Messaging app WhatsApp is scouting for a full-time hire to lead its operations in India, its largest market globally.

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The individual will lead the company's operations in India, "including products for people and businesses along with our interest in peer to peer payments," a job advertisement on WhatsApp's website.

WhatsApp has over one billion users globally. India is the largest market for the company with over 200 million monthly active users as of February 2017."This is a senior leadership position that requires product experience as well as a track record of success leading partnerships and business development in India. This leader will need to build a close partnership with product and engineering teams to influence direction and to effectively represent WhatsApp's long term strategy," it added.

The development comes at a time when WhatsApp is rolling out its UPI-based payments service in India. Unified Payments Interface (UPI) allows users to make intra-bank transfers easily using a virtual ID.

WhatsApp's payment service has been criticised by rival Paytm, whose founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma had alleged that the Facebook-owned company's platform has security risks for consumers and is not in compliance with the guidelines.

There have also been concerns around privacy of user information, following the global data breach at its parent company. WhatsApp has, however, defended itself, saying it collects very little data and that every single message is end-to-end encrypted.

Apart from being a "heavy user of WhatsApp's products", WhatsApp is looking for a candidate with over 15 years of experience in product-driven companies and more than 5 years of experience with payment technologies in India.

The position is based in Mumbai and the chosen executive will report to WhatsApp's Chief Operating Officer in California.

A key responsibility, according to the post, will be to lead partnership efforts in market, "acting as a cross functional leader across WhatsApp and Facebook teams".

Besides, WhatsApp is also looking for Communications Manager in India, who can create and implement a long-term communications strategy for India to support the brand as well as the growth of the app amongst consumers and businesses.

First Published:Apr 11, 2018 4:47 PM IST