Head - Operations & Engineering - Food Processing Equipment Engineering

Key responsibilities:

- Engineering & Design: Evaluate customers' engineering and process requirements across mechanical, instrumentation, electrical, and food engineering domains. Lead engineering and design process based on customer specifications, with full accountability for technical validation & approvals from customers.

- Quality & Efficiency Focus: Be fully accountable for delivery of quality, to the satisfaction of customers, in terms of equipment performance, precision, efficiency, safety & life cycle management. Implement robust quality systems, policies and performance metrics.

- Vendor Development & Negotiation: Develop competitive vendors across mechanical, instrumentation, electrical, and automation domains and drive commercial negotiations to optimize cost, time, delivery & quality

- Project Execution & Management: Lead the full project lifecycle from - Design approval, Continuous quality monitoring, Factory Acceptance Test, User Acceptance Testing, Installation, Commissioning, Operations & maintenance.

- Breakdown response & resolution: Build adequate customer service systems to ensure immediate response & resolution of breakdowns, minimizing downtime & safeguarding operations

- Leadership: Build a multi-disciplinary operations team across design, supply chain, installation, maintenance & customer support.

Candidate Profile:

- Education: Mechanical Engineering (BTech/MTech). [Instrumentation/Food Engineering preferred].

- Experience: 12-18 years in operations management. The candidate should have extensively worked in customer-facing technical engagements with high focus on delivery of Customer quality (performance, efficiency, safety) together with exposure in design, installation & maintenance.

Skills:

- Leadership to build-from-scratch and scale in fast-paced start-up environments,

- Strong commercial negotiation skills and

- Entrepreneurial mindset - Nimble, Customer-focused, Quality-driven, and Make-it-Happen approach.

Client Profile:

We are a pioneering Agri-Tech joint venture between a Fortune-recognized global conglomerate (headquartered in the USA, operating in 40+ countries with 22,000+ employees) and a leading Indian R&D-driven technology company.

Our mission is to transform post-harvest processing of agri-commodities, addressing global challenges in food safety, human health, and climate sustainability through cutting-edge innovation.

If you're passionate about making a tangible impact on the global food system and want to be part of a high-growth, purpose-driven organization backed by industry leaders, this is the place for you.