City Head, Dark Store Operations

Position: City Head – Dark Store Operations

Role Summary The City Head – Dark Store Operations is responsible for leading the overall performance of the city's dark store network with complete ownership of Profit & Loss (P&L;), operational excellence, rider supply, workforce management, and business expansion. The role is accountable for ensuring seamless order fulfillment, optimal rider availability, superior customer experience, and sustainable profitability while scaling operations within the city.

Key Responsibilities

1. Cost Ownership

- Own the end-to-end Cost for the city and drive sustainable profitability.
- Deliver cost targets through effective operational and financial management.
- Monitor financial performance, identify improvement opportunities, and implement corrective actions.
- Drive productivity initiatives to improve unit economics across the city.

2. End-to-End Dark Store Operations

- Lead the end-to-end operations of all dark stores within the city.
- Ensure high service levels across inbound, inventory management, picking, packing, dispatch, and last-mile readiness.
- Drive adherence to operational SOPs, quality standards, safety protocols, and compliance requirements.
- Optimize store productivity, inventory accuracy, order turnaround time (TAT), and fulfillment efficiency.
- Collaborate with central planning, procurement, and category teams to ensure uninterrupted operations.

3. Rider Supply Planning & Execution

- Own city-wide rider supply planning to meet demand across all operating hours.
- Forecast rider requirements based on demand projections, seasonality, and business events.




- Ensure adequate rider availability through effective roster planning, recruitment, onboarding, and deployment.
- Drive rider productivity, utilization, attendance, and retention.
- Monitor key rider metrics including fill rate, idle time, orders per rider, utilization, and delivery SLAs.
- Partner with fleet acquisition and HR teams to proactively address supply gaps and improve rider experience.

4. Demand & Capacity Planning

- Develop daily, weekly, and monthly capacity plans for dark stores and last-mile operations.
- Align manpower, infrastructure, and rider capacity with forecasted demand.
- Drive peak event planning, festive readiness, and contingency planning to ensure uninterrupted service.
- Optimize resource allocation across stores to maximize operational efficiency.

5. Team Leadership

- Lead and develop a team of approximately 200 employees across dark store operations, supervisors, shift managers, planning teams, and support functions.
- Build a high-performance culture focused on accountability, operational excellence, and continuous improvement.
- Drive hiring, performance management, coaching, capability development, and succession planning.
- Foster solid collaboration across operations, planning, commercial, HR, finance, and technology teams.

6. City Expansion & Network Growth

- Lead the expansion of the dark store network within the city.




- Evaluate new locations, capacity requirements, and operational readiness for store launches.
- Drive successful onboarding and stabilization of new stores while maintaining service quality.
- Partner with business and real estate teams to support market expansion and customer growth.

7. Daily Business Cadence & Performance Governance

- Lead daily business reviews across operations, rider supply, planning, and commercial teams.
- Review city performance dashboards and take corrective actions on key operational metrics.
- Ensure effective governance through structured reviews, escalation management, and action tracking.
- Drive a culture of data-driven decision-making and continuous process improvement.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

- City P&L; and profitability
- Order fulfillment SLA
- On-time dispatch and delivery
- Store productivity and operational efficiency
- Inventory accuracy and shrinkage
- Rider fill rate and supply sufficiency
- Rider productivity and utilization
- Cost per order
- Customer experience and service quality
- Team engagement and retention
- Dark store expansion milestones
- Safety and compliance metrics

Qualifications

- Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Business Administration, Supply Chain, Operations Management, or a related field (MBA preferred).
- 8–12 years of experience in operations, supply chain, quick commerce, e-commerce, grocery retail, or logistics.
- Minimum 3–5 years of experience managing city-level or regional operations with P&L; ownership.
- Proven experience leading large, multi-site teams and last-mile delivery operations.

📌 City Head / Senior Manager (Khordha)
🏢 Shadowfax Technologies
📍 Khordha