Head - Vehicle procurement and Supply

The Role

• The Head-Reefer Vehicle Procurement & Supply will own the identification, sourcing, procurement, and availability of small and medium-sized reefer vehicles required for AbleCold''s rapidly growing operations.
• The role will involve building a strong market network of vehicle owners, fleet operators, transporters, and other supply partners; negotiating competitive commercial terms; and ensuring that the right vehicles are available at the right location and time.
• This is a highly hands-on, market-facing role and is critical to AbleCold''s ability to scale its transportation business while maintaining service reliability and healthy margins.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end procurement and supply of small and medium-sized reefer vehicles across operating cities and key lanes.
• Identify and build a network of reefer vehicle owners, fleet operators, transporters, brokers, and other supply partners.
• Continuously scout the market to identify new sources of reliable vehicle supply.
• Negotiate freight rates, lease rentals, minimum guarantees, commercial terms, and service conditions with vehicle owners and transport partners.
• Evaluate whether vehicles should be procured through spot hiring, long-term contracts, leasing, or other commercial arrangements based on business requirements.
• Build a reliable and scalable supply base capable of supporting both existing and new customer requirements.
• Maintain strong relationships with vehicle owners and suppliers while ensuring commercial discipline.
• Monitor market freight rates and vehicle availability across cities and lanes to identify cost and supply opportunities.
• Ensure timely placement and availability of vehicles against operational requirements.
• Develop alternate sources of supply to minimize dependency on individual vendors and reduce the risk of vehicle shortages.
• Ensure all vehicles and suppliers meet AbleCold''s operational, safety, compliance, and temperature-control requirements.
• Drive onboarding and documentation of new vehicle suppliers into AbleCold''s systems.
• Track supplier performance, availability, cancellations, service failures, and commercial performance.
• Resolve supply-side escalations and negotiate solutions to operational challenges.
• Use data and market intelligence to continuously reduce procurement costs and improve vehicle availability and utilization.

Required Skills & Experience

• 12 years of experience in transport procurement, fleet sourcing, vehicle supply, logistics, or related fields.
• Strong experience in market-based procurement of commercial vehicles; experience with reefer vehicles will be a significant advantage.
• Strong existing network of vehicle owners, transporters, fleet operators, and market aggregators.
• Excellent negotiation and commercial skills with a strong understanding of lane economics and market freight rates.
• Ability to identify new sources of supply and build relationships from scratch.
• Strong understanding of small and medium commercial vehicles and their operating economics.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities.
• Ability to work with data and make commercially sound decisions.
• Strong follow-up and closure skills.
• Extremely hands-on with a strong execution bias
• comfortable spending time in the market and personally driving outcomes.
• High ownership, entrepreneurial mindset, and ability to work in a fast-paced start-up environment.
• Willingness to travel extensively across markets when required.

Key Success Metrics

• Vehicle availability / fill rate
• Cost of procurement versus market benchmarks
• Timely vehicle placement
• Number and quality of active supply partners
• Supplier retention and performance
• Reduction in vehicle cancellations and service failures
• Procurement savings and improvement in contribution margins
• Coverage of key cities and lanes
• Speed of onboarding new vehicles and suppliers