Merlin Brands
Website:
merlinbrands.com
Job details:
🚨 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
Click on Apply to know more.
