Role Snapshot

The Head of India role is Beanstalk's senior leader on the ground in India. You will:

- Lead in-country delivery of our flagship agricultural research commercialisation program
- Set and implement Beanstalk's strategy for India, and lead the stakeholder engagement and business development to deliver it
- Build and lead our India team and office
- Contribute to projects and business-building across our wider region

This is a Principal-level role within Beanstalk, with real scope to shape what our India practice becomes. You will report to Justin Ahmed, Director and Head of International, and work closely with Beanstalk's leadership team.

About the Role

Location: Delhi (NCR) preferred, as our India team will work primarily from a single Delhi office. We are open to outstanding candidates based elsewhere in India, with additional domestic travel.

- Start: Early 2027
- Travel: 20%+, mostly domestic, with targeted international trips (e.g. East Africa, Southeast Asia) and 1–2 weeks a year at team and leadership offsites outside India
- Employment type: Full-time, fixed term through to September 2028, with the intention to convert to an ongoing role at or before conclusion of the fixed term contract
- Salary: ₹70-80 LPA (CTC), based on experience
- Work rights: You must be eligible to work in India (Indian citizen or OCI cardholder). We are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role

Key Responsibilities

Flagship Program Leadership

- Lead in-country program delivery, working with Beanstalk's Australia-based program team and our Indian delivery partner
- Build and own direct relationships with client leadership and with technology management teams across a large national network of research institutes
- Coach institute teams and scientist-innovators in commercialisation practice, and support the technologies selected in each program wave
- Support internationalisation activities, including corridor strategies, partner engagement and international workshops

India Strategy & Business Development

- Develop Beanstalk's 1- and 3-year India strategy, secure leadership endorsement, and lead its implementation
- Lead stakeholder engagement and business development across national and state government, corporate agribusiness, and international development partners and strategics active in Indian agriculture
- Bring Beanstalk's core services to Indian clients, starting with commercialisation and corporate venturing / innovation strategy




- Help shape the extension of Beanstalk's venture studio model into India
- Take ownership of an early pipeline of Indian opportunities and grow it

Team & Office Leadership

- Help recruit, then lead, our three founding Associates in India (Strategy & Operations, Commercialisation & Ventures, Communications & Reporting)
- Set clear expectations, coach for performance and development, and make sure the India team is fully integrated into Beanstalk's culture and ways of working across time zones
- Contribute to office and entity set-up alongside Beanstalk's central operations team, taking on more ownership as the practice matures

Regional Contribution

- Contribute to projects and business-building across Beanstalk's portfolio, such as a new agtech venture studio in Southeast Asia, an innovation landing pad for the Australian dairy industry, and a smallholder-focused initiative with a Singapore government agency
- Bring India's market and ecosystem insight into Beanstalk's wider strategy

What Success Looks Like (First 12–18 Months)

- The flagship program is humming: trusted relationships with our research and delivery partners, milestones met, and a funder confident in the work
- The India team is effective, highly engaged, and fully integrated with the wider Beanstalk team
- A leadership-endorsed India strategy (1- and 3-year) is in place and being executed
- A strong pipeline beyond the flagship program, ideally with 2–3 secured contracts with Indian entities in Beanstalk's core services

Requirements

Essential

- 10+ years of professional experience, including at least three years leading teams, with a track record of building high-performing teams
- Deep experience in agriculture or agrifood systems
- Hands-on experience with ventures: as a founder, operator, investor, accelerator or venture-studio lead, or in technology transfer and commercialisation
- A career spanning more than one of the public, private and social sectors, and credibility with government and research institutions as well as with corporate agribusiness
- Commercial instinct:



you have originated and won work, or built partnerships that turned into real programs
- Explicit communicator and synthesiser, comfortable moving between senior government, scientists, founders and corporates
- Comfortable with ambiguity and building something new, with a point of view on what Beanstalk could become in India

Desirable

- Existing networks across India's agricultural research system, government and agribusiness
- Experience with philanthropic or development-partner funded programs
- International work experience, particularly in Southeast Asia or Africa, and working with cross-cultural teams
- Experience establishing a new team, office or business line
- Professional proficiency in Hindi (other Indian languages a plus)

Advantages

Help build something new. Beanstalk India is just getting started. You’ll join the founding team of our new Delhi office, backed from day one by a two-year, philanthropically funded program with one of India's leading agricultural research institutions. That program is the foundation, but the India practice is still being shaped, so you’ll have a real say in what Beanstalk becomes here and real room to grow as it does.

Work where science meets the market. Our work covers the whole path from research to impact: strategy and investment design, commercialisation, adoption, and changing how organisations and systems work. We pair rigorous advice with hands-on delivery. One week you might be coaching scientist-innovators, and the next you might be working with government, agribusiness leaders and founders. Everything we do is grounded in the realities of farmers and markets.

Join a regional team, not a satellite office. Beanstalk has more than 20 people across Australia, Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines, and we’ve worked in India since our DFAT-funded GRAFT program in 2019. You’ll be part of that wider team from the start. That means working on projects and with colleagues across the Indo-Pacific, connecting Indian innovation with partners in Southeast Asia and East Africa, and joining us in person at team offsites.

Do work that matters, at pace. Our vision is simple: feed the world without devouring the planet. We’re a fast-moving, purpose-driven team that combines the rigour of business strategy with the energy and creativity of the ventures world.

Learn more at: https://www.beanstalkagtech.com

📌 Head of India
🏢 Beanstalk Agtech
📍 India