Ferns N Petals - Head - Operations

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• Location: Gurgaon, India (HQ) | ~20% travel across regions/hubs
• Reports to: Global CEO | Board exposure (regular presentations/updates to the Board)
• Experience: 15 - 25 years

P&L Ownership: Direct - full accountability for supply chain and distribution cost of business (COGS, logistics cost/order, wastage, inventory carrying cost) and contribution margin

Functional Scope: Procurement, Supply Chain, Retail Operations, Customer Service, and overall Operations

About the Role:

We are looking for a hands-on, commercially sharp Head of Operations to own and scale our end-to-end supply chain and distribution network - from central kitchens and warehouses to the last mile. This is a P&L-owning leadership role responsible for building a profitable, sustainable, and scalable operating model across owned (COCO), franchised (FOFO), and specialized fulfillment formats (Cake Fulfilment Centers, Dark Stores), while significantly improving customer experience (NPS).

This role sits on the leadership team and will be central to the company's next phase of growth - balancing operational excellence, cost discipline, and customer delight across a perishable, time-sensitive, high-SKU-complexity product portfolio (flowers, cakes, gifting).

Key Responsibilities:

1. Procurement:

• Own end-to-end procurement strategy for raw materials (flowers, cake ingredients, packaging, gifting SKUs) and indirect spend (logistics, equipment, store fit-outs).
• Build a resilient, cost-effective vendor/supplier base - including direct farm/flower sourcing relationships where relevant - with strong quality and reliability SLAs.
• Drive cost savings through vendor consolidation, contract negotiation, and strategic sourcing, without compromising on quality or availability.
• Partner with Finance and Category teams on make-vs-buy decisions and input-cost risk management (e.g., seasonal flower price volatility).

2. Supply Chain & Manufacturing Ownership:

• Own end-to-end supply chain: procurement-to-delivery flow across central kitchens, warehouses, and regional hubs.
• Drive capacity planning, demand forecasting, and inventory management to minimize wastage (especially for perishables - flowers, cakes) while ensuring product availability.
• Build and scale central kitchen operations with strong food safety, hygiene, and FSSAI compliance standards.
• Optimize network design (hub-and-spoke) for cost efficiency and delivery speed.

3. Last-Mile & Distribution Network Management:

• Own and scale last-mile distribution across all formats: COCO (Company Owned Company Operated), FOFO (Franchise Owned Franchise Operated), Cake Fulfilment Centers, and Dark Stores.
• Design differentiated operating models and SOPs for each format based on their unit economics and ownership structure.
• Build franchise governance: audit frameworks, SOP compliance, partner performance management, and unit-economics support for FOFO partners.

4. Customer Service & Experience:

• Own the Customer Service function end-to-end - query resolution, complaint management, refunds/replacements, and turnaround-time SLAs.
• Build root-cause and feedback loops between last-mile/production operations and Customer Service, so recurring issues are fixed at the source rather than just resolved at the ticket level.
• Own and drive NPS improvement as a core success metric, in close collaboration with marketing/CX teams to close the loop between operational issues and customer sentiment.

5. Profitability & Unit Economics:

• Own full P&L for procurement, supply chain, and distribution.
• Build cost-to-serve models per format (COCO/FOFO/Dark Store/CFC) and drive continuous cost optimization (logistics cost per order, cost per delivery, fixed vs. variable cost structuring).
• Identify and execute network/format rationalization to eliminate loss-making nodes.
• Partner with Finance to build budgets, forecasts, and margin-improvement roadmaps; present performance and strategy updates to the Board.

6. Process, SOPs & Systems:

• Design and institutionalize SOPs across sourcing, inventory, production, quality control, dispatch, and last-mile delivery to build a repeatable, scalable, and audit-ready operating model.
• Drive technology adoption: WMS, route optimization, demand planning tools, and real-time visibility dashboards.
• Build a culture of continuous improvement (Lean/Six Sigma mindset welcome) across all operating nodes.

7. Team Leadership:

• Build, mentor, and lead a leadership team across Procurement, Warehousing, Central Kitchen, Hub Operations, Last-Mile/Franchise Ops, Dark Store Operations, and Customer Service.
• Instill accountability, ownership, and a performance-driven culture across a ~200 - 500 person organization (direct + indirect).
• Act as a key member of the leadership team with regular exposure to the Board on operational and financial performance.

Key Metrics of Success:

• (Illustrative - to be finalized with leadership)
• Area: Metric
• Customer: NPS improvement, OTIF delivery %, order accuracy %
• Cost: Logistics cost/order, wastage/spoilage %, cost-to-serve by format
• Efficiency: Inventory turns, hub/warehouse utilization %, fleet utilization
• Profitability: Contribution margin by format (COCO/FOFO/CFC/Dark Store), EBITDA impact
• Compliance: SOP adherence %, FSSAI/quality audit scores, franchise audit scores

Ideal Candidate Profile:

• 15 - 25 years of progressive experience in supply chain, operations, or distribution leadership roles, with at least 5 - 7 years in a P&L-owning, senior leadership capacity (COO/CXO/SVP-Ops or equivalent).
• Proven experience managing multi-format distribution networks - a mix of owned and franchised/partner-led operations is highly preferred.
• Background in any of the following (open to a strong mix): quick-commerce/D2C logistics, QSR/bakery/perishable retail chains, or FMCG/traditional supply chain - as long as it involves high-SKU, time-sensitive, last-mile-heavy operations.
• Strong track record of building SOPs, scaling operations profitably, and improving customer experience metrics simultaneously.
• Hands-on with supply chain technology (WMS, route optimization, ERP, demand planning tools).
• Experience with perishable/cold-chain or quality-sensitive product categories is a strong plus.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills - this role interfaces heavily with franchise partners, category/merchandising, tech, and CX teams.
• Entrepreneurial, execution-first mindset; comfortable operating in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.