Country Managing Director — Electronics Portfolio

The mandate

A privately held German electronics business operates sites that combine advanced development, customer application, small-series industrialisation and mature production, yet financial reporting treats them as comparable plants. Customers still value local engineering, but the group board seeks clarity on footprint economics before approving growth capital. A new Country MD must establish which footprint earns a future.

The role owns an approximately €15,050 million revenue and programme perimeter and 1,650 employees and partners. Accountability covers country P&L, portfolio, customers, operations, footprint, capital, people and statutory leadership. Group functions retain enterprise standards. The MD must reconcile local obligations with board choices and is personally accountable for presenting evidence without protecting inherited structures.

The footprint reset will begin with capability. Laboratories, clean processes, prototype skills, customer approvals, supplier clusters and works agreements may be inseparable from certain sites. Other activities can move if transition capacity and validation are funded. The MD will compare specialise, consolidate, partner, sell and close scenarios including stranded cost, customer continuity, environmental liability and future flexibility.

Renewed growth requires more than released floor space. Each target segment must connect customer need, technology advantage, engineering capacity and lifecycle contribution. The executive will stop bids that load unique variants into an unstable operating base and will renegotiate commitments whose price no longer covers application effort or warranty risk.

Why this seat is open

The country review exposed an authority gap not anticipated in the organisation plan. This is urgent, unplanned hiring with no predecessor. Interim governance protects statutory and customer decisions, but the board wants a permanent appointment within six to eight weeks. No undisclosed legal or conduct matter triggered the role.

What you will own

• Decide the German site portfolio using capability, economics and transition evidence.
• Restore customer commitments, pricing and programme governance.
• Allocate capital among growth, conversion, continuity and exit.
• Lead statutory, works-council and workforce responsibilities credibly.
• Build a country leadership team with clear site and product authority.
• Present performance and downside directly to the group board.

Customer transition plans will identify approval, inventory, validation and service obligations before work moves. The MD will not announce savings until the replacement pathway is proven. Where a site is retained for strategic capability, its mandate and economic expectations will be explicit so “strategic” does not become protection from performance.

Works-council engagement will begin with alternative business logic, not a ceremonial consultation after decisions. Management commitments will be recorded and costed. The country team will preserve dissent on safety, feasibility and employee impact while still maintaining decision deadlines.

Country controls also need repair. The MD will review authority for bids, capital, supplier support and programme exceptions, then ensure statutory directors receive primary evidence before approval. Cash forecasts will distinguish structural loss from transition spending. Quality and compliance leaders will retain direct escalation to the board where customer urgency creates pressure to bypass validation. Public funding or regional incentives will be accepted only with deliverable employment and investment conditions that remain visible through the footprint change.

Cybersecurity and product-software support will enter every site disposition. Data, signing authority, diagnostic infrastructure and incident teams cannot be assumed to transfer with equipment. The retained organisation must preserve response for vehicles already operating.

The MD will also test whether local leaders can run the approved model without exceptional central intervention. Persistent dependence on group rescue will trigger capability, mandate or portfolio correction rather than another temporary task force.

The first 12 months

The first 90 days will establish site and programme economics, meet key customers and employee representatives, and stabilise commitments at risk. The board will receive a footprint thesis, leadership assessment and urgent capital choices.

By month eight, at least two site dispositions or specialisations should be approved with customer, workforce and asset plans. Three priority customer programmes will use revised contribution and readiness governance, and the country organisation will operate clear decision rights.

At year-end, the retained business should improve contribution by 250 basis points, capital remain within 10% of approved cases, and customer milestone reliability exceed 90%. All material footprint moves need independently verified transition readiness; regretted loss in critical technical cohorts should remain below 8%, with named successors for 70% of country leadership.

What the board will measure

• A defendable site and capability portfolio.
• Customer trust preserved through difficult transfers.
• Growth capital supported by operating readiness.
• Credible employee and statutory leadership.
• Sustained profitability and succession.

The person

You are a Country MD, regional CEO or industrial business president with 28+ years in automotive electronics or comparable engineered products. You have owned at least €8,700 million and led 1,150 people. Evidence must include a site reset, a customer-programme recovery and a capital decision made against entrenched internal preference.

This onsite Stuttgart appointment requires extensive site, customer and board travel. German employee-relations and statutory-governance fluency are essential.

Compensation and terms

Base salary is €475,000–650,000 plus annual incentive and LTI. Measures balance contribution, customer delivery, footprint execution, capital, employee commitments and succession. Final terms reflect scope; notice up to six months may be considered.

Confidentiality

The group, sites, customers, technologies and employee plans remain confidential. Controlled information follows qualification and an undertaking. Stuttgart and the approximate scale are not identifying.