Zonal Manager, Sales

About the Role

Introduction – 

This is a senior sales leadership opportunity to drive growth and market expansion for Oxford University Press India across the state of Uttar Pradesh. The role offers the chance to lead a large and diverse sales operation across Print, Blended, and Digital product portfolios in one of OUP’s most strategically important regions.

For experienced sales leaders, this role represents a strong career progression into a high‑impact, decision‑making position with end‑to‑end ownership of state‑level performance. It aligns closely with OUP’s mission of advancing learning by ensuring high‑quality educational products reach schools effectively and sustainably.

The role is engaging and dynamic, combining strategy, on‑ground execution, team leadership, and data‑driven decision‑making. You will work closely with regional and national leadership, shape market presence across UP, and directly influence revenue growth, market penetration, and brand reputation.

Opportunity – 

In this role, you will be responsible for driving the overall sales performance of Uttar Pradesh across print, blended, and digital portfolios. You will develop and execute state‑specific sales strategies, translating regional priorities into actionable territory‑level plans and ensuring alignment with overall business targets.

You will monitor weekly and monthly sales performance, review funnel movement, analyze segment‑wise performance, forecast trends, and drive corrective actions when required. Using data insights, you will assess sales effectiveness and guide the team towards consistent achievement of individual and territory‑wise targets.

Market development will be a key focus. You will oversee school profiling across UP to ensure comprehensive market coverage, guide the acquisition of new schools in print and blended categories, accompany teams for high‑stake conversions, and strengthen relationships with existing user schools to drive retention and revenue growth.

As a people leader, you will lead, mentor, and develop the sales team to enhance productivity, capability, and execution excellence. This includes territory allocation, budget and target setting, enforcing adherence to organisational processes and tools, approving travel and expenses, and instilling strong time‑management and daily planning discipline.

You will also ensure operational excellence by managing state budgets for sampling, gratis, and marketing activities, executing territory‑wise marketing plans and workshops, and ensuring accurate forecasting and timely stock availability across distributors, wholesalers, retailers, and schools.

The role includes strong ownership of collections and commercial governance, ensuring collections are driven within stipulated timelines, DSO targets are met, and supply continuity is maintained through close coordination with internal and external stakeholders.

At a strategic level, you will gather and analyse market intelligence, monitor competitor activity, and provide timely, structured, data‑backed reports to senior leadership on sales performance, pipeline health, coverage, and customer feedback. You will uphold OUP India’s brand reputation through the highest standards of professionalism, ethics, and conduct.

About You

Essential / Desirable Criteria

• Master’s degree from an institute of repute
• Minimum 8–10 years of relevant sales experience
• Proven experience leading and managing high‑performing sales teams (internal or external)
• Strong team‑handling and leadership skills, including experience managing remote teams
• High proficiency in data analysis, forecasting, and deriving actionable sales insights
• Ability to multitask and thrive in a fast‑paced, target‑driven environment
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills across levels and functions
• Creative problem‑solving ability with sound judgement for timely decision‑making
• High integrity, strong sense of urgency, and result‑oriented mindset
• Excellent time management and activity planning skills

Queries

• Please contact shariq.anwar@oup.com with any queries relating to this role.