Premium beauty brand SUGAR Cosmetics has appointed Nirav Jagad as its chief people officer (CPO) to oversee all aspects of SUGAR’s talent and culture initiatives. 

In this role he will drive strategic and transformational results while working closely with the leadership of the company and its diverse cross-functional team across India. This would include overall people operations, employee wellbeing and culture building - with a tech-driven employee experience and talent value proposition.

“On the back of a proven track record of over 19 years and in-depth understanding of the rapidly-changing needs of a fast-paced organisation, Nirav will lead a people-first agenda to further drive employee empowerment, growth and retention, while remaining committed to SUGAR’s key business drivers and values,” the company said in a statement.

Before joining SUGAR Cosmetics, Jagad was part of the leadership team that scaled Nykaa through back-to-back years of steep growth. 

With experience spanning various sectors like ecommerce, consulting, manufacturing and infrastructure, he brings on board his diverse expertise in talent management processes to attract, develop and retain high-quality talent. 

In his past stints, Jagad worked with companies like Randstad, Cerebrus Consultants, IL&FS and Nykaa and has also been an advisor to assist early-stage startups with scaling.

“We are excited to have a seasoned professional like Nirav on board with us and this underwrites our commitment to making SUGAR one of the best places to build careers at. It is critical to constantly innovate and build an organisational culture that values independence, creativity and growth at the same time. With an extensive experience in talent acquisition and people operations, Nirav will work closely with the leadership to shape the overall organisational culture and talent pool in the company,” said Vineeta Singh, co-founder, and CEO, SUGAR Cosmetics.

“During these exciting times, supporting SUGAR’s employees and prioritising a strong, inclusive culture is more important than ever. I believe the company is at a unique inflection point as SUGAR has emerged as one of the top three makeup brands in India. I look forward to working closely with Vineeta Singh, Kaushik Mukherjee, the leadership team and our people team to help SUGAR seize this outsized opportunity and create sustained value for our workforce, consumers, partners and investors,” added Jagad.