative themes.

- Cross-Category Design Curation and Cohesion

Responsibility for guiding Category Design Leads while ensuring a unified Swadesh design language, colour palette, motifs, materials and seasonal collections across categories.

- Category, Buying and Merchandising

Own assortment, pricing, buying and margin across Art & Décor, Apparel & Accessories, Furniture, Jewellery, Home Linen and Wellness.

Set category strategy and range architecture that balance commercial performance with craft authenticity and brand positioning.

4.

Product

Design and Development

Lead the design and development organisation across categories, ensuring product that is original, aesthetically distinctive and true to Indian craft traditions.

Build repeatable design-to-shelf processes that move from concept through technical design to production with artisan partners.

5.

Merchandise

Planning and Buying

Own demand planning, buying and inventory productivity, improving availability, sell-through and working-capital efficiency across categories.

Strengthen the discipline of planning, management information systems (MIS) and merchandise analytics to support range and pricing decisions.

- Craft and Culture Curation

Champion India’s craft traditions and build enduring relationships with artisans, craft clusters, museums and cultural institutions.

7.

Global

Design and Quality Standards

Benchmark against international design and luxury standards while driving innovation in materials, techniques and craft revival.

8.

Brand

Experience and Visual Storytelling

Ownership of Swadesh’s visual identity across retail, packaging, digital and campaign touchpoints, in collaboration with Marketing, Retail and Visual Merchandising teams.

9.

Designer

Collaborations and Cultural Partnerships

Curate designer collaborations, exhibitions and cultural partnerships that elevate Swadesh’s creative positioning globally.

- Organisation and Leadership





Build and lead a full creative, design and category-head layer, closing current vacancies, with strong buying, planning and design capability beneath.

Create a culture that pairs commercial rigour with creative ambition and respect for craft.

WHAT SUCCESS WILL LOOK LIKE The successful leader will be expected to deliver sustained progress across six outcomes:

A explicit, distinctive Swadesh creative identity and brand vision, consistently expressed across product and touchpoints.

A distinctive, commercially strong assortment across all six categories, with a unified design language.

Improved margin, sell-through, availability and inventory productivity.

A mature design-to-shelf capability rooted in Indian craft, benchmarked to global design standards.

Enduring relationships across artisans, craft clusters, cultural institutions and designer collaborators.

A fully staffed, high-performing creative, category, buying, planning and design organisation with succession depth.

WHAT YOU WILL BRING

You will be a senior creative, merchandising or design leader who has:

Personally owned creative philosophy, brand identity and creative direction for a premium lifestyle, fashion, design or luxury business.

Led category, merchandising or design across a multi-category lifestyle, fashion, home, jewellery or luxury business.

Owned assortment, buying, pricing, planning and design outcomes at significant scale.

A strong record of delivering commercial results while protecting brand, creative and aesthetic integrity.

Deep knowledge of creative direction, category management, buying, merchandise planning and product design and development.

Built enduring relationships across craft clusters, museums, cultural institutions or designer collaborators.

Demonstrated ability to build and lead teams of designers, category managers, buyers and planners, and to develop successors.

The influence and collaboration skills to work across Marketing, Operations, Online, Quality, Visual Merchandising and the artisan network.

Experience in premium lifestyle, fashion, home, jewellery, craft, handloom or luxury retail would be particularly valuable. International exposure through education and/or professional experience in leading global creative, design, luxury, lifestyle, fashion or retail organisations is preferred.

Prior

India experience is an advantage but is not essential for an exceptional leader with the adaptability to operate across the diversity and complexity of the Indian market.

WHY JOIN RELIANCE RETAIL

This role offers the opportunity to:

Serve as the custodian of the creative identity and brand vision of a distinctive premium business.

Define the creative philosophy, assortment, aesthetic and craft narrative that bring Indian craft to a modern customer.

Connect a national artisan network directly to creative, range and design decisions.

Lead the largest and most visible engine of a growing business, benchmarked to global design standards.

Build an organisation and leadership bench designed to endure beyond any individual leader’s tenure.

Compensation will be structured to attract and retain world-class leadership talent.

Reliance Retail is committed to building a diverse leadership team and welcomes outstanding candidates from India and around the world.

📌 HEAD — CREATIVE — SWADESH (Mumbai)
🏢 Reliance Retail
📍 Mumbai