Joint Managing Director – Operations — Data-Products Franchise

The mandate

A multinational-owned data-products franchise is moving into a split leadership model during a global go-to-market redesign. Commercial and portfolio authority will sit alongside a Joint Managing Director responsible for operations, delivery and succession continuity. Without explicit interfaces, the model risks duplicate decisions, hidden vetoes and customer commitments that outrun delivery.

The Joint Managing Director – Operations will steward approximately ₹1,600 crore in annual recurring revenue and lead around 900 employees and material partners. Scope spans service delivery, implementation, platform operations, workforce, partners, resilience, operating economics and governance. The executive reports to the Group Chief Executive and board.

The split model will begin with reserved decisions. Customer commitments, pricing exceptions, roadmap sequence, delivery capacity, risk acceptance, senior appointments and capital need named authorities and escalation paths. Joint leadership should create constructive tension, not ambiguity resolved through personal relationships.

The operating baseline will connect customer journeys to cost and cash. Contract handover, data onboarding, deployment, adoption, service, incident and renewal should reconcile. The Joint MD will expose work transferred between commercial, product and operations teams and establish ownership through confirmed customer outcomes.

Go-to-market redesign changes demand. Segments, territories, channels and partners create different implementation and support needs. Operations must influence propositions before launch and state capacity, service and risk constraints. Commercial momentum cannot make infeasible promises irreversible.

Delivery certainty requires readiness gates. Scope, data, security, customer resources, platform capacity, support and rollback should be proven before deployment. Exceptions need authority and whole-life economics. Forecasts must show dependencies and trigger early decisions when assumptions move.

Data-products operations depend on quality and lineage. Source access, model or product updates, entitlements, monitoring and customer explanation require controlled ownership. Platform changes need observable outcomes and recovery. Reliability cannot be separated from the value customers purchase.

Workforce design will match demand and critical skills. Employees, contractors, overtime, locations and partners should reconcile to the operating plan. Productivity claims need removed activity and cost. Succession is a core purpose: deputies and future leaders must gain real authority rather than remain observers to joint executives.

Partners require customer, data, security, service, knowledge and exit governance. The Joint MD will distinguish variable specialist capacity from permanent dependency and test continuity for providers that can stop customer outcomes.

The operating review will unite ARR, customer, delivery, cash, risk and people evidence. It should settle trade-offs rather than add a layer above existing functions. Material dissent and unresolved decisions will reach the board within defined time.

Why this seat is open

This planned new role is part of the approved split leadership model and has no predecessor. A four-to-six-month search places the appointee before the next capital and talent cycle while current leaders retain formal responsibility until activation.

What you will own

• Define and operate decision rights within the split leadership model.
• Steward delivery supporting ₹1,600 crore of ARR.
• Align global go-to-market promises with operational capacity.
• Establish customer, data and deployment readiness gates.
• Improve service reliability, delivery economics and cash conversion.
• Lead approximately 900 employees and partners with succession depth.
• Govern critical providers, workforce and resilience dependencies.
• Give the board timely trade-offs, dissent and corrective actions.

The first 12 months

The first 90 days should reconcile decision rights, customer commitments and delivery capacity. Meet the 30 stakeholders most consequential to the split model, including customers, commercial leaders, product, engineering, finance and partners. Stabilise critical delivery, assess leaders and agree gates.

Months four to nine should implement the joint governance system, simplify hand-offs and reset readiness. Fill leadership gaps, secure partner dependencies and develop successors through delegated decisions. Early value may appear through improved completion, lower rework, released cost or a weak commitment stopped.

By year end, delivery certainty, operating discipline and the succession bridge should remain credible under pressure. Performance should stay within 10% of approval, with three quarters of forecasts aligning ARR, customer commitments, cash and people. Priority issues require independent sustainability evidence; severe escalation cannot age beyond 30 days.

What the board will measure

• Decisions made within agreed authority and escalation times.
• Customer implementation, adoption and service reliability.
• Failure demand, capacity, partners and fully loaded delivery cost.
• Forecast accuracy from go-to-market demand through cash.
• Retain over nine in ten critical leaders and ready successors for seven in ten direct roles.
• Successors exercising real operating authority in the split model.

The person

You are a Joint Managing Director, COO, Executive Director or Business President with 28 or more years in software, cloud, digital platforms, IT services or technology-enabled business services. You have led a division through split leadership during complex execution.

Your accountable P&L, book, budget or portfolio has been at least ₹1,400 crore, and you have led 900 or more people. You can demonstrate outcomes sustained over two reporting periods.

You understand data products, global delivery and succession governance. You can share authority without blurring accountability, challenge commercial commitments and build leaders who can succeed beyond the temporary model.

Compensation and terms

Fixed compensation is ₹5.0–7.5 crore plus performance variable and LTI. The permanent Hyderabad appointment is onsite and expects relocation, although a structured weekly commute may be considered in the first quarter; notice up to six months is acceptable.

Confidentiality

The company, leaders, customers and succession design remain confidential. Identifying information follows reciprocal interest under a mutual undertaking; scale and circumstances are composite.