Senior Operations Manager

This role is for one of Weekday’s clients

Salary range: Rs 1000000 - Rs 1200000 (ie INR 10 - 12 LPA)

Min Experience: 10+ years

Location: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

JobType: full-time

We are seeking an experienced and results-driven Senior Operations Manager to lead and optimize end-to-end operations within a pharmaceutical distribution environment. The ideal candidate will have 10-15 years of experience, with strong expertise in pharmaceutical distribution, supply chain coordination, inventory management, warehouse operations, regulatory compliance, and process improvement.

This role requires a hands-on operational leader who can manage large-scale distribution activities, build efficient processes, improve service levels, and ensure the timely and compliant movement of pharmaceutical products across the supply chain. The candidate will work closely with procurement, sales, finance, warehouse, logistics, quality, and regulatory teams to ensure operational excellence.

Requirements

Key Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end pharmaceutical distribution operations, including order processing, inventory movement, warehousing, transportation, and delivery.
• Develop and implement operational strategies to improve efficiency, productivity, service levels, and cost effectiveness.
• Oversee warehouse and distribution activities while ensuring appropriate handling, storage, and movement of pharmaceutical products.
• Manage inventory planning, stock availability, replenishment, batch tracking, expiry management, and inventory accuracy.
• Ensure adherence to pharmaceutical operations standards, SOPs, quality requirements, and applicable regulatory guidelines.
• Establish and monitor operational KPIs covering order fulfillment, inventory accuracy, delivery performance, turnaround time, wastage, and operational costs.
• Identify operational bottlenecks and implement continuous improvement initiatives to enhance productivity and scalability.
• Coordinate with logistics partners, distributors, suppliers, and internal teams to ensure timely and accurate product movement.
• Ensure appropriate handling of temperature-sensitive and other controlled pharmaceutical products wherever applicable.
• Monitor product returns, damaged stock, near-expiry inventory, recalls, and reverse logistics processes.
• Collaborate with quality and regulatory teams to maintain documentation, traceability, and compliance across distribution activities.
• Lead, mentor, and develop operations, warehouse, and distribution teams.
• Manage operational budgets, vendor performance, manpower planning, and resource allocation.
• Prepare regular operational reports and provide management with insights, risks, and recommendations.

Must-Have Skills

• Pharmaceutical Distribution
• Strong understanding of pharmaceutical supply chain and distribution processes.
• Warehouse and inventory management.
• Batch, lot, expiry, and product traceability management.
• Logistics and transportation coordination.
• SOP implementation and operational process management.
• Vendor and third-party logistics management.
• Strong knowledge of operational KPIs and performance management.
• Team leadership and stakeholder management.

Good-to-Have Skills

• Pharmaceutical Operations
• Experience with pharmaceutical quality and regulatory processes.
• Exposure to GDP/GxP and relevant pharmaceutical distribution practices.
• ERP/WMS and inventory management systems.
• Process automation and operational analytics.
• Experience managing temperature-controlled or specialized pharmaceutical logistics.

Qualifications & Experience

• Experience: 10-15 years in pharmaceutical distribution, pharmaceutical operations, supply chain, logistics, or a related field.
• Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy, Supply Chain Management, Operations, Business Administration, or a related discipline.
• Postgraduate qualification in Operations, Supply Chain, or Management is an advantage.