Head - Procurement & NPD

🚨 WE’RE HIRING | Head – Procurement & New Product Development

Rabitat | Senior Leadership | Full-time

📍 Location: [Add Location]

👤 Reports to: Chief Operating Officer

🧩 Function: NPD & Procurement

🎯 Experience: 10–15 Years

At Rabitat, we’re looking for a leader who can own what we make — and how well we make it.

This role sits at the intersection of Product × Engineering × Procurement × Manufacturing × Business.

You’ll own the vendor ecosystem end-to-end while driving products from concept → prototype → tooling → pilot → production.

🚀 What will you own?🔹 New Product Development

• Partner with Engineering & Design to convert concepts into manufacturable products
• Drive DFM, prototyping, sampling, tooling and pilot production
• Own the NPD calendar, stage gates, timelines and launch execution
• Partner with Business & Marketing on the future product roadmap
• Bring cost, feasibility and vendor intelligence into product decisions🔹 Procurement & Vendor Strategy
• Own end-to-end procurement across products, packaging & components
• Build a competitive and de-risked supplier ecosystem
• Eliminate single-source dependencies and develop backup capacity
• Scout, qualify and onboard domestic & international vendors
• Negotiate pricing, payment terms, MOQs, quality standards, SLAs and contracts
• Drive year-on-year COGS improvement without compromising quality🔹 Vendor Development & Performance
• Build long-term strategic supplier relationships
• Conduct vendor audits, pilot runs and capability assessments
• Establish vendor scorecards around Quality × Cost × Delivery × Responsiveness
• Move key suppliers from transactional POs to structured commercial partnerships🔹 Leadership & Function Building
• Build, mentor and scale the Procurement & NPD team
• Establish processes, systems and dashboards that enable predictable execution
• Connect Engineering, Design, Business, Marketing and Operations around product decisions🎯 What are we looking for?✔️ 10–15 years of experience in Consumer Products / Hardgoods / Durables

✔️ Meaningful experience across both Sourcing/Procurement + Product Development

✔️ B.E./B.Tech in Mechanical, Production, Industrial or related engineering discipline

✔️ Strong understanding of DFM, manufacturing, tooling, drawings & tolerances

✔️ Deep experience in vendor development, negotiation & contracting

✔️ Strong commercial understanding of margins, landed costs and COGS

✔️ Hands-on, structured and comfortable working in a fast-growing environment

✔️ Willingness to travel regularly to vendor/manufacturing sites

✔️ MBA is a plus, not a requirement

💡 What success looks like:→ Critical categories have qualified backup suppliers

• Key vendors operate under clear commercial & quality contracts
• NPD moves predictably from approved design to production
• Product roadmap decisions are backed by real cost & feasibility data
• COGS improves year-on-year without compromising quality

If you’re an engineering-led procurement leader who loves building products, developing vendors and creating scalable supply ecosystems, we’d love to hear from you.

📩 Interested? DM me your profile at shirin.khan@rabitat.com