Regional Chief Executive Officer — Electronics Portfolio

The mandate

A privately held automotive group has accumulated electronic-control, sensing, power-conversion and connectivity activities through customer programmes and selective acquisitions. Electric-vehicle demand has grown, but not in the segments or at the pace embedded in prior investment cases. Several businesses share customers and technology while competing for capital. The owners are creating a Regional CEO seat to decide what the German portfolio should become rather than defend every inherited position.

The remit covers approximately €10,900 million of revenue and programme activity and 2,600 employees and partners. The executive will own regional P&L, portfolio, customer strategy, investment, partnerships, operations and leadership. Technology chiefs retain design integrity; group functions set common control standards. The CEO must join those perspectives into explicit choices on scale, differentiation and withdrawal.

Electric-vehicle exposure will be assessed by system economics, not headline content per vehicle. A high-growth component may face rapid price erosion, scarce semiconductor allocation or excessive validation variants. A slower control franchise may generate valuable installed-base cash and customer access. The CEO will distinguish positions where intellectual property and application knowledge create pricing power from those where the group is underwriting commodity capacity.

Customer concentration complicates the decision. Vehicle manufacturers increasingly request local engineering, joint roadmaps and cost-down commitments while retaining sourcing flexibility. The regional plan must price the capital, talent and change-control burden of each relationship. Partnership options may include licensed technology, co-development, contract manufacturing or minority investment; none will be presented as growth unless governance, exit rights and economic control are clear.

Why this seat is open

This is a planned new position, approved ahead of the next capital cycle. Existing business leaders remain accountable until the regional model is activated. The four-to-six-month search allows owner diligence and assessment of executives able to prune as well as expand. No incumbent is being replaced.

What you will own

• Define the portfolio thesis by electronic system, customer problem and source of defensible value.
• Allocate capital and engineering talent among scale, harvest, partnership, sale and closure choices.
• Rebuild regional customer governance around lifecycle contribution and commitment quality.
• Integrate acquired businesses only where common platforms or commercial leverage are real.
• Set operating and leadership accountabilities across German sites and wider regional activity.
• Represent the portfolio to the group board with transparent downside and exit triggers.

The first strategic review will use comparable economics. Programme gross margin, engineering recovery, tooling, working capital, warranty, software maintenance and end-of-life support will be traced across customer life. Shared costs will not be allocated in ways that make every activity appear indispensable. Where evidence is weak, the CEO will authorise contained tests with a decision date instead of a permanent pilot.

Organisation design should follow the portfolio. Platform and application engineering need different authority; customer teams require visibility across products without bypassing accountable business leaders. The CEO will decide which capabilities belong in regional centres, which sit close to customers and which should be accessed through partners. Works councils and employee representatives will receive credible business logic and sequence rather than pre-decided consultation.

The regional risk register will also price semiconductor allocation, export control, cyber certification and product-liability exposure by strategic position. These constraints can change the attractiveness of nominally similar growth options.

The first 12 months

Within 90 days, the CEO will produce a reconciled portfolio baseline, meet principal customers and employee representatives, and identify commitments requiring containment before further spending. The board will receive a preliminary thesis for each material activity and the leadership changes needed to test it.

By month eight, at least three portfolio choices should be executing: one scaled position, one redesigned partnership or sourcing model, and one harvest or exit pathway. Two customer agreements should use revised lifecycle economics, and capital gates will include explicit demand and price triggers.

At twelve months, the retained portfolio should show a 250-basis-point improvement in contribution or an equivalent board-approved value bridge. More than 85% of development capital must map to named strategic positions; forecast variance should remain within 10% for two quarters. Each subscale activity will have a funded path, partner or dated exit decision.

What the board will measure

• Coherent choices across growth, cash generation and withdrawal.
• Customer commitments that earn their engineering and capital burden.
• Faster decisions when electric-vehicle assumptions move.
• Trustworthy employee and partner transitions.
• A regional team with successors for every major business.

The person

You are a Regional CEO, area president or multi-country business head with 28+ years in automotive, electronics, industrial technology or mobility. You have held accountability above €6,300 million and led at least 1,825 people. Evidence should include a portfolio reset after demand underperformed and a partnership or exit that protected value after the original thesis changed.

The board values technical curiosity, commercial restraint and direct ownership of difficult people consequences. This onsite Stuttgart position requires regular customer, plant and group-board travel.

Compensation and terms

Base salary is €475,000–650,000 plus annual incentive and LTI. Performance will balance portfolio value, contribution, cash, customer durability, controlled exits and succession. Final mix reflects relevant scope; notice up to six months is supportable.

Confidentiality

Ownership, businesses, customers, technologies and portfolio options remain confidential. Further information follows qualification and agreement. Stuttgart and the approximate scale are intentionally non-identifying.