Merlin Brands - Head - Procurement/Sourcing & New Product Development

About the Role: We are looking for a senior leader to head Procurement and New Product Development - the two functions that decide what we make and how well we make it. You will own the vendor ecosystem end to end: every purchase requirement, every supplier relationship, and the strategy that keeps our supply base competitive and de-risked. In parallel, you will drive NPD - partnering with engineering and design to take products from concept to production, and with business and marketing to shape what we build next. This role is best suited to someone with an engineering foundation, sharp commercial instincts, and deep experience managing vendors in a consumer products environment. Key Responsibilities: 1. New Product Development: - Bring designs to life. Work hand-in-hand with the engineering and design teams to convert concepts into manufacturable products DFM inputs, prototyping, sampling, tooling, pilot production, and a clean handover to scale manufacturing. - Own NPD execution. Run the NPD calendar with clear stage gates, timelines, and accountability so launches land on time and on spec. - Shape the product pipeline. Partner with business and marketing to decide the future product roadmap bring vendor, cost, and feasibility intelligence into what we choose to build, and identify white-space opportunities from the supply side. 2. Procurement & Vendor Strategy: - Own all purchase requirements. Run end-to-end procurement across product categories, packaging, and components planning, ordering, follow-through, and on-time availability at the right cost and quality. - Vendor strategy & risk mitigation. Map dependencies across the supply base, eliminate single-source risks, build backup capacity, and create a supplier portfolio that scales with the business. - Vendor contracts. Structure and negotiate commercial agreements pricing, payment terms, MOQs, quality standards, SLAs, and penalties and move key vendors from transactional POs to formal contracts. - New vendor development. Continuously scout, qualify, and onboard new vendors (domestic and international) for better cost, capability, and capacity; run structured audits and pilot runs before scale-up. - Cost & performance. Drive year-on-year cost improvement and track vendor performance on quality, delivery, and responsiveness through clear scorecards and reviews. 3. Leadership: - Build the function. Hire, mentor, and grow the procurement and NPD team; put in place processes, systems, and dashboards that make both functions run without heroics. - Cross-functional cadence. Be the connective tissue between engineering, design, business, marketing, and operations keeping product decisions grounded in cost and supply reality. What You Bring: - B.E./B.Tech (Mechanical, Production, Industrial, or related); MBA is a plus but not a requirement. - 10 - 15 years of experience in consumer products / hardgoods / durables, with meaningful ownership of both sourcing and product development. - An engineering mindset comfortable in factories, reading drawings, questioning tolerances, and debating manufacturability with vendors and designers alike. - Strong business acumen - you think in margins, landed costs, and trade-offs, not just specifications. - Proven vendor management depth: negotiation, contracting, vendor development, and supplier relationships built over years. - A builder's temperament - hands-on, structured, and comfortable operating in a fast-growing, ambiguous environment. - Willingness to travel regularly to vendor and manufacturing sites. What Success Looks Like: - Zero supply disruptions from single-vendor dependency; every critical category has a qualified backup. - Key vendors on formal contracts with clear commercial and quality terms.