Objective
The Head of Operations GCC will lead the complete end-to-end operations function across GCC markets for a fast-growing gifting, flowers, cakes, and e-commerce business. This role is responsible for ensuring seamless execution across fresh production, fulfillment centers, warehousing, inventory planning, logistics, and last-mile delivery while maintaining high customer satisfaction, operational efficiency, and profitability.
The role will focus heavily on same-day delivery operations, festive peak readiness, fresh product production, perishables handling, service excellence, and scalable regional growth.
Roles & Responsibility
- Lead end-to-end GCC operations strategy aligned with business growth, profitability, and customer experience goals.
- Oversee operations across all GCC markets.
- Build scalable operating models to support expansion into new cities and markets.
- Drive standardization of SOPs while adapting to local market needs.
Fresh Production & Fulfillment
- Oversee daily production operations for flowers, bouquets, cakes, hampers, gift assembly, and personalized products.
- Ensure production planning aligns with demand forecasts and order cut-off timelines.
- Maintain freshness standards, product quality, packaging excellence, and dispatch readiness.
- Optimize production manpower productivity, wastage control, and turnaround times.
Warehousing & Inventory Management
- Manage warehouses, fulfillment centers, dark stores, and regional hubs.
- Lead inventory planning for flowers, cakes, gifts, packaging materials, and consumables.
- Ensure optimum stock levels with minimal expiry, wastage, or stock-outs.
- Improve inventory accuracy, replenishment cycles, and stock deployment across markets.
Logistics & Last Mile Delivery
- Lead in-house fleet and third-party delivery partner performance across GCC.
- Ensure same-day, express, scheduled, and peak-period deliveries are executed efficiently.
- Optimize route planning, rider productivity, delivery cost, and SLA adherence.
- Improve customer handover experience and reduce delivery failures.
Peak Season & Event Readiness
- Own operational readiness for key occasions such as Valentines Day, Mothers Day, Eid, Ramadan, Diwali, National Days, Christmas, and other campaigns.
- Develop capacity plans for manpower, inventory, fleet, vendor support, and production throughput.
- Ensure zero service disruption during demand spikes.
Cost Control & Profitability
- Manage operational budgets across warehousing, production, manpower, logistics, and fleet.
- Drive cost per order reduction without compromising service quality.
- Improve productivity metrics across hubs, warehouses, riders, and production teams.
- Identify automation and efficiency opportunities.
Customer Experience & Quality
- Ensure operations directly support customer promise and brand reputation.
- Minimize cancellations, delays, substitutions, damages, and complaints.
- Maintain service excellence across order journey from placement to delivery.
Vendor & Stakeholder Management
- Manage relationships with logistics partners, manpower vendors, packaging suppliers, and operational service providers.
- Partner with Procurement, Commercial, Finance, HR, Technology, and Country Heads.
- Act as key operations stakeholder in regional leadership planning.
Technology & Performance Management
- Drive use of ERP, OMS, WMS, routing tools, dashboards, and operational automation systems.
- Monitor KPIs and drive performance through daily or weekly reviews.
- Build a data-driven operations culture.
Team Leadership
- Lead country operations heads and regional functional teams.
- Build strong ownership culture, discipline, and execution excellence.
- Coach and develop future leaders across GCC.
Candidate 12+ years of progressive experience in Operations, Supply Chain, or Fulfillment.
- Minimum 5 years in senior leadership role managing multi-city or multi-country operations.
- Strong GCC experience preferred.
- Experience in gifting, flowers, bakery, food delivery, e-commerce, retail, quick commerce, or perishable operations.
Technical Expertise
- Fresh production operations management.
- High-volume fulfillment and last-mile delivery.
- Inventory planning for short shelf-life products.
- Workforce planning and productivity management.
- Budgeting and cost control.
- SOP creation and process optimization.
- Technology-led operations management.
Leadership Skills
- Strong people leadership and team development.
- Excellent problem-solving and decision-making ability.
- Commercial mindset with strong ownership.
- Ability to perform under pressure during peak seasons.
- Strong communication and stakeholder management skills.
(ref:iimjobs.com)
