Commercial And Procurement Lead

Mission Brief

Build Lenskart’s commercial engine — transforming how we buy, negotiate, and manage every rupee of external spend across manufacturing, retail, and corporate categories. Buying is fragmented, category strategies inconsistent, supplier relationships transactional, and there is no commercial intelligence layer. The gap between what we spend and what we should spend is your mandate. Architect a tech-led, AI-first function that turns procurement from a cost centre into a structural margin lever.

Core Mandate: Commercial Transformation & Value Creation

1. Commercial Intelligence Platform

• Platform Ownership: Own the strategic vision of Lenskart’s commercial intelligence stack — should-cost models, spend analytics, supplier scorecards, e-sourcing, contract lifecycle, and AI-assisted negotiation insights.

• AI-First Operating Model: Embed AI into every layer: supplier discovery, price prediction, contract intelligence, and negotiation playbooks. Set the bar for what an AI-native procurement org looks like.

• Systems Design: Define category strategies, approval workflows, and vendor risk scoring so the majority of routine decisions are system-guided and only true exceptions reach human review.

2. Strategic Sourcing & P&L Impact

• YoY P&L Delivery: Own and deliver structural Year-on-Year Store EBITDA cost savings — benchmarked to the best in the industry. Step-change, not incremental.

• Spend Universe: Direct: frames, lenses, coatings, accessories, packaging, manufacturing inputs. Indirect: store CapEx & OpEx, marketing, tech, corporate. Supply Chain: logistics optimisation, last-mile, lab-to-store, make-vs-buy decisions.

• Should-Cost & TCO: Make should-cost, total-cost-of-ownership, and value engineering the default lens for every major category decision — embedded in tools, not one-off exercises.

• Negotiation Excellence: Be the commercial sharpshooter for the highest-stakes negotiations and build a team that negotiates with the same rigour.

3. Cross-Functional Leadership & Adoption

• Change Agent: Drive cultural and technical adoption of the commercial platform across Finance, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Retail, and Marketing. Enforce data-driven decision-making and challenge entrenched ways of working.

• Team Building: Build, mentor, and develop a high-performing commercial team — category leaders, sourcing analysts, platform owners — and create the next generation of commercial talent.

The Essentials

• Experience: Proven commercial experience and exposure to APAC, Middle East, or China manufacturing ecosystems a strong plus.
• Commercial Track Record: Quantifiable YoY P&L delivery — own a savings number, be held accountable, deliver it consistently. Commercial orientation, not just cost-cutting: balance functional quality with spend efficiency.
• Negotiation Mastery: Demonstrated track record of leading complex, high-stakes negotiations with Tier-1 suppliers, agencies, or landlords — and building negotiation discipline (frameworks, playbooks, walk-away discipline) across the team.
• Tech & AI Acumen: Familiarity with enterprise procurement platforms (SAP Ariba, Coupa, Jaggaer or equivalents). Instinct to automate and translate business needs into platform requirements matters more than deep technical expertise.
• Education: Bachelor’s or Master’s from top-tier institutions.

What to Expect

This is not a maintenance role. It’s a builder’s role — with a mandate that has your name on the outcome.

• Ownership that shows up on the P&L: You will own Lenskart’s entire spend universe — manufacturing inputs to last-mile fulfilment. The savings you deliver are visible at Board level. No ambiguity about who built it.
• A genuinely greenfield commercial function: No legacy stack to defend, no inherited playbook to protect. You design the intelligence platform, the sourcing strategy, and the team — from scratch, at one of India’s most consequential consumer tech companies.
• A seat at the table, not a chair outside it: Direct line to the CEO and CFO. You will be in the room for capital allocation, new geography entry, and supply chain re-architecture — shaping decisions, not just implementing them.
• Scale that compresses a career: 2,500+ stores. Hundreds of suppliers. Multiple geographies. A store opening every day. The kind of operating intensity that gives you in five years what others take fifteen to accumulate.
• Something that outlasts you: The systems, the culture, and the team you build will define how Lenskart buys for the next decade. The best commercial leaders leave a function that runs better without them. That’s the brief.