Chief Strategy Officer — Speciality-Materials Portfolio

The mandate

A US speciality-materials portfolio has assembled automation proposals for laboratories, batch control, packaging and internal logistics. Each has its own sponsor and benefit method; together they exceed available capital and the capacity of process engineers, validation staff and plant leaders. Some cases assume volume growth that product strategy does not support. The Chief Strategy Officer will create a portfolio thesis that decides where automation creates defensible value and where other interventions should come first.

The strategy perimeter covers approximately 975 employees and material partners across principal plants, laboratories, commercial teams and shared functions. The CSO reports to the Group Chief Executive or designated sponsor and owns strategic analysis, scenarios, capital prioritisation, portfolio choices and benefit governance. Operations and functions execute approved projects; the strategist ensures that their assumptions reconcile to markets, products and scarce organisational capacity.

Automation value differs by process. Laboratory robotics may improve repeatability but create long queues if sampling and method design remain unchanged. Advanced control may raise yield where a stable model exists, while variable feedstock makes its benefit uncertain. Automated packaging may unlock capacity only when the upstream campaign schedule supplies consistent flow. The CSO will compare the end-to-end constraint rather than add local savings.

Demand uncertainty needs explicit scenarios. Products in qualification, mature contracts and volatile spot markets do not support the same committed capacity. The strategist will define leading indicators and investment stages, including what evidence releases the next tranche. A discounted cash-flow model using one demand curve will not be sufficient for irreversible assets.

Workforce capacity is a portfolio constraint. The same automation engineers, data specialists and operations leaders cannot implement every project simultaneously. External vendors can add execution capacity but not replace process ownership. The CSO will include internal attention, training and sustainment in sequencing and will challenge benefits that assume talent can be counted twice.

Technology architecture and vendor dependency belong in strategy. Projects that cannot share data, support models or cybersecurity controls may create long-term complexity. The CSO will partner with technology leaders to establish minimum interoperability and exit requirements while avoiding premature standardisation that blocks useful innovation.

Customer qualification can determine the timing of value. An automated process that changes measurement, mixing or packaging may require samples, comparability evidence and approval long after technical commissioning. The CSO will place qualification capacity and customer sequence into the portfolio model, prevent simultaneous changes from overwhelming laboratories and delay benefit recognition until saleable approved output is achieved.

The prior CSO departed after accepting a public-company role. Several capital decisions were intentionally deferred for the successor, making replacement urgent. The hybrid Chicago role receives access to the board strategy and investment discussions and may reshape the small strategy team.

What you will own

• Create the portfolio automation thesis across laboratory, process, packaging and logistics.
• Reconcile product demand, constraints, technical readiness and organisational capacity.
• Stage capital through scenario triggers, adoption evidence and exit conditions.
• Compare automation with process, maintenance, simplification and sourcing alternatives.
• Integrate technology architecture, cyber and vendor dependency into investment decisions.
• Establish one benefit method with post-implementation accountability.
• Support portfolio, product and capacity choices beyond individual projects.
• Build strategy talent able to test plant evidence and commercial assumptions.

The first 12 months

In the first 45 days, catalogue proposals and committed spend, identify inconsistent assumptions and map shared talent or shutdown dependencies. Select representative flows to test local benefits against end-to-end economics. Present no-regret, pause and stop recommendations before the next capital meeting.

By month six, approve a sequenced investment portfolio with demand triggers, technical prerequisites and named benefit owners. Redirect capital from low-confidence projects and establish architecture and vendor principles. Ensure workforce and validation capacity is funded alongside equipment and software.

At twelve months, avoid or reallocate at least US$100 million of unsupported capital, improve forecast portfolio return by four percentage points and bring approved projects within 10% of phased cost and adoption milestones. The first implemented flows should deliver verified yield, release-time or throughput benefits above 85% of case, with no unmitigated critical vendor dependency.

What the sponsor will measure

• Capital serving a coherent product and operating thesis.
• Local automation cases tested against the true end-to-end constraint.
• Demand and readiness uncertainty reflected in staged commitments.
• Scarce technical and leadership capacity allocated once and realistically.
• Benefits verified after use rather than claimed at installation.
• Strategy prepared to stop attractive projects when facts change.

The person

You bring 22–28 years in industrial strategy, automation, operations, investment or portfolio leadership within chemicals, materials, ingredients or related processing. You have governed a material automation portfolio and stayed close enough to implementation to understand adoption and failure.

Your previous remit should involve more than US$1 billion revenue, US$200 million capital or a comparable set of plants. Evidence must include a project you stopped, a demand scenario that changed sequencing and a benefit independently verified after deployment. Pure corporate planning without plant investment authority is insufficient.

Compensation and terms

The base range is US$320,000–420,000 plus annual incentive linked to capital quality, verified adoption, portfolio return and strategic talent. This permanent hybrid Chicago appointment reports to the Group Chief Executive or designated executive sponsor and includes plant travel. A timely start is required for deferred investment decisions.

Confidentiality

The portfolio, investments, products, vendors, scenarios and strategy materials are confidential. Further disclosure follows suitability, conflicts and signed confidentiality. Applicants must not contact suppliers, advisers or employees to identify the company or projects.