Category Lead – Insurance

Build and scale ONDC’s insurance network into a leading open distribution channel for insurance in India.

Delhi NCR / Mumbai | 10–16 years | Senior Leadership | Full time

About ONDC

Open Network for Digital Commerce is India's government-backed open protocol network democratising digital commerce. Its Financial Services vertical is live across credit, insurance, and investments – enabling interoperable, sub-10-minute product journeys for underserved populations at scale.

The VP – Financial Services (Insurance) is a senior, externally-facing leadership role with full P&L; ownership for the category. You will be responsible for creating and growing an insurance network into a dominant distribution channel. You will report to the Chief Business Officer – Financial Services and operate with significant autonomy across product, partnerships, regulatory engagement, and commercial strategy.

The Role

We are looking for a senior insurance leader to own the insurance category end-to-end at ONDC — from P&L; and commercial strategy to ecosystem development, product journeys, regulatory engagement and team leadership.

The role will involve building both sides of the network: onboarding Buyer Apps (BAPs) such as fintech platforms, super-apps, bank apps and UPI players, while expanding the Seller App (SAP) side by bringing insurance companies onto the network.

You will also shape the product and distribution experience, work with ONDC’s technology and protocol teams to evolve the network, engage with regulators and represent ONDC across the insurance ecosystem.

What You'll Own

P&L; Ownership & Commercial Strategy

- Own the category P&L; – define revenue targets, cost structure and path to profitability.

- Design and implement the monetization model for each product sub-category.

- Track and drive key funnel metrics.

- Develop annual operating plans with quarterly milestones; present progress and strategy to ONDC leadership and external stakeholders.

Ecosystem Engagement & Partner Growth
- Drive onboarding and activation of Buyer Apps (BAPs) – fintech platforms, super-apps, bank apps, UPI players – to distribute insurance products on the network.

- Expand the Seller App (SAP) side i.e. onboard insurance companies.

- Build and manage a pipeline of partners.

- Manage existing ecosystem relationships to deepen engagement, increase transaction volumes,



and unlock new use cases.

- Represent ONDC at industry forums, working groups and ecosystem events; position the network as the preferred open infrastructure for insurance distribution.

Product Development & User Journey Design
- Own end-to-end product strategy for the Insurance category on ONDC – from protocol spec to live user journey.

- Lead the design and launch of insurance products on the network: define product requirements, work with ONDC's tech team and SAPs/BAPs to build interoperable journeys, and manage go-to-market.

- Continuously improve the consumer journey and conversion rates.

- Champion sachetized product formats to serve first-time and low-ticket insurance purchasers, aligned with ONDC's financial inclusion mandate.

- Collaborate with the ONDC tech team and protocol working groups to evolve API specs, consent frameworks, and product taxonomies.

Regulatory Engagement
- Serve as ONDC's primary interface with IRDAI on matters relating to digital investment distribution, intermediary frameworks, and ONDC's regulatory positioning.

- Proactively identify regulatory risks or gaps and co-create enabling frameworks with regulators.

Team & Cross-functional Leadership
- Lead a high-performing team (product, partnerships, and analytics functions).

- Work closely with the Credit and Investments teams within ONDC Financial Services to enable cross-category journeys and shared infrastructure.

- Partner with ONDC's central tech, legal, finance, and communications teams to execute against category goals.

What Success Looks Like

In the first 12 months, a successful Lead – Insurance will be expected to:
- Bring ONDC’s insurance network to life.

- Onboard 3–5 new distributors and insurance companies to the network.

- Demonstrate a clear path to category P&L; break-even.

What We're Looking For

Must-Have Experience

- 10–16 years of experience in financial services, with at least 4–5 years in a senior leadership role with P&L; or category ownership.





- Deep expertise in insurance.

- Demonstrated track record of building and scaling ecosystems, platforms, or multi-sided marketplaces in financial services.

- Strong regulatory fluency – prior engagement with IRDAI on policy or product matters is preferred but not essential.

- Experience in digital product management or digitisation of financial journeys (KYC, onboarding, transactions, servicing).

Leadership & Mindset
- Entrepreneurial operator – comfortable with ambiguity, able to move fast, and accountable for outcomes.

- Ecosystem thinker – understands platform dynamics, network effects, and the importance of aligned incentives across multiple parties.

- Strong communicator – able to engage CXOs, regulators, and technical teams with equal fluency.

- Mission-aligned – genuinely motivated by financial inclusion and expanding access to wealth-creation for underserved Indians.

A strong plus

Prior engagement with IRDAI on policy or product matters; experience building and scaling multi-sided financial services platforms or ecosystems; experience across digital insurance distribution and financial services journeys; and experience managing P&L; and category-level commercial strategy.

This Role Is For You If...

- You have built and scaled insurance businesses, platforms or ecosystems rather than only managed an established business.

- You are comfortable owning both commercial outcomes and ecosystem development.

- You can operate across product, partnerships, technology, regulatory and commercial stakeholders.

- You understand how to align incentives across multiple participants in a network.

- You are comfortable operating in an early-stage category with significant ambiguity and autonomy.

- You want to build new distribution infrastructure for insurance rather than manage a legacy product.

Why ONDC

This is one of a small number of roles in India where an individual can directly shape the infrastructure through which hundreds of millions of people will first access insurance products.

ONDC's insurance category is early-stage. The person in this role will not be managing a legacy product – they will be building the distribution rails for India's next generation of insurance buyers.

Read more about ONDC (click to read)

Visit our website at ondc.org

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📌 Category Lead - Insurance (Delhi)
🏢 ONDC
📍 Delhi