CHRO – Workforce Integration — Packaging And Test Network

The mandate

An Indian packaging and test network has secured a customer programme requiring a new package flow, test content and traceability regime. Equipment and engineering plans are advancing, but workforce responsibility remains split between development teams, production sites and contract partners. Qualification lots need experienced specialists while volume shifts require repeatable competence. An urgent new CHRO – Workforce Integration will build the people system that carries the design win into stable production.

Approximately 1,100 employees and material partners span process engineering, equipment, test, quality, operators, technicians, planning and support. The CHRO owns workforce planning, organisation, learning, talent, reward, employee relations and partner workforce governance. Operations owns output and engineering owns technical standards; the people leader ensures each shift and gate has qualified capability and clear accountability.

The workforce plan must follow the ramp curve. Early lots need diagnosis and rapid learning, while volume requires standard work, maintenance cover and disciplined escalation. The CHRO will model roles by phase and shift, avoiding permanent structures built around temporary launch intensity. Overtime cannot substitute for missing technical depth.

Competence requires observed performance. Vendor training, classroom completion or previous product experience does not establish authority for a new wire-bond, mould, inspection or test process. Certification will include supervised lots, abnormal scenarios, independent assessment and expiry where skill decays. Quality-release and parameter-change authority remain distinct.

Integration between development and production needs deliberate transfer. Engineers should not disappear after qualification, nor remain the only people able to solve routine issues. Named production successors will shadow decisions, capture failure modes and demonstrate independent response before ownership moves. The network will retain expert escalation for genuinely novel defects.

Contract and partner workers must receive equivalent safety, quality and traceability expectations for assigned work. Commercial arrangements should fund training and supervision rather than reward churn. Workforce data will distinguish employment status without creating a lower control standard.

Shift handover is a capability in its own right. Qualification learning, tool alarms, sample dispositions and temporary instructions must transfer without relying on private messages between experts. The CHRO will work with operations to build paid overlap, standard escalation and supervisor observation into staffing, then test whether the incoming shift can explain current risks before taking control.

Fatigue and retention must be treated as ramp risks. Repeated night coverage by the same engineers increases error and resignation probability exactly when programme knowledge is scarce. Workforce forecasts will include rest, leave and backup; launch incentives will recognise sustained team outcomes rather than heroic hours or concealed rework.

Transport and canteen coverage will also follow revised shift patterns so access to work does not become an unrecorded attendance or inclusion barrier.

This is a new unplanned role because functional HR teams cannot resolve cross-network accountability quickly enough. The onsite Chennai appointment participates in customer-ramp governance and has authority to pause workforce readiness claims.

What you will own

• Translate qualification and volume milestones into role and shift demand.
• Establish supervised learning, certification, recertification and escalation authority.
• Transfer knowledge from development to production with named successors.
• Integrate employees, contractors and partners under common work controls.
• Design launch reward, retention and careers without encouraging concealment.
• Strengthen frontline leadership and critical-role succession.
• Lead hiring, deployment, employee relations and workforce data.
• Report readiness by process, shift and ramp gate.

The first 12 months

In the first 45 days, map critical tasks to qualification lots and volume dates, identify single experts and test current certification evidence. Secure immediate retention and shift cover and stop unsupported readiness reporting. Agree decision rights with engineering, operations and quality.

By month six, certify launch teams, establish production successors and close the highest-risk capability gaps through learning, recruitment or partners. Implement partner workforce standards and manager routines. Customer-ramp reviews should see readiness by task and shift rather than total headcount.

At twelve months, certify 95% of critical roles before independent volume work, reduce single-person technical dependencies by 80% and retain 92% of designated launch talent. No customer escape, traceability break or serious safety event should arise from a known competence gap. Volume staffing should meet plan without sustained overtime above the agreed threshold.

What the sponsor will measure

• Workforce demand aligned to qualification and volume phases.
• Competence demonstrated on equipment and abnormal conditions.
• Development knowledge becoming independent production capability.
• Contractors governed to equivalent assigned-work standards.
• Readiness visible by shift before customer commitments.
• Sustainable staffing after launch intensity recedes.

The person

You bring 18–22 years in HR, workforce transformation or operations capability within semiconductor packaging, electronics, automotive or high-volume precision production. You have supported a customer qualification and volume ramp and understand why attendance, headcount and skill are not interchangeable.

Your prior remit should include at least 800 employees and partners across shifts. Evidence must include certified technical learning, expert-to-production transfer and contractor integration. Indian employment and plant employee-relations experience are essential, as is credibility with engineering and customer-quality leaders.

Compensation and terms

Fixed compensation is ₹2.2–3.0 crore plus performance variable linked to workforce readiness, retention, qualification, safe ramp and leadership. This permanent onsite Chennai role reports to the Group Chief Executive or designated sponsor. Availability should support the live customer ramp.

Confidentiality

The network, customer programme, package, test flow, employees and ramp plans are confidential. Detailed information follows suitability, conflicts and signed confidentiality. Applicants must not contact customers, partners or employees to infer the enterprise.