Project Lead (Micro LAP/Secured)

Project Manager – Micro LAP (Karnataka & Tamil Nadu)

Reporting to: Business Head

Role Purpose - The Project Manager will be directly responsible for building, launching, and scaling Save Microfinance’s Micro LAP business from scratch across rural markets in Karnataka & Tamil Nadu. The role will drive month on month disbursement growth, build a quality AUM base, and establish a sustainable Micro LAP sales and operations model.

Key Responsibilities

Business Development & Strategy

• Develop and execute the Micro LAP business plan for Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, including market entry, geography selection, channel strategy, and sales targets.
• Identify high potential rural markets based on property ownership patterns, business activity, competition, and credit demand.
• Build the Micro LAP business from scratch, define sales processes, lead-generation models, referral networks, and branch level execution plans.
• Achieve monthly, quarterly & annual targets for logins, sanctions, disbursements, ticket size, productivity, and AUM.

Field Sales Leadership

• Spend substantial time in the field across Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to support branch teams, sales officers, and channel partners.
• Conduct joint field visits, customer meetings, property inspections, and sales reviews to build confidence and capability in the field force.
• Guide the sales team on customer identification, lead sourcing, product positioning, documentation, and conversion.
• Support the team in handling objections, improving lead quality, and increasing login to disbursement conversion.

Product, Training & Reporting

• Develop deep expertise in Micro LAP product, including eligibility, loan amount, tenure, collateral norms, valuation, documentation, credit policy, pricing, and end use requirements.
• Create simple product collaterals, sales pitches, FAQs, objection handling guides, and training modules for field staff.
• Conduct regular classroom and on the job training for branch managers, sales officers and operations staff.
• Train teams on responsible lending, customer suitability, property title awareness, KYC, income assessment, and documentation quality.
• Ensure the sales force can clearly explain the product to rural customers in local language and context.
• Set clear individual and branch-level targets; review performance daily, weekly, and monthly.
• Maintain dashboards and MIS for leads, logins, approvals, rejections, disbursements, average ticket size, AUM, productivity, and portfolio quality.
• Identify underperforming locations or teams and implement focused improvement plans.

Key Performance Indicators

• Monthly disbursement volume and number of Micro LAP accounts.
• AUM growth over 3, 6, and 12 months.
• Login to sanction and sanction to disbursement conversion ratios.
• Average ticket size and sales productivity per officer/branch.
• Number of active markets, branches contributing to business.
• Portfolio quality: 30+ DPD, 90+ DPD, bounce rate, and early warning indicators.
• Training coverage, staff certification/product knowledge scores, and process compliance levels.
• Turnaround time from lead to disbursement.

Candidate Profile

Experience

• 8–12+ years in rural secured lending, LAP, Micro LAP, mortgage, housing finance, NBFC, or microfinance.
• Mandatory prior experience in handling LAP or Micro LAP business in the southern region, preferably Karnataka and/or Tamil Nadu.
• Strong exposure to rural markets, including customer acquisition, field sales, and team management.
• Prior experience in the microfinance sector is essential; candidates should understand rural customer behaviour, group/informal-income assessment, and local market dynamics.
• Experience in launching or scaling a new product, geography, or business vertical will be a strong advantage.