Chief Operating Officer — Water And Utilities Business

The mandate

A water-and-utilities business operates treatment, networks, field maintenance and customer response through regional models that have evolved independently. The board has concluded that local adjustment will not resolve the complexity and seeks a COO to build operating discipline and integrate these functions into one accountable system.

The COO will lead approximately ₹30,500 crore in projects and operating assets and 1,300 employees and material partners. Responsibility covers treatment and network operations, field service, maintenance, contractor delivery, quality execution, safety-interface governance, cost, resilience and operating talent. Independent safety and legal functions retain their formal roles. The COO owns first-line control, service outcome and corrective action.

The operating system will follow water from source through treatment, network and customer. Flow, quality, pressure, energy, asset condition, work order and complaint evidence will connect. Regional teams can retain methods suited to their networks, but common definitions of safe isolation, repair completion, service restoration and incident escalation are mandatory.

Claims are an operating signal. Repeated property damage, unsafe excavation, failed reinstatement or service interruption may expose planning, contractor, data or supervision failure. The COO will distinguish legal liability from operational learning and ensure remedial action does not wait for settlement.

Why this seat is open

The prior COO is leaving through an accelerated but orderly transition. Interim leaders protect daily service, yet the safety and claims reset needs permanent authority within six to eight weeks. The departure is unrelated to an undisclosed regulatory or conduct finding.

What you will own

• Establish one service and operating-control model across treatment and networks.
• Reset safe work, contractor supervision, isolation and restoration evidence.
• Convert incident and claims patterns into asset and process correction.
• Improve maintenance, energy and field productivity without deferred risk.
• Build regional resilience for drought, flood, power and supply interruption.
• Develop successors across operations, maintenance and field leadership.

Field-work governance will begin before dispatch. Asset records, permits, utility locations, competence, traffic or public controls and restoration standards must be available. Contractors will provide evidence equivalent to internal teams. Emergency response can use proportionate temporary authority, but retrospective review and permanent correction are compulsory.

Maintenance will balance condition and consequence. Work orders will distinguish safety, service, compliance and efficiency, with clear deferral authority. Reliability improvements must reconcile reduced failure and cost over time; fewer work orders caused by weak detection will not count as productivity.

Claims review will group events by asset, crew, contractor, job type and control. Operations will own corrective mechanisms while legal teams protect privilege and position. Customer remedy and community communication will be timely even where liability remains disputed.

The COO will test resilience through operational exercises. Loss of power, chemical supply, critical pump, control system or network access will measure command, alternative supply and public communication. Findings will change spares, routes, training or investment.

Public-health interfaces require precise authority. Water-quality excursions, suspected contamination and failed samples need defined isolation, retesting, alternative supply and notification before laboratory certainty is complete. The COO will align operating actions with independent quality and regulatory leaders, preserving their escalation rights. Customer communication will distinguish precaution, confirmed impact and return-to-service evidence.

Asset data will be improved through field closure. Location, material, condition, valve status and repair history must be updated when work is completed, with sampling against physical networks. Poor records cannot become an excuse for unsafe work; they trigger more conservative controls until confidence improves.

Regional operating reviews will compare repair durability and service consequence, allowing effective practices to spread without imposing identical network methods.

The first 12 months

Within 90 days, the COO will review the ten highest-risk operating pathways, assess leadership and stabilise severe safety or service exposure. The sponsor will receive a common control model and investment priorities.

By month eight, three regions should use common safe-work and closure evidence, five recurring claim causes should have operating correction and two facilities should complete resilience exercises. Contractor scorecards will include supervision and recovery.

At year-end, severe repeat incidents should fall 30%, unplanned service interruption decrease 20% and planned-maintenance compliance exceed 95%. Claims frequency in selected pathways should fall 20%, controllable operating cost improve 8% and every severe action close within agreed risk times.

What the board will measure

• Safe, consistent operation across regional models.
• Claims evidence changing field and asset decisions.
• Reliable service with disciplined maintenance.
• Tested resilience and contractor recovery.
• Strong operating leadership and succession.

The person

You are a COO, water-utility operations president or field-service executive with 18–22 years of experience. You have governed at least ₹17,700 crore and 1,000 employees. Evidence must include a safety reset, a claims-led operating correction and a utility resilience event managed without prolonged service failure.

This hybrid Mumbai role requires network, treatment, contractor and community travel. You combine public-service responsibility with practical operating authority.

Compensation and terms

Fixed compensation is ₹3.2–4.6 crore plus performance variable and LTI. Measures include safety, service, claims reduction, maintenance, resilience and succession. Final terms will reflect the confirmed operating perimeter.

Confidentiality

The business, networks, contractors, incidents and claims remain confidential. Further information follows qualification and an undertaking. Mumbai and approximate figures are non-identifying.