Strategy & Project Lead - Hospitality - Founder's Office

Job Description: Strategy & Project Lead, Founders Office

Designation: Strategy & Project Lead - Founders Office

Location: Gurgaon

Employment Type: Full-time | Mainly On-site

Experience: 4-8 Years

Compensation: 18-26 LPA Fixed + Performance Bonus

Working Days: 6 Days a Week

About the Role:

We are looking for a highly driven and entrepreneurial Strategy & Project Lead to work directly with the founders and help build a premium hospitality venture from the ground up.

The role will span strategy, business planning, project management, market research, financial analysis, site evaluation, vendor coordination, pre-opening activities, and launch readiness.

The candidate will act as the central coordinator between the founders, consultants, architects, designers, vendors, contractors, and future operating team.

Key Responsibilities:

- Convert the founders vision into a structured business and launch plan.

- Conduct market, customer, competitor, and location research.

- Evaluate potential locations based on catchment, competition, accessibility, parking, visibility, rental economics, and operational suitability.

- Develop business cases, financial models, CAPEX/OPEX estimates, revenue assumptions, margins, and break-even scenarios.

- Own the overall project roadmap, timelines, budgets, dependencies, risks, and milestones.

- Coordinate architects, designers, F&B consultants, vendors, contractors, and other specialists.

- Evaluate and compare vendor proposals, equipment, technology, and commercial terms.

- Support concept development, customer journey, space planning, product and supplier research.

- Coordinate pre-opening hiring, training, SOPs, menu trials, vendor readiness, and operational systems.

- Own the pre-opening critical path and opening-readiness checklist.

- Support soft opening, launch, and initial stabilization.

- Track post-launch sales, margins, product mix, customer feedback, inventory, and operational performance.

- Build and maintain structured documentation and a comprehensive business knowledge base.

Candidate Profile:

- 4-8 years of relevant experience in Founders Office, Strategy, Consulting, Project Management, Business Planning, Consumer/Retail, or Hospitality/F&B project development.

- Experience managing complex, cross-functional projects and preferably pre-opening activities.

- Strong analytical and commercial thinking with excellent spreadsheet and presentation skills.

- Ability to bring structure to ambiguous situations and provide decision-focused recommendations.

- Strong project management, vendor coordination, negotiation, and follow-up skills.

- Comfortable working directly with founders in a fast-paced environment.

- Willingness to travel across Delhi NCR for site visits, vendor meetings, research, and project execution.

- MBA or equivalent qualification preferred.

- Hospitality/F&B experience is an advantage but not mandatory.

Personal Attributes:

- Structured and detail-oriented

- Commercially minded

- Entrepreneurial and proactive

- Strong problem-solving ability

- Comfortable with ambiguity

- Excellent communication and stakeholder management

- Able to challenge assumptions with facts

- Strong ownership and execution mindset

Work Arrangement:

Primarily office-based at Golf Course Road, Gurgaon, with regular travel across Delhi NCR and occasional travel outside NCR. Flexibility in working hours may be required during project execution and launch.

Compensation:

18-26 LPA Fixed + Performance-Linked Bonus, depending on experience and demonstrated capability.

Career Opportunity:

The role offers an opportunity to work closely with the founders and take increasing ownership across strategy, business analytics, future locations, expansion planning, technology, AI initiatives, and other founder-level projects.