LEAD OPERATIONS

Varaha; Gurugram District; On-site; INR 1,500,000 - 2,100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary and ESOP

Job summary

Varaha is a climate tech venture in India seeking an Operations Lead - ARR to shape and execute operational strategies across field teams and partners. You will own rollout planning, manage multiple field teams, drive KPIs, and ensure compliant, cost-efficient execution of Nature-Based Solutions at scale, with a strong focus on P&L, budgeting, and stakeholder coordination.

The role offers exposure to a fast-growing climate startup, cross-functional collaboration, and extensive field work across

Qualifications

• 8-12 years of experience in managing supply chains, operations, program and partners.
• Demonstrated ownership of P&L for large-scale operations, including budgeting, unit economics, cost optimization, and financial performance management.
• Proven track record of building, structuring, and scaling teams from the ground up, including field teams and managerial layers, in fast-growing or unstructured environments.
• Experience of building systems and processes from scratch in a fast moving start environment is a must
• Strong preference for having worked in rural and agri related domains (e.g., field teams, rural partners)
• Strong educational pedigree in Business, Operations, or a related field
• Proven track record in scaling operations while ensuring compliance with organization targets
• Strong optimization acumen: ability to analyze and maximize project economics
• Experience working with distributed networks and end-to-end supply chains.
• Prior experience of cracking operations in unorganised sector.
• Comfort with compliance, reporting, and handling large disbursement flows
• Strong team management and leadership skills
• Strong negotiation capabilities
• Willingness to travel and work in the field as needed
• Passion for climate action, impact at scale, and solving real-world problems

Responsibilities

• Develop and drive operational strategies aligned with organisational goals and objectives
• Manage multiple field teams ensuring effective execution, timeline adherence, and project objective achievement.
• Coordinate with internal stakeholders to ensure project objectives are aligned and implemented as per the registry and project design requirements.
• Build resilient partnerships with key field stakeholders across the entire value chain (inputs procurement, ground implementation and monitoring)
• Implement operational improvements for efficiency and cost/resource optimization.
• Drive and monitor all ground activities related to NBS projects ensuring effective day-to-day operations and prompt challenge management
• Act as a central point of coordination between field staff, senior management, and external stakeholders
• Own rollout planning across new regions, ensuring coordination across multiple internal and external stakeholders
• Develop and monitor operational KPIs and unit economics across project types, geographies, and channels (e.g., farmer count, cost per enrolment, retention, delivery risk)
• Build and manage standardized payment structures for farmers, FPOs, field partners, and delivery agencies
• Coordinate with Finance & Legal to ensure timely, rule-based, and audit-compliant payment disbursement
• Lead recruitment and selection for field staff
• Develop and drive comprehensive training programs for team skill development

Skills

Program management

Operations management

Supply chain

P&L ownership

Budgeting

Team leadership

Negotiation

Field operations

Travel willingness

Education

Bachelor's degree in Business/Operations or related field

Job description

Varaha is a leading climate tech venture focused on nature-based solutions such as regenerative agriculture, ARR, and biochar projects that support smallholder land stewards at scale. In our second year of operation we are removing and avoiding more than 1 Million tons of CO2 and distributing the majority of the revenues to more than 100,000 smallholder land stewards in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Our in-house best in class MRV technology includes a bio-geo-chemical model for soil carbon, remote sensing and machine learning and uses soil samples for calibration. Backed by leading global investors, our founding and management team comes with a stellar track record of successfully scaling projects and products to millions of smallholder land stewards at leading agri- and tech business.

Job Description

Position :- Operations Lead - ARR

About the role: Varaha is seeking a seasoned professional for the role of Operations Lead - ARR. In this key position, you will be instrumental in shaping and executing operational strategies to drive the success of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) projects. The primary focus will be on effective team management, strategic operational planning, and ensuring the seamless execution of initiatives aligned with Varaha's overarching goals.

This role is a great fit for someone with core competencies in program management and operational excellence at scale, combined with proven practical business acumen. Prior experience in smallholder fields/value chain is desirable but not mandatory.

Responsibilities

• Develop and drive operational strategies aligned with organisational goals and objectives
• Manage multiple field teams ensuring effective execution, timeline adherence, and project objective achievement.
• Coordinate with internal stakeholders to ensure project objectives are aligned and implemented as per the registry and project design requirements.
• Build resilient partnerships with key field stakeholders across the entire value chain (inputs procurement, ground implementation and monitoring)
• Implement operational improvements for efficiency and cost/resource optimization.
• Drive and monitor all ground activities related to NBS projects ensuring effective day-to-day operations and prompt challenge management
• Act as a central point of coordination between field staff, senior management, and external stakeholders
• Own rollout planning across new regions, ensuring coordination across multiple internal and external stakeholders

Develop and monitor operational KPIs and unit economics across project types, geographies, and channels (e.g., farmer count, cost per enrolment, retention, delivery risk

• Build and manage standardized payment structures for farmers, FPOs, field partners, and delivery agencies
• Coordinate with Finance & Legal to ensure timely, rule-based, and audit-compliant payment disbursement
• Lead recruitment and selection for field staff
• Develop and drive comprehensive training programs for team skill development

Qualifications

• 8-12 years of experience in managing supply chains, operations, program and partners
• Demonstrated ownership of P&L for large-scale operations , including responsibility for budgeting, unit economics, cost optimization, and financial performance management.
• Proven track record of building, structuring, and scaling teams from the ground up , including field teams and managerial layers, in fast-growing or unstructured environments.
• Experience of building systems and processes from scratch in a fast moving start environment is a must
• Strong preference for having worked in rural and agri related domains (e.g., field teams, rural partners)
• Strong educational pedigree in Business, Operations, or a related field
• Proven track record in scaling operations while ensuring compliance with organization targets
• Strong optimization acumen: ability to analyze and maximize project economics
• Experience working with distributed networks and end-to-end supply chains.
• Prior experience of cracking operations in unorganised sector.
• Comfort with compliance, reporting, and handling large disbursement flows
• Strong team management and leadership skills
• Strong negotiation capabilities
• Willingness to travel and work in the field as needed
• Passion for climate action, impact at scale, and solving real-world problems

Additional Information

What we offer

Join a small, ambitious, and international team and enjoy the following benefits:

• Competitive salaryand benefits package (ESOP)
• Key role in shaping a fast-growing climate tech startup
• Support for learning & professional development
• A culture of undogmatic, unbureaucratic creativity and collaboration

Please note this job description is not designed to contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.