Chief Operating Officer — Automotive-Chip Business

The mandate

An automotive-chip business must redesign operations to align tools, intellectual property, suppliers, locations and personnel with updated regulatory requirements. Legal teams have defined interim boundaries, but programme plans still assume shared laboratories and experts that may no longer be available to every flow. The urgent replacement Chief Operating Officer will turn approved boundaries into an executable, customer-safe model.

The remit covers approximately 1,200 employees and material partners across programme operations, supply, product engineering interfaces, quality, customer delivery and corporate services. The COO owns operating plan, delivery, cash, capacity, partners and transformation and reports to the Group Chief Executive or sponsor. Legal specialists decide permissibility; engineering and quality retain technical authority.

Programme decomposition must follow actual tasks. Design support, validation, test data, supplier communication and customer debug may carry different access rules. The COO will map dependencies and establish controlled interfaces without creating unsafe hand-offs or asking operations managers to interpret law independently.

Customer continuity requires precise communication. Vehicle platforms have qualification and change-notice obligations, and an alternate tool or supplier route may trigger new approval. The COO will ensure operating plans include this elapsed time and will escalate any date based on an unapproved assumption.

External manufacturing and technology contracts must align with the permitted model. Rights to data, remote support, derivative work and emergency access require evidence. A commercially available supplier is not an alternative until technical and customer qualification is complete.

Workforce design needs dignity and control. Access decisions will be role-specific and confidential, with reassignment and meaningful work managed by people leaders. Operational urgency cannot justify identity-based shortcuts or informal disclosure of individual status.

Business continuity will test loss of a tool, supplier, technical expert and data route together. Manual workaround, secure transfer, backlog recovery and customer allocation must be rehearsed. The role is urgent because interim governance is slowing automotive commitments and the previous COO left during restructuring.

Quality records need controlled separation as teams are reconfigured. Test limits, design evidence, change history and customer concessions must remain accessible to authorised programme members without being copied into informal repositories. The COO will require lineage and reconciliation whenever work crosses a newly created boundary.

Commercial planning must reflect the altered cost base. Duplicate tool environments, additional legal review, restricted support and alternate qualification can change programme margin materially. Finance and operations will rebuild customer and product economics, identify which commitments need amendment and avoid treating compliance expenditure as a temporary variance when it becomes structural.

Emergency customer support requires pre-agreed authority. A field issue may demand logs, samples or specialist access across controlled teams. The operating model will define who receives the case, which information can move, how time-critical legal review occurs and when the customer receives containment. Crisis pressure must not create a parallel, undocumented route.

Metrics will distinguish compliant throughput from delayed work. A programme cannot appear recovered by moving restricted tasks into an unmeasured queue or classifying authorised review as customer delay. The COO will reconcile backlog, decision time and output so the board understands both performance and the cost of the new perimeter.

What you will own

• Convert approved export-control boundaries into programme and supply operations.
• Rebuild delivery plans around lawful tool, IP, data and personnel access.
• Govern customer qualification and change communication.
• Establish controlled interfaces across teams and external partners.
• Protect automotive quality, genealogy and lifetime obligations.
• Test continuity for combined access and supply disruption.
• Maintain cash, capacity and operating performance through transition.
• Build accountable programme and operations leadership.

The first 12 months

In the first 45 days, map priority programmes to approved access and identify commitments depending on unavailable capability. Stop informal workarounds, establish interim decision routes and meet exposed customers with authorised teams.

By month six, implement the target operating model, complete supplier and tool amendments and qualify priority alternatives. Exercise a combined disruption and close severe findings. Talent and access cases should be resolved through documented specialist review.

At twelve months, place 100% of active programmes under approved operating access, deliver 95% of protected customer milestones and reduce access-driven decision ageing by 70%. No unauthorised transfer, material customer breach or quality escape should arise. Forecast cash and capacity should remain within 10% for three quarters.

What the sponsor will measure

• Programme work matching specific approved access boundaries.
• Customers protected through qualified, disclosed change.
• External rights and support proven before reliance.
• Employees treated fairly and privately.
• Continuity exercised across technical and supply dependencies.
• Operating performance recovering without compliance shortcuts.

The person

You bring 18–22 years in semiconductor or automotive-electronics operations, including cross-border programmes and outsourced manufacturing. You have led an export-control or comparable restricted-access response without losing customer delivery.

Your previous scope should exceed 900 employees and partners or ₹4,000 crore of programme value. Evidence must include a programme reconfiguration, a customer change approval and a contingency tested under restricted access. You work effectively with counsel without presenting legal opinions as operational fact.

Compensation and terms

Fixed compensation is ₹3.2–4.6 crore plus performance variable and long-term incentive linked to compliant delivery, customer outcomes, cash, resilience and leadership. This permanent hybrid Bengaluru role reports to the Group Chief Executive or designated sponsor. Prompt transition is required.

Confidentiality

The business, customers, programmes, legal analyses, employees and suppliers remain confidential. Detail follows fit, conflicts and signed confidentiality. Applicants must not contact customers or ecosystem partners to infer the enterprise.