Company context
The company designs, supplies, integrates and maintains life-safety systems for commercial, industrial and institutional premises. Its obligations extend beyond equipment delivery: system design must be appropriate to the protected risk, approved components must be used, installations must conform to drawings and applicable codes, testing must be evidenced, deficiencies must be closed and installed systems must remain serviceable throughout their operating life.
The economics are similarly layered. A contract may combine engineering, bought-out equipment, site labour, testing, commissioning, certification, retention, warranty and recurring maintenance. Reported progress can diverge from actual risk retirement when design approval is incomplete, material is at site but not installed, testing is deferred or customer acceptance remains conditional. The Board seeks an Independent Director who can connect financial reporting with engineering evidence and the company's duty to protect life.
The Board mandate
The Director will strengthen independent oversight of project accounting, certification, product provenance, subcontractor capability, service obligations, working capital and the installed-base strategy. The role requires a willingness to challenge apparently favourable revenue or margin when the underlying technical milestones, acceptance records or warranty exposures do not support the reported position.
The appointee will also help the Board determine where the company should compete. Growth must be assessed by risk class, contracting model, engineering capability, payment quality and lifecycle service potential—not order value alone. The company must avoid accepting projects whose compressed schedules, unclear design responsibility or unqualified subcontracting expose customers and the enterprise to unacceptable risk.
Strategic and governance responsibilities
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Align revenue with technical completion. Review how design approval, procurement, installation, testing, commissioning, handover and customer acceptance support revenue recognition and estimated cost to complete. Physical material at site must not substitute for satisfaction of a performance obligation.
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Strengthen project-estimate governance. Require independent review of labour productivity, material escalation, access constraints, rework, delay exposure, liquidated damages, testing resources, retention recovery and warranty provisions. Changes to estimate-at-completion should retain a complete audit trail.
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Protect certification integrity. Examine competence, independence and evidence supporting inspection, test certificates, commissioning records and statutory submissions. No commercial employee should be able to suppress a failed test or backdate completion evidence.
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Assure component provenance. Review approved-product lists, supplier onboarding, batch or serial traceability, storage conditions, substitution controls and handling of suspected non-conforming or counterfeit components. Procurement savings cannot override system compatibility or certification conditions.
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Govern design responsibility. Ensure contracts clearly allocate hydraulic, electrical, control-logic, interface and cause-and-effect design obligations. Material departures from approved design must receive qualified review and customer approval where required.
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Control subcontractor risk. Evaluate licensing, competence, supervision, workforce safety, payment practices and inspection history. Commercial dependence on a local subcontractor must not dilute the company's accountability for workmanship.
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Improve order-book quality. Segment backlog by approved design, executable front, material availability, site readiness, customer funding, margin resilience and collection history. The Board should distinguish signed orders from economically and operationally executable orders.
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Strengthen receivables and retention discipline. Separate billing-document gaps, disputed variations, conditional acceptance, retention, customer stress and genuine collection delay. Require named recovery actions and realistic provisioning for balances linked to unresolved performance issues.
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Build an installed-base strategy. Assess maintenance penetration, renewal rates, response capability, spare-parts availability, system obsolescence and quality of service records. Recurring service growth must be founded on measurable system readiness rather than paper compliance.
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Oversee field-service conduct. Examine inspection completeness, deficiency classification, customer acknowledgement, temporary impairment controls and escalation of critical findings. Technicians must be protected from pressure to mark an unsafe system as serviceable.
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Test incident readiness. Review protocols for product recall, widespread component defect, failed system activation, warehouse fire, major project injury, cyber compromise of connected controls and loss of testing records. Exercises should include regulator, customer and public communication.
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Govern connected-system cybersecurity. Map remote access, default credentials, software maintenance, device inventory, network segregation, logging and third-party support. Cyber assurance should address whether a compromised interface could disable, delay or falsify a safety response.
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Improve capital allocation. Scrutinise testing laboratories, service depots, digital monitoring platforms, fabrication capacity and acquisitions against utilisation, capability advantage, lifecycle revenue and downside cash requirements.
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Raise public disclosure quality. Ensure consistent definitions for order intake, executable backlog, project completion, service revenue, working capital and material incidents. Investor communication must not imply that all contracted value carries equivalent certainty or risk.
Decisions expected at Board level
The Director will provide independent judgment on entry into higher-hazard applications; unusually large or complex projects; acquisitions of regional installers or service providers; long-term product-supply arrangements; expansion of remote-monitoring services; material settlements; capital allocation; and the adequacy of provisions for delayed or disputed work.
For each major contract, the Board should understand design accountability, code and approval pathway, equipment provenance, subcontracting, testing sequence, site access, customer credit, cash profile, liability cap, insurance response, delay exposure and exit conditions. A project should not be accepted merely because its headline margin appears attractive.
Audit and risk information architecture
The Director will help implement a quarterly dashboard covering executable backlog; estimate-at-completion movements; gross-margin erosion; overdue variations; receivables and retention; design approvals outstanding; failed or deferred tests; non-conforming components; subcontractor quality; warranty call-outs; critical maintenance deficiencies; safety events; connected-system vulnerabilities; unresolved audit findings; and downside liquidity.
Internal audit should trace selected projects from bid assumptions to approved design, purchase records, site measurement, testing, revenue, collection and warranty. The Audit Committee should meet privately with statutory audit, internal audit, finance, engineering assurance and the head of safety. Any suspected manipulation of completion or certification evidence must be directly reportable to the Committee Chair.
Candidate profile
Candidates should bring at least 25 years of senior leadership across engineering projects, building systems, industrial services, electrical or mechanical systems, capital projects, audit, finance, risk or listed-company governance. Relevant experience may include service as a CEO, CFO, project-business leader, engineering assurance head, Audit Committee Chair, statutory-audit partner or senior executive responsible for technically regulated operations.
The candidate must read project financials deeply while engaging credibly with engineering, field service and quality teams. Experience with long-duration contracts, percentage-of-completion judgments, safety-critical systems, certification, multi-site service operations, working-capital recovery or technical acquisitions will be valuable. Regular operating visits and direct engagement with control evidence are expected.
Eligibility, independence and conflicts
Active inclusion in the IICA Independent Directors Databank is mandatory. The candidate must satisfy all independence, disqualification and proficiency requirements applicable to a listed-company Independent Director. Current and recent relationships involving promoters, major customers, engineering consultants, component suppliers, subcontractors, auditors, lenders, insurers, regulators or competing service providers must be disclosed.
The role may not be used to advance a certification practice, product brand, contracting business or advisory relationship. The appointee must comply with annual independence confirmation, securities-dealing restrictions, confidentiality standards and continuing Board education.
First 100-day priorities
- Review selected completed, delayed and loss-making projects from contract through final acceptance.
- Visit an active project, a service operation and a product-storage or assembly location.
- Examine testing failures, certification exceptions, material substitutions and major warranty events.
- Reconcile reported backlog with design approval, site readiness and customer funding.
- Meet separately with statutory audit, internal audit, finance, engineering assurance and field safety leadership.
- Recommend immediate improvements to Board reporting, technical escalation and project-estimate controls.
First-year outcomes
Success should be evident in revenue supported by technical evidence, stronger estimates at completion, independently protected certification, verified component provenance, more realistic backlog reporting and improved cash conversion. The Director should leave the Board able to see whether commercial performance and the life-safety obligation are moving together.