Head Operations

Director Operations

Oct 16, 2026 •

Role snapshot

Tan90 is hiring a Director – Operations to own production, supply chain and Cooling-as-a-Service operations end to end, and to build the operating engine that takes the company from 100 Cr to 500 Cr and beyond.

Title

Director – Operations

Location

Bengaluru (HSR Layout), with regular travel to plants and CaaS cities

Reports to

Co-Founder & CEO

Leads

Production, Supply Chain & Procurement, CaaS Operations

Experience

15+ years, of which 5+ in senior operations leadership

Compensation

60 LPA fixed + ESOPs

About Tan90

Tan90 Thermal Solutions is a materials science company building thermal management and cold chain infrastructure. Born out of IIT Madras and headquartered in Bengaluru, we design and manufacture Phase Change Material (PCM) based cooling products that keep goods at the right temperature without depending on diesel or an always-on grid.

Our Cooling-as-a-Service (CaaS) model powers temperature-controlled last-mile delivery for India's leading quick commerce and modern retail players, and we are now extending our PCM technology into HVAC and data centre cooling. Tan90 has grown 2x year on year since inception, is targeting 100 Cr revenue this financial year, and is expanding CaaS from 23 to 35 cities, with a new 20,000 sq ft manufacturing and CaaS facility in Delhi NCR and further facilities planned. We are backed by NAB Ventures, Blue Ashva Capital, Capital A and 3i Partners.

The role

Our next phase of growth is an operations problem as much as a sales one. Every new city, every new client and every new product line means more panels manufactured, more material moved, more boxes filled and returned on time, and tighter temperature adherence at higher volumes.

As Director – Operations, you will bring production, supply chain and CaaS operations under one leader and one operating rhythm. You will be the CEO's partner in turning a fast-growing startup into a company that runs predictably at 5x its current scale, with the systems, people and unit economics to match. This is a hands-on leadership role: you will set strategy, but you will also be on the shop floor and in the dark stores when it matters.

Key responsibilities

CaaS operations

• Own day-to-day CaaS delivery across all cities, from panel charging and box dispatch to returns and reverse logistics.
• Drive the core CaaS metrics: daily fill rate, asset return rate, temperature adherence, delivery time adherence, and panel and box hygiene.
• Lead city launches as CaaS expands from 23 to 35 cities, building a repeatable playbook for setting up hubs, hiring city teams and reaching steady state fast.
• Manage asset utilisation, loss and turnaround across a large and growing fleet of panels and boxes.
• Be the operational counterpart for our largest quick commerce and retail clients, with clear SLAs and escalation paths.

Production

• Own manufacturing across Bengaluru, Delhi NCR and upcoming facilities: capacity planning, throughput, yield, quality and safety.
• Scale output to meet demand from CaaS, product sales and exports without compromising quality.
• Introduce lean manufacturing, standard work and quality systems appropriate for a hardware company at our stage.
• Work closely with R&D to industrialise new products, including PCM solutions for HVAC and data centres.

Supply chain and procurement

• Build a resilient supplier base for raw materials, components and packaging, with sound cost, lead time and quality controls.
• Own demand and supply planning, inventory, warehousing and inbound and outbound logistics.
• Manage logistics partners and transport costs across a high-frequency, multi-city network.
• Drive cost-down programs that improve gross margin as volumes grow.

Team, systems and leadership

• Lead and grow the production, supply chain and CaaS teams, including city and plant managers, hiring and developing the next layer of leaders.
• Set up the operating cadence: KPIs, dashboards, weekly reviews and a clear chain of accountability.
• Choose and roll out the ERP, WMS and field-ops tooling we need to run at scale.
• Own the operations budget and partner with finance on capex, unit economics and cash flow.
• Work with the CEO and leadership team on strategy, annual planning and fundraising diligence.

What success looks like

In your first 90 days, you will have mapped every part of the operation, put a single KPI dashboard in front of the leadership team, and fixed the two or three bottlenecks that most limit growth.

By 12 months, CaaS will be live in 35 cities with consistent service levels across all of them, production capacity will be ahead of demand, and operating cost per unit will be visibly lower.

By 24 months, operations will be running at a scale that supports 500 Cr in revenue, including exports, with a strong second line of leaders in place and systems that no longer depend on any one person.

Who you are

Must-haves

• 15+ years in operations, with at least 5 years leading multi-function teams at senior level.
• Deep experience in FMCG operations with high order volumes and high-frequency movement of goods across many locations.
• Hands-on exposure to logistics: transport, distribution, warehousing and last-mile or reverse logistics.
• A proven record of scaling operations in a company to 1,000 Cr or more in revenue, and the ability to explain exactly what you built to get there.
• Experience leading large teams, including managers of managers, across plants, warehouses or field locations.
• Strong command of numbers: unit economics, cost structures, capacity models and operating budgets.
• Comfort with ambiguity and pace. You can build process without slowing a startup down.

Good to have

• Cold chain, temperature-controlled logistics or quick commerce experience.
• Manufacturing experience in hardware, consumer durables, packaging or materials.
• Exposure to asset-heavy, rental or service-based business models.
• Experience setting up operations for exports.
• An engineering degree; an MBA in operations or supply chain is a plus.Role & responsibilities

Preferred candidate profile