EVP – International Strategy — Water And Utilities Business

The mandate

An institutionally backed water-and-utilities business has pursued international PPP opportunities through local sponsors and project teams, but market-entry cases use inconsistent assumptions and few explicit stopping rules. Several countries require additional bid and development capital before resource, tariff, payment and partner risks are resolved. The investment committee has paused expansion and created an urgent strategy role to impose comparable gates.

The EVP will guide approximately S$27,600 million in projects and operating assets and influence 1,725 employees and material partners. Scope covers international strategy, market prioritisation, PPP cases, partnerships, capital sequencing, entry and exit, portfolio reviews and strategic talent. Country teams own development and operations; the committee approves capital. The EVP owns evidence, comparability and whether projects stop when the thesis fails.

Water markets must be assessed by system. Resource quality and availability, treatment complexity, network condition, energy, tariff, subsidy, collection, regulation and public affordability shape feasibility. Market size alone cannot reveal which service and contract model can earn durable returns. The strategy will identify who controls each assumption and how it can be tested before bid commitment.

PPP structures add sovereign, authority and long-tail service exposure. Payment security, indexation, change, force majeure, handback and termination will be analysed alongside construction. Partners must contribute access, capability, capital or risk absorption with enforceable governance. Reputation or political reach alone is not a partnership thesis.

Why this seat is open

The need arose outside the hiring calendar when upcoming PPP gates exposed split strategic authority. Interim leaders preserve live bids but cannot own the international portfolio. Appointment is targeted within four to six weeks, with no predecessor or concealed failed investment.

What you will own

• Define comparable market-entry, bid, expansion, pause and exit gates.
• Integrate resource, service, contract, partner, capital and political evidence.
• Structure staged commitments that preserve options before irreversible spend.
• Establish partnership governance, contribution and exit rights.
• Run international portfolio reviews that stop weak opportunities.
• Build country strategy capability and succession.

Water-market underwriting will begin with the physical system. The EVP will test source yield, treatment challenge, network losses, connection growth, discharge constraints and climate exposure before accepting demand projections. Commercial cases will then reconcile tariff affordability, indexation, payment security, public subsidy, foreign-exchange exposure and the authority's enforcement capacity. A country will not advance merely because headline demand is attractive or a well-connected partner offers access.

Public-private partnerships will be designed around decisions the business can still reverse. Early development funding, exclusivity, bid security, land or abstraction rights and equipment reservations will each have separate release conditions. Where public objectives and investor returns diverge, the EVP will surface the trade-off to the investment committee instead of hiding it in optimistic terminal assumptions. Country teams will maintain a living assumption register showing evidence, owner, expiry date and consequence if the premise fails.

Every market case will separate fact, assumption and advocacy. Country sponsors may lead an opportunity, but technical, finance, legal and service assumptions will have independent owners. Red teams will test resource failure, delayed tariff, collection weakness and termination. Unresolved issues remain visible rather than disappearing inside a composite contingency.

Entry will proceed through evidence milestones: study, pilot, prequalification, bid, financial close and mobilisation. Each stage needs the rights preserved, cash at risk and date of decision. The EVP will avoid premature local organisations or development spend whose only rationale is maintaining momentum.

Existing markets will receive the same discipline. A position may require narrower scope, partner reset, harvest or responsible exit. Withdrawal plans protect customers, employees, data, assets and public commitments. Sunk cost and sponsor status do not override current value.

Currency, remittance, local financing and tax will enter cash economics. Strategy will identify which exposures can be indexed or hedged and where risk remains structural. Growth will not be claimed where cash cannot be returned or reinvested under acceptable terms.

The first 12 months

Within 75 days, the EVP will re-underwrite the six largest international positions, contain weak commitments and establish common gates. The committee will receive capital, partner and exit decisions.

By month eight, two market strategies should change through staged entry, partnership redesign, reduced commitment or exit. Every priority position will carry service, resource and payment evidence with named triggers.

At year-end, 90% of international development capital should sit behind approved milestones and forecast spend remain within 10%. Two pilots must reach explicit scale-or-stop decisions on schedule, and subscale markets either improve contribution or execute dated exits without material public-service breach.

What the board will measure

• Capital committed after testable market evidence.
• Resource and affordability embedded in entry choices.
• Partnerships governed beyond relationships.
• Timely exit when assumptions fail.
• Strong country strategy capability and succession.

The person

You are an EVP International Strategy, infrastructure development leader or CSO with 22–28 years of experience. You have governed at least S$16,000 million and 1,200 employees. Evidence must include a staged PPP entry, a partner reset and an international exit that protected public and financial obligations.

This onsite Singapore role requires extensive government, partner, lender and asset travel. You combine market judgement with water-system and contract fluency.

Compensation and terms

Base compensation is S$360,000–480,000 plus annual incentive. Measures include capital discipline, entry quality, partnerships, responsible exits, value and succession. Final terms will reflect the confirmed international strategy perimeter.

Confidentiality

The group, markets, authorities, partners and PPP evidence remain confidential. Further information follows qualification and an undertaking. Singapore and rounded figures are non-identifying.