Chief-of-staff to regional chair (CSO calibre) — Chemicals · India

Position overview

Gladwin International Leadership Advisors is representing a confidential organisation in Chemicals & Materials on a senior CSO leadership mandate anchored in India. The remit explicitly spans Continental Europe, Middle East, Africa.

This is a strategic transformation mandate at CXO level — equal parts operating leadership, change orchestration, and investor / board narrative ownership.

The organisation is looking for pattern recognition: someone who has seen similar complexity before and knows which levers matter first.

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Context you will inherit

• Market & sector: Regulatory complexity — REACH (Europe), EPA (USA), BIS (India), and chemicals regulations across 40+ export markets require dedicated regulatory affairs leadership
• Geographic spine: Primary hub India with explicit corridor responsibility across Continental Europe, Middle East, Africa.
• Organisation stage: Customer concentration in a handful of strategic accounts shapes both opportunity and reputational risk.
• Stakeholders: Key interfaces include headquarters strategy, regional risk and legal, local regulators (where material), and anchor channel partners.
• Secondary lens: Sustainability transformation — bio-based, circular, and green chemistry are becoming competitive necessities; R&D and strategy leaders who can navigate this transition

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The mandate (12–24 month arc)

1. Strategic resource allocation: Shift Opex and capex toward bets with highest risk-adjusted return.
2. Discontinuities: Monitor technology and business model shifts that could obsolete current advantages.
3. Customer futures: Scenario plans for how buyer behaviour evolves — especially in B2B services.
4. Exit options: For weak units, define paths (fix, sell, close) with timelines — stop infinite turnaround.
5. Strategic partnerships: Governance that prevents partners from capturing too much of the upside.
6. Metrics hygiene: Strategy scorecard linked to incentives — not a parallel slide deck no one owns.

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Responsibilities (representative)

• Challenge business unit strategies for overlap and capital inefficiency.
• Align innovation portfolio with enterprise bets — kill projects that drift.
• Sequence geographic or segment expansion with realistic operating assumptions.
• Integrate ESG into strategy where material to licence to operate and growth.
• Build strategy team talent — mix of analytics, finance, and industry depth.

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Leadership profile

• Judgment: High signal-to-noise under pressure; ethical clarity; willingness to halt initiatives that break risk appetite.
• Communication: Executive presence in English; additional languages valued where market-relevant.
• Education: Strong undergraduate grounding; MBA / advanced degree / professional qualification common at this level.
• Deal or transformation fluency: M&A, portfolio moves, or major change programmes in Chemicals & Materials.
• Geographic muscle: Comfort operating from India with regular engagement across Continental Europe, Middle East.

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Team & culture

Inclusion and psychological safety are not separate programmes — they are prerequisites for honest debate on strategy and risk. Model curiosity, direct feedback, and consequences for conduct lapses.

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Success measures (examples)

• Financial: Revenue and margin vs. plan; cash conversion; capital efficiency.
• Strategic: Share in priority segments; customer retention in anchor accounts; milestone delivery on transformation.
• People: Engagement trends; regrettable attrition in critical roles; diversity of succession slate.
• Risk: Audit and regulatory outcomes; conduct events; operational resilience metrics.

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First 90 days (orientation arc)

• Days 1–30: Shadow key customer journeys or operations — paper over slides where reality diverges.
• Days 30–60: Cut or pause low-value projects freeing capacity for strategic work.
• Days 60–90: Publish first integrated forecast or plan under your ownership — even if directional.
• Build trust with risk, legal, and audit through transparency — surprises erode licence to move fast.
• Pick one cultural signal (e.g. meeting hygiene, promotion criteria) and model it relentlessly.

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Stakeholder map (illustrative)

• Internal: Matrix of global product houses and local P&L; tension is normal — your role is to broker trade-offs with data.
• External: Customers who influence reference deals; government or industry bodies in regulated sectors.
• Capital providers: Banks, sponsors, or minority investors — each needs a slightly different narrative on risk.

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Travel & mobility

Multi-hub rhythm — plan for weekly or bi-weekly cross-border travel during integration or transformation peaks.

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Compensation

Competitive CSO compensation for Chemicals & Materials leadership: cash, incentive, benefits, and potential equity or carry (case-dependent). Discussed with finalists only.

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Application process

Gladwin International is managing this search confidentially. Shortlisted candidates will engage in structured conversations with the firm’s partners before client introduction. Please apply through the careers portal with a concise note on why this geography, sector, and remit fit your trajectory.

We review every submission personally; unsolicited outreach to the end client is discouraged and may disqualify candidacy.

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Reference: chemicals-materials · CSO · India · Gladwin International Leadership Advisors