Interim Chief Technology Officer — Engineering R&D Recovery

The mandate

A safety-critical controller failed customer validation after internal simulations omitted a timing edge case, and the CTO left when the board widened the review to other platforms. Customer programmes continue, but verification independence, reusable platform priorities and release evidence need immediate executive reset.

The interim must start within three weeks for eleven months, covering affected-product recovery and two platform release cycles. A permanent CTO search begins after the validation framework is approved, with extension possible for six weeks if customer requalification moves.

Handover is complete when the failed controller passes customer validation, high-risk platforms meet the new verification standard, two releases complete without severe escape, and the successor approves the next R&D investment portfolio with an accepted evidence baseline.

The interim may stop releases, redirect ₹20 crore of R&D spend, change verification reporting and appoint temporary technical reviewers. Platform cancellation affecting more than ₹30 crore of contracted revenue, permanent executive hiring, laboratory capital above ₹15 crore and acceptance of critical safety risk require board approval.

Customer commercial negotiation, manufacturing quality and speculative research outside the funded portfolio are excluded. The role owns engineering design and validation evidence, not factory process or sales settlement.

Why this seat is open

The validation escape discredited prior claims that simulation coverage was sufficient. Platform heads own schedules and designs now subject to review. A temporary CTO can restore independent technical judgement before the board chooses a permanent innovation profile.

What you will own

• Reconstruct the controller failure from requirement, architecture, implementation, simulation, test and customer environment.
• Decide which adjacent platforms require targeted review, release hold or full revalidation.
• Establish independent verification gates covering requirement traceability, boundary cases, hardware interaction and fault injection.
• Reprioritise R&D investment by contracted need, reusable value, technical risk and evidence to completion.
• Approve customer requalification only after internal tests reproduce the missed timing condition and its variants.
• Deliver two platform releases without severe validation escape under the revised framework.
• Transfer technical decisions, platform risks, customer evidence, talent assessment and the next investment portfolio to the permanent CTO.

Candidate qualifications

• Held CTO, R&D chief or engineering vice-president authority in embedded, industrial or safety-critical technology.
• Recovered a customer validation failure involving hardware-software timing or system interaction.
• Established independent verification and requirement traceability across reusable platforms.
• Directed engineering organisations above 1,000 across software, embedded and laboratory disciplines.
• Made portfolio investment or cancellation choices against customer and platform economics.
• Communicated complex technical uncertainty to customer executives and boards.

Non-negotiables

• Available in Chennai within three weeks.
• No current relationship with the affected customer validation lab or review provider.
• Will preserve verification independence from programme schedule ownership.
• Must have signed release readiness for a safety- or mission-critical system.

1. 49 words maximum. Confirm availability and disclose any customer or validation-provider conflict.
2. 49 words maximum. Describe a validation escape you recovered and the edge condition missed.
3. 49 words maximum. Which test evidence would justify reopening a safety-critical release?