Chief Operating Officer (COO) / SVP Operations

Location: Bangalore

Industry: Mobility | Employee Transportation | Fleet Operations | Logistics

About the Role:

We are looking for an experienced and strategic operations leader to drive large-scale transportation and mobility operations across multiple geographies. This role offers the opportunity to lead end-to-end operational excellence, fleet management, enterprise customer delivery, technology-led transformation, and business growth.

The ideal candidate will bring deep expertise in fleet operations, employee transportation, mobility services, logistics, or transportation businesses, coupled with a proven track record of leading large distributed teams, managing complex customer environments, and driving operational profitability.

Key Responsibilities:

Operations & Service Delivery:

- Lead end-to-end operational delivery across mobility, transportation, and customer service functions.

- Design and scale standardized operating models, governance frameworks, and best practices across multiple locations.

- Drive operational excellence through effective fleet utilization, route optimization, capacity planning, scheduling, and service delivery management.

- Establish and monitor key performance metrics to enhance productivity, customer experience, and operational efficiency.

Fleet & Partner Ecosystem Management:

- Develop and execute fleet strategies covering acquisition, deployment, utilization, productivity, and lifecycle management.

- Build and manage a strong network of fleet owners, transport vendors, and driver partners.

- Drive fleet availability, service quality, compliance, and cost optimization initiatives.

Enterprise Customer Management:

- Own relationships with strategic enterprise customers and ensure exceptional service delivery.

- Partner closely with commercial teams to improve customer satisfaction, retention, and account profitability.

- Act as an executive escalation point for key operational issues and customer engagements.

Commercial & P&L Leadership:

- Own operational P&L and drive sustainable, profitable growth.

- Improve business performance through enhanced productivity, cost controls, and resource optimization.

- Partner with finance and business leaders on planning, forecasting, and growth initiatives.

Technology & Transformation:

- Champion technology adoption, automation, and data-driven decision making across operations.

- Build dashboards, reporting frameworks, and performance management systems that provide real-time business visibility.

- Drive operational transformation initiatives that improve scalability and efficiency.

People Leadership:

- Build, lead, and mentor high-performing operations teams across multiple locations.

- Develop future leaders and foster a culture of accountability, ownership, collaboration, and execution excellence.

Safety, Compliance & Risk Management:

- Ensure best-in-class safety, compliance, and risk management standards across the organization.

- Establish governance processes covering vehicles, vendors, drivers, statutory compliance, and customer requirements.

Strategic Leadership:

- Partner with the executive leadership team to translate business strategy into scalable operational execution.

- Support market expansion, growth initiatives, and new business opportunities through strong operational leadership.

Ideal Candidate:

- 15+ years of experience in mobility, employee transportation, fleet management, logistics, transportation, or related sectors.

- Proven track record of managing large-scale, multi-location operations and enterprise customer relationships.

- Strong experience in fleet management, vendor ecosystems, operational excellence, and service delivery.

- Demonstrated success in P&L management and driving business profitability.

- Strong leadership capabilities with experience managing large, geographically distributed teams.

- Excellent stakeholder management, strategic thinking, and execution skills.

- Experience leading technology-enabled transformation initiatives and data-driven operations.

Education:

- Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Operations, Logistics, Supply Chain, Business Management, or a related field.

- MBA or equivalent management qualification will be an added advantage.

Diversity & Inclusion:

- We welcome applications from professionals of all backgrounds, including ex-Army, ex-Navy, and ex-Defence personnel with relevant operations leadership experience.