Job Description/Specification:
A senior operational leadership opportunity is available for a Vertical Operations Director responsible for owning and scaling operational performance across multiple business verticals, including grocery, laundry, ticketing, retail, marketplace operations, and future services.
The role goes beyond daily operations. It focuses on building scalable operating models, improving customer experience, strengthening partner performance, optimizing unit economics, and preparing new verticals for successful launches and expansion.
Key Responsibilities
- Own operational performance across grocery, laundry, ticketing, retail, and other assigned verticals.
- Establish operating models, KPIs, service standards, SOPs, SLAs, and escalation processes for each vertical.
- Improve fulfillment reliability, availability, order accuracy, customer experience, and partner performance.
- Lead operational readiness for new vertical launches, including pilots, risk assessments, partner requirements, and logistics planning.
- Monitor daily, weekly, and monthly performance and turn data into clear action plans.
- Work with Product, Logistics, Finance, Commercial, Category, Merchant Operations, and Customer Support teams to resolve cross-functional issues.
- Improve cost-to-serve, fulfillment efficiency, delivery operations, refund leakage, and other factors affecting profitability.
- Build and lead vertical operations teams with clear accountability and performance expectations.
- Manage partner and merchant operational standards and recommend corrective actions for underperforming partners.
- Support major events and new services through detailed operational planning and readiness reviews.
Requirements
- Strong senior-level experience in operations, marketplace, e-commerce, quick commerce, retail, logistics, or related environments.
- Experience managing multiple operational verticals or complex business lines.
- Proven ability to develop scalable operating models and translate business objectives into execution plans.
- Strong understanding of operational KPIs, service levels, customer experience, and unit economics.
- Experience working with merchants, partners, logistics providers, product teams, and other cross-functional stakeholders.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to identify root causes and recurring operational failures.
- Experience developing SOPs, SLAs, governance frameworks, dashboards, and performance-review processes.
- Strong leadership and team-development capabilities.
- Ability to operate effectively in a fast-moving, technology-driven environment.
Who Should Apply?
This opportunity is suited to a senior operations leader who is comfortable owning results across several business areas rather than managing only one operational function.
Candidates from e-commerce, quick commerce, marketplace, grocery, retail, logistics, delivery, hospitality, or technology-enabled services may find their experience relevant if they have managed complex operational ecosystems.
The ideal candidate should combine strategic thinking with hands-on execution. You should be able to identify a performance problem, determine its root cause, establish ownership, implement a solution, and measure whether the improvement actually worked.
Experience launching new business verticals or building operating models from the ground up would also be highly relevant.
Skills That Will Help You Succeed
Key capabilities include:
- Multi-vertical operations management
- E-commerce and marketplace operations
- Grocery and quick-commerce fulfillment
- Partner and merchant performance management
- SOP and SLA development
- Operational governance
- Customer experience improvement
- KPI and dashboard management
- Unit economics and cost optimization
- Cross-functional leadership
- New-vertical launch planning
- Root-cause analysis
- Process improvement
- Team leadership and coaching
- Data-driven decision-making
A strong customer focus is also important, particularly when dealing with recurring service failures, complaints, refunds, delivery problems, and partner performance issues.
How to Stand Out
Your CV should demonstrate scale, ownership, and measurable operational results.
Instead of simply writing that you managed operations, highlight achievements such as improving order fulfillment times, reducing cancellations, increasing merchant compliance, improving availability, reducing customer complaints, lowering cost per order, or improving delivery efficiency.
If you have launched a new vertical, built an operating model, managed a large partner network, or led cross-functional transformation, make these achievements prominent.
Quantify your impact wherever possible using genuine figures for order volumes, teams, partners, markets, costs, service levels, or performance improvements.
Interview Preparation
Expect scenario-based questions that test how you manage complex operational problems.
You may be asked:
“A vertical has strong revenue growth but declining profitability. What would you investigate?”
Prepare to discuss cost-to-serve, fulfillment efficiency, delivery costs, refunds, partner terms, operational waste, and other factors affecting unit economics.
“How would you launch a new vertical?”
Explain how you would define the operating model, establish SOPs and SLAs, assess partners, plan logistics capacity, test the customer journey, run a pilot, identify risks, and establish performance metrics before scaling.
“How would you handle a consistently underperforming merchant?”
Discuss performance data, root-cause analysis, communication, corrective actions, accountability, monitoring, and escalation where necessary.
Career Growth
Experience leading multiple operational verticals can provide a strong foundation for broader Chief Operating Officer, VP Operations, Head of Marketplace, General Manager, or regional operations leadership responsibilities.
The combination of operational execution, customer experience, technology, partner management, and profitability makes this type of role relevant to senior leaders building scalable digital businesses.
Frequently Asked Questions
What business areas can this role cover?
The position includes grocery, laundry, ticketing, retail, marketplace operations, and future verticals.
Does the role involve new business launches?
Yes. The position includes defining operating models, SOPs, SLAs, partner requirements, pilots, risk assessments, and operational readiness for new verticals.
Is profitability part of the responsibility?
Yes. The role includes monitoring cost-to-serve, identifying operational inefficiencies, improving fulfillment efficiency, and supporting stronger vertical economics.
What type of leadership is expected?
The role involves building strong vertical operations teams, defining responsibilities, setting performance expectations, coaching team members, and establishing clear ownership.
What environment does the role involve?
It is a technology-driven, multi-vertical environment where operations, product, logistics, finance, commercial, customer support, and partner teams need to work together closely.