Earthful is a VC-funded fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) company in India’s health and wellness space, focused on building a trusted clean-label brand. Recently featured on Shark Tank India, Earthful is led by founders Sudha Gogineni and Veda Gogineni-alumni of IIT Kharagpur and ISB-who bring experience from organizations such as Uber, Meesho, Deutsche Bank, and ITC. As an early-stage startup competing in a fast-evolving D2C landscape, Earthful blends product integrity with tech-enabled execution, calling for a supply chain that is both resilient and scalable.
This comprehensive guide provides essential insights into the Senior Supply Chain Manager at Earthful, covering required skills, responsibilities, interview questions, and preparation strategies to help aspiring candidates succeed.
1. About the Senior Supply Chain Manager Role
As Senior Supply Chain Manager, you will own the end-to-end value chain from procurement to last-mile delivery. The role oversees demand planning, manufacturing unit onboarding, production coordination, warehousing, logistics partner management, and quality assurance. You will drive WMS adoption, implement ERP-enabled visibility and forecasting models, establish SOPs, and enforce compliance standards. A core mandate is to maintain healthy inventory levels, reduce fulfillment errors, cut costs, and raise service levels while building scalable, tech-enabled operations.
Reporting directly to leadership, the position sits at the center of Earthful’s operating system and collaborates closely with Customer Experience, Finance, Product, and Marketing. You will lead and mentor a team of supply chain professionals, set and track KPIs, and proactively unblock bottlenecks. In a high-growth, early-stage FMCG/D2C environment, this role is critical to translating strategy into execution-balancing speed, quality, compliance, and cost-to-serve to deliver a reliable customer experience and enable sustainable scale.
2. Required Skills and Qualifications
Earthful seeks a hands-on operator with 2–4 years of experience in operations/supply chain (FMCG/D2C preferred), strong ownership, and a data-driven mindset. Candidates should demonstrate ERP/WMS fluency, advanced spreadsheet skills, and the ability to lead teams, optimize processes, and coordinate cross-functionally while upholding quality and compliance.
Key Competencies
- Communication & Collaboration: Ability to coordinate cross-functionally with CX, Finance, Product, and Marketing.
- Analytical Thinking: Strong command of data. Ability to use forecasting models and dashboards.
- Problem-Solving: Strong problem-solving and ownership mindset. Ability to solve problems before they become bottlenecks.
- Adaptability & Learning: High-ownership role in a fast-paced startup environment.
Technical Skills
- Domain Knowledge: 2–4 years in operations/supply chain (FMCG/D2C preferred). Experience in demand planning, quality assurance, and factory operations.
- Software Proficiency: ERP/WMS experience. Advanced Excel/Sheets skills. Knowledge of SQL/Python is a plus.
- Consulting & Implementation: Own the end-to-end supply chain, from procurement to last-mile delivery. Lead WMS adoption, process optimization, and build SOPs. Responsible for team leadership and managing KPIs.
3. Day-to-Day Responsibilities
Below is a representative view of weekly rhythms for the role-covering plan, source, make, move, and deliver-with an emphasis on tech-enabled visibility, quality, and cross-functional execution.
- Own and manage the end-to-end supply chain, from procurement to last-mile delivery, ensuring seamless coordination across factories, warehouses, and logistics partners.
- Lead demand planning, quality assurance, and onboarding of new manufacturing units to ensure adherence to timelines and compliance standards.
- Identify and drive process optimization opportunities in warehousing, logistics, and manufacturing to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and enhance service levels.
- Oversee Warehouse Management System (WMS) adoption, track stock movements, maintain optimal inventory levels, and minimize fulfillment errors or stockouts.
- Utilize ERP tools, dashboards, and forecasting models to bring data-driven efficiency and visibility into operations.
- Build and lead a high-performance operations team, fostering a strong culture, providing training, and ensuring KPIs are met.
- Coordinate cross-functionally with Customer Experience, Finance, Product, and Marketing teams to build SOPs, reduce costs, and proactively resolve bottlenecks.
4. Key Competencies for Success
Beyond baseline qualifications, the following capabilities distinguish high performers in this role by balancing speed, quality, cost, and customer outcomes in a startup environment.
- Strategic Operator Mindset: Zooms out to design scalable systems and zooms in to fix root causes-vital for early-stage scale-up.
- Data-Driven Decision-Making: Converts ERP/WMS and dashboard signals into actions that protect margins and service levels.
- Cost-to-Serve Ownership: Identifies and removes waste across the network to reduce costs without compromising quality or speed.
- Change Management & Tech Enablement: Leads adoption of new tools/processes, upskills teams, and sustains behavior change.
- Customer-Centric Execution: Designs operations backward from promised experience to minimize errors and returns.
5. Common Interview Questions
This section provides a selection of common interview questions to help candidates prepare effectively for their Senior Supply Chain Manager interview at Earthful.
Connect your experience to clean-label FMCG/D2C, tech-enabled ops, and the chance to build at an early-stage startup.
Explain end-to-end accountability for plan, make, move, deliver, and customer outcomes.
Share the baseline, interventions (SOPs, automations), and impact on cost, speed, or quality.
Discuss frameworks (impact/effort, risk, customer impact) and stakeholder alignment.
Highlight communication, training, pilots, and metrics to sustain adoption.
Show how you balanced constraints (Finance, CX, Marketing) with data and clear SLAs.
Pick 1–2 (e.g., OTIF, FE%, MAPE) and link them to customer experience and cost-to-serve.
Focus on root cause, actions taken, and system-level prevention.
Outline clarity of expectations, skill diagnosis, training plans, and follow-up metrics.
Emphasize appetite for ownership, speed, ambiguity, and building scalable systems.
Use STAR (Situation-Task-Action-Result), quantify impact, and link each story to Earthful’s context.
Reference historical sales, seasonality, campaigns, new launches, and channel mix.
Discuss MAPE/WAPE, bias, and SKU-level granularity to inform inventory targets.
Link variability in demand/lead time, service levels, and review frequency.
OTIF, fill rate, FE%, inventory turns, lead time, and cost per order, with thresholds.
Cover master data, process mapping, cutover plan, training, and post-go-live controls.
Inbound checks, batch/expiry tracking, sampling, storage conditions, and traceability.
Service levels, coverage, cost, tech integration, pilots, and SLA dashboards.
Monthly/weekly rhythms aligning demand, supply, finance, CX, and marketing inputs.
Root-cause analysis (packaging, pick errors), refurbishment/disposal SOPs, and cost control.
Network design, shipment consolidation, slotting, MOQ resets, and packaging redesign.
Anchor answers in measurable improvements and explain the why behind each tool or KPI.
Diagnose demand/lead-time variance, run expediting options, and prevent recurrence.
Immediate containment (manual checks), then root-cause, retraining, and config fixes.
Use SLA governance, capacity review, backup suppliers, and revised commitments.
Re-forecast, adjust inventory and labor plans, communicate constraints, and monitor OTIF.
Analyze mis-picks, address slotting/scan discipline, and add QC gates at pack-out.
Quarantine lots, trace batches, notify stakeholders, and implement corrective actions.
Run lane-level analysis, corrective plan, trial alternates, and renegotiate SLAs.
30: audit and baseline; 60: stabilize and pilot improvements; 90: scale with KPIs.
Frame trade-offs with data (service vs. cash), run scenarios, and align on thresholds.
Short-term slotting/labor optimization; mid-term overflow/3PL; long-term network plan.
State assumptions, structure your approach, quantify impact, and close the loop with prevention.
Detail goals, actions, KPIs moved (e.g., OTIF, cost, FE%), and sustainability.
Explain modules, master data, and process flows you owned or improved.
Share content design, rollout cadence, audits, and continuous improvement loops.
Describe metrics, refresh frequency, and actions stakeholders took.
Discuss specific levers, baselines, and verified outcomes.
Selection, SLAs, QBRs, corrective actions, and capacity planning.
Outline checkpoints, documentation, traceability, and escalation paths.
Carrier mix, region-wise performance, RTO control, and NDR management.
State targets vs. actuals and how you sustained performance.
Focus on baselining, quick wins (WMS hygiene, FE%), and scalable SOPs.
Tie every example to measurable outcomes and how it translates to Earthful’s context.
6. Common Topics and Areas of Focus for Interview Preparation
To excel in your Senior Supply Chain Manager role at Earthful, it’s essential to focus on the following areas. These topics highlight the key responsibilities and expectations, preparing you to discuss your skills and experiences in a way that aligns with Earthful objectives.
- Demand Planning & Forecast Accuracy: Study MAPE/WAPE, bias, seasonality, and campaign impacts to show how you convert forecasts into inventory decisions.
- Inventory Health & WMS Discipline: Be ready to discuss cycle counts, batch/expiry tracking, putaway/slotting, and reconciliation to reduce variances and FE%.
- Factory, QA, and Compliance Controls: Review inbound/outbound checks, sampling plans, traceability, and timeline adherence to ensure consistent quality.
- Logistics Partner Management: Prepare criteria for selecting 3PLs, managing SLAs, and improving regional OTIF and cost per order.
- Cost-to-Serve & KPI Governance: Understand network levers, packaging efficiencies, and dashboarding to track OTIF, turns, lead times, and unit economics.
7. Perks and Benefits of Working at Earthful
Earthful offers a comprehensive package of benefits to support the well-being, professional growth, and satisfaction of its employees. Here are some of the key perks you can expect
- High Ownership & Leadership Exposure: Report directly to leadership and influence strategy-to-execution decisions.
- Build the Supply Chain Backbone: Direct impact on core systems across procurement, production, warehousing, and last-mile.
- Early-Stage Startup Environment: Fast learning cycles, autonomy, and opportunities to ship improvements quickly.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with CX, Finance, Product, and Marketing to solve real customer problems.
- Tech-Enabled Scale Experience: Implement ERP/WMS, dashboards, and forecasting models that drive measurable outcomes.
8. Conclusion
Earthful’s Senior Supply Chain Manager role is a high-ownership opportunity to design and run a resilient, tech-enabled FMCG/D2C operation. Success hinges on end-to-end accountability, data-driven planning, disciplined execution, and cross-functional leadership.
Prepare to demonstrate how you have lifted OTIF, improved forecast accuracy, reduced fulfillment errors, and lowered cost-to-serve-while strengthening quality and compliance. If you thrive in fast-paced, founder-led environments and enjoy turning analytics into action, this role offers meaningful impact and rapid growth.
Tips for Interview Success:
- Quantify your stories: Share before/after metrics for OTIF, MAPE, FE%, inventory turns, and cost per order.
- Show your operating system: Walk through SOPs, dashboards, and cadences you built to sustain performance.
- Prove tech fluency: Explain how you used ERP/WMS and advanced spreadsheets (plus SQL/Python if applicable) to drive actions.
- Think like a builder: Offer a crisp 30-60-90 plan focused on visibility, quick wins, and scalable processes.