Operations Lead

About Cityflo

Cityflo is a daily commute company that provides a comfortable, stress-free travel experience for corporate professionals, as an alternative to driving. With premium buses, a simple app and caring customer service, our passengers get the luxury of time in their busy schedules — where they can read their book, watch Netflix, nap or simply soak in the view of the city. We're bringing joy back to commuting, and turning around urban traffic woes in a big way.

Today, Cityflo operates a fleet of nearly 1,200 buses across six cities — Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai — running large-scale, reliable transportation programs every single day. Cityflo is well-funded by prominent VCs — India Quotient and Lightbox Ventures.

Website: https://www.cityflo.com/

App: https://bnc.lt/cityflo/

About the GHAPL Operating Model

GreyHeron Assets Pvt. Ltd. (GHAPL) is the dedicated operating entity that runs a fleet of buses for Cityflo. Under the GHAPL model, a pool of bus operators (sub-vendors) supply and run vehicles, while GHAPL takes complete operational and commercial ownership of those buses — deployment, day-to-day running, fuelling, ground supervision, vendor settlements and the unit-level P&L — and interfaces with Cityflo to deliver the agreed service. In effect, GHAPL is run like a self-contained bus operating business sitting within the Cityflo ecosystem.

Job Description - Operations Head, GHAPL (Mumbai)

As the Operations Head for GHAPL, you will own the P&L and the end-to-end running of the GHAPL bus fleet. You are, for all practical purposes, the owner of these buses — accountable for keeping every bus on the road, running profitably and meeting Cityflo's service standards every single day. You will lead a ground team responsible for supervision and fuelling, manage a network of sub-vendor bus operators, and be the single point that resolves vendor issues and navigates them with Cityflo. This is a high-ownership, entrepreneurial leadership role best suited to a strong operator who is exceptional at managing vendors.

Role responsibilities -

P&L Ownership:

·      Own the GHAPL P&L end-to-end — revenue from Cityflo contracts against the full cost of running the fleet (vendor payouts, fuel, manpower, maintenance, penalties and overheads).

·      Drive the fleet towards healthy unit economics: maximise bus utilisation and revenue per bus while controlling cost per kilometre.

·      Track margins at a per-bus and per-route level, identify loss-making assets early, and take corrective commercial or operational action.

·      Work with Finance to maintain clean monthly books for GHAPL and to forecast and protect the bottom line.

Daily Operations — Run the Buses Like an Owner:

·      Take complete ownership of the smooth, on-time running of every GHAPL bus, every day — treat each bus as your own asset.

·      Ensure maximum fleet availability and uptime: pre-empt breakdowns, plan maintenance, manage spare capacity and minimise cancellations.

·      Own fuelling operations end-to-end — reliable supply, fuel cost control, and elimination of leakage/pilferage.

·      Ensure every bus meets Cityflo's standards on punctuality, vehicle condition, driver behaviour and safety, day in and day out.

Vendor & Sub-Operator Management (core to the role):

·      Build, manage and grow a reliable network of sub-vendor bus operators supplying vehicles under the GHAPL model.

·      Be the first and final point of contact for all vendor issues — payments, deployment disputes, vehicle quality, driver supply, breakdowns and day-to-day friction — and resolve them decisively.

·      Negotiate commercials, set clear SLAs, and hold vendors accountable through structured reviews, deductions and incentives.

·      Build strong, trust-based relationships that keep vendors committed and reliable even during scale-up and pressure periods.

·      Onboard new vendors as the fleet grows and continuously upgrade the vendor mix on cost, reliability and quality.

Ground Team Leadership & Supervision:

·      Lead and develop the GHAPL ground team responsible for on-ground supervision, fuelling and daily bus operations.

·      Set clear roles, routines and accountability for supervisors and ground staff across hubs and routes.

·      Forecast manpower needs in line with the fleet ramp-up and hire, train and retain the right ground team.

·      Instil a culture of discipline, ownership and quick on-ground problem-solving.

Navigating Vendor Issues with Cityflo:

·      Act as the bridge between sub-vendors and Cityflo — translate ground/vendor problems into solutions and escalate the right issues at the right time.

·      Coordinate with Cityflo's operations, finance and contract teams to align on deployment, billing, penalties and service expectations.

·      Protect both the vendor relationship and Cityflo's service commitments, balancing the two without letting either side break.

·      Represent GHAPL professionally in reviews with Cityflo and surface risks early.

Compliance, Documentation & Audits:

·      Ensure all vehicles, drivers and vendors meet statutory, contractual and client compliance requirements (permits, fitness, insurance, driver documents).

·      Maintain audit-readiness at all times and clear Cityflo-led and client-led audits without observations.

·      Keep clean records of vendor agreements, deployment, fuelling, payouts and incidents.

Cost & Process Improvement:

·      Identify recurring operational and commercial pain points and fix them at the root.

·      Drive continuous improvement in fuel efficiency, vendor cost, utilisation and manpower productivity.

·      Build simple review rhythms and trackers that give clear visibility into fleet health, vendor performance and P&L.

What we're looking for

·      5–10 years of operational experience in transportation, fleet operations, logistics, or large-scale field operations, with a strong track record of running operations on the ground.

·      Exceptional vendor management skills — proven ability to manage, negotiate with and hold accountable a network of vendors/operators, and to resolve vendor conflicts under pressure.

·      Strong commercial and P&L acumen — comfortable owning a bottom line, managing costs (fuel, vendor payouts, manpower) and thinking like a business owner.

·      Demonstrated experience leading and building ground teams (supervisors, field staff, drivers).

·      High ownership and entrepreneurial mindset — treats the fleet as their own business and is relentless about uptime, service and cost.

·      Comfortable being on-ground in hubs, depots and fuelling points as much as in front of a laptop. Fluent in Hindi and English; Marathi is a plus.

Location

Mumbai (field + office). Must be open to extensive on-ground presence across hubs and depots in MMR, and to flexible hours aligned with bus operations.