Chief Information Officer — Export Manufacturing Platform

The mandate

The platform exports configured manufactured products under demanding customer and regulatory traceability. Product revision, supplier batch, process result, inspection and shipment records sit across PLM, ERP, MES, QMS and local files. The CIO must establish an integrated digital chain of custody while production continues.

Approximately 975 employees and material partners sit across enterprise applications, manufacturing technology, integration, data, infrastructure, cyber and service. Quality owns the management system and disposition; engineering owns product definition; operations owns process records. The CIO owns platform controls, identity, time, lineage, availability and recovery that let their evidence agree. The role is not authorised to redefine quality decisions through software convenience.

Recovery has immediate and structural components. Interim reconciliations and controlled records may be necessary before platform convergence. Long term, authoritative identifiers and data contracts must connect design, material, equipment, operator, inspection and shipment. A single application is not required if the chain is complete and governed.

Electronic records need evidentiary discipline. Privileged changes, electronic signatures, time synchronisation, audit trail, backup and retention must be suitable for customer and regulatory scrutiny. Data migration must retain prior states rather than overwrite history.

Plant connectivity expands cyber and resilience risk. Segmentation, supplier remote access and manual continuation need to protect production and traceability together.

Laboratory and metrology systems are part of genealogy. Calibration status, method version, sample identity, environmental condition and analyst authority determine whether a recorded result can release product. The CIO will include LIMS, gauges and calibration masters in the architecture, preserve raw evidence and prevent interfaces from rounding or transforming values beyond approved rules.

Master-data repair needs controlled business decisions. Duplicate parts or suppliers may have distinct customer approvals; apparently obsolete specifications may govern field service. The technology programme will create review thresholds, four-eye approval and ancestry so consolidation does not erase the reason a record was different. Data stewards must be embedded where product and process knowledge sits.

Why this seat is open

The incumbent CIO resigned unexpectedly before the quality recovery was complete. Interim technology leadership maintains service and urgent controls, but independent executive accountability cannot remain divided. This urgent replacement must join the quality steering group and form a fresh view of the target architecture.

What you will own

• Map the digital product and material genealogy from approved design through shipment and service.
• Establish authoritative identifiers, version, time and ownership across PLM, ERP, MES and QMS.
• Stabilise quality-event retrieval with controlled interim reconciliation.
• Govern electronic signatures, audit trails, access, retention and change evidence.
• Sequence platform integration or replacement without disrupting production or historical traceability.
• Strengthen OT segmentation, vendor access, backup and tested recovery.
• Create service ownership for critical quality and production journeys.
• Develop enterprise and plant technology leaders capable of sustaining the recovered system.

The first 12 months

In 90 days, reproduce the recent event population independently, sample five product genealogies and identify missing or alterable links. Protect critical evidence and agree an authoritative data model with quality, engineering and operations. Present a recovery sequence and avoid committing to a core replacement before requirements are proven.

By month six, implement common identity, integration monitoring and controlled retrieval for priority product families. Close urgent access and audit-trail gaps, test backup and plant continuation and migrate only after prior-state and reconciliation evidence passes.

At twelve months, retrieve complete affected-population evidence within four hours for 98% of sampled cases, reconcile 99.5% of priority genealogy links and reduce manual quality-record reconciliation by 70%. Close 90% of high-risk access and audit-trail issues, achieve recovery objectives in two independent tests and avoid any material customer or regulatory failure from missing digital traceability.

What the board will measure

• Speed, completeness and reproducibility of product genealogy.
• Quality decisions supported by authoritative, versioned evidence.
• Production and customer continuity through platform change.
• Audit trail, identity, retention and cyber control.
• Platform cost and complexity reduced only after safe migration.
• Technology ownership and succession across plants.

The person

You have 18–22 years in manufacturing information leadership and have owned PLM, MES, QMS, ERP or traceability across export plants. You have supported a consequential quality investigation and understand electronic evidence beyond dashboard presentation.

Your experience should include at least 700 employees and partners and systems supporting ₹3,000 crore or more of orders, assets or revenue. You can explain a migration you delayed, a genealogy defect you corrected and how recovery was tested. Industrial cyber and board communication are essential.

This onsite Chennai role requires plant travel and reports to the Group Chief Executive or designated executive sponsor.

Compensation and terms

The fixed range is ₹3.2–4.6 crore plus performance variable and long-term incentive linked to traceability, recovery, cyber, service, cost and leadership. This permanent onsite Chennai role reports to the Group Chief Executive or designated sponsor and requires plant travel. Notice up to six months may be considered against interim controls.

Confidentiality

The company, products, quality event, systems and customers are restricted. Detail follows fit, security and conflict review and signed confidentiality. Scale and facts are composite; applicants must not contact customers, technology vendors, auditors or employees to identify the platform.