Interim Chief Supply Chain Officer — Quick Commerce Reset

The mandate

Local authorities closed several dark stores after food handling and licence defects, while stock availability fell despite rising inventory. The supply-chain chief has departed, leaving city teams to choose between service recovery, compliance work and cost without one national decision framework.

The interim must join within three weeks for a fixed nine-month assignment. Recruitment for a permanent chief begins once store archetypes and inventory policy are approved, with five weeks reserved for handover.

Handover is complete when every store operates with verified licences and food controls, priority-item availability meets target without excess waste for three months, delivery promises reflect real capacity, and the successor has signed one city network rebalancing decision.

The interim may pause stores, rebalance inventory, change replenishment rules and allocate ₹12 crore of recovery spend. New-site commitments, city exit, permanent director hiring, write-offs above ₹5 crore and supplier awards over ₹20 crore require CEO or committee approval.

Consumer pricing, assortment ownership and rider employment policy are excluded. The role will provide supply economics and capacity evidence but will not take over merchandising or corporate labour strategy.

Why this seat is open

The closures showed that speed metrics obscured basic operating eligibility and stock truth. City leaders optimise local service and cannot settle national inventory or store-standard choices. A temporary supply-chain executive can restore control before a permanent growth phase is authorised.

What you will own

• Verify each store's licence, food-safety, cold-chain, inventory and capacity status before approving operation.
• Decide temporary closures and reopening sequence using customer demand, control severity and network alternatives.
• Reset replenishment by item velocity, shelf life, substitution, lead time and service promise.
• Rebalance inventory and supplier allocations to improve priority availability while reducing expiry and shrink.
• Calibrate delivery promises to picking, staging and rider capacity at fifteen-minute intervals.
• Prove three months of compliant store operation, stable availability, controlled waste and supportable unit cost.
• Transfer store status, inventory policy, supplier constraints, city decisions and the next network review to the successor.

Candidate qualifications

• Led supply chain or operations for quick commerce, grocery retail, e-commerce or another perishable high-frequency network.
• Reopened facilities after food, licence or operating-control failures.
• Improved availability while reducing inventory waste and shrink at city or national scale.
• Built replenishment and capacity decisions for dense networks with sub-hour customer promises.
• Directed thousands of employees and partners across procurement, fulfilment and last mile.
• Understands Indian food-safety, local-store compliance and cold-chain control requirements.

Non-negotiables

• Available in Mumbai within three weeks with frequent city travel.
• No current supplier, real-estate or last-mile partner conflict.
• Will keep a store closed when licensing or food control is incomplete.
• Must have owned inventory economics and operational compliance together.

1. 49 words maximum. State availability and disclose any supplier, landlord or delivery-partner conflict.
2. 49 words maximum. Describe a store network you stabilised after compliance closure and the reopening test.
3. 49 words maximum. Which metric reveals availability achieved through unhealthy excess stock?