Managing Director – India Platform — Transit-Technology Business

The mandate

An Indian transit-technology business has assembled ticketing, scheduling, depot and passenger-information capabilities through organic development and regional contracts. Its footprint looks national, but its economics do not. Several municipal deployments remain heavily customised, support obligations have outlived original pricing, and product teams are pulled between common-platform work and city-specific commitments. The new Managing Director must decide where the business can become an enduring operating partner and where it should complete, renegotiate or leave engagements responsibly.

The role carries a 1,025-person employee-and-partner perimeter spanning product, implementation, service operations, commercial leadership and public-sector relationships. It is not simply an India sales post: contract delivery, platform investment, working capital and operating reputation all sit within its accountability. Public transport users experience failures immediately, while authority customers often procure on long cycles and release payments against disputed milestones. Commercial ambition must therefore be grounded in implementability and cash.

The board expects a focused India platform rather than a federation of projects. Common products should absorb local regulatory and language needs through configuration; genuinely bespoke obligations must be priced and governed as such. The Managing Director may reshape the city portfolio, reorganise leadership and recommend product investment, subject to group capital approval and public-contract responsibilities.

Why this seat is open

The group has created this urgent new role after an India review found split accountability between regional sales, product and delivery. No incumbent is being displaced. With three material municipal renewals and a product funding decision approaching, the board wants one executive to own the full country result before commitments extend the present model.

What you will own

• Classify every city engagement by strategic fit, contractual health, platform reuse, cash exposure and public-service consequence; define invest, repair, fulfil-and-exit or partner decisions.
• Take end-to-end accountability for bids, implementation, acceptance, operations and collections rather than allowing margin to disappear between stages.
• Establish a configurable India product core and a transparent exception process for city-specific development.
• Repair priority authority relationships through agreed delivery facts, decision logs and senior governance, without promising dates engineering cannot support.
• Build working-capital disciplines around milestones, change requests, performance deductions and receivables escalation.
• Clarify authority across India commercial, product and programme leaders; appoint executives who can make trade-offs in front of customers.
• Protect passengers and city operations during contract transitions, platform migrations or responsible exits.
• Represent the business with transport authorities, ecosystem partners and the group board while maintaining ethical procurement boundaries.

The first 12 months

In the first quarter, visit live operations in at least five dissimilar cities, review the ten largest contracts and trace one deployment from bid assumption to cash receipt. Produce a city portfolio decision map and a product customisation inventory. Urgent service or acceptance issues should receive stabilisation plans, but no blanket rescue funding. Agree a board scorecard linking passenger service, contract delivery, cash and platform reuse.

By month six, conclude commercial and delivery resets for the three most exposed contracts, stop unfunded custom development and launch the common-product governance. Install country reviews in which programme, product and finance use the same milestone evidence. Complete the India leadership design and address chronic accountability gaps.

By month twelve, at least 80% of active development should support reusable platform capability, milestone receivables over 90 days should fall by 35%, and priority-city service availability should exceed contracted levels for two quarters. Two uneconomic engagements should have been repriced, partnered or placed on controlled exit paths. Bid-to-delivery margin leakage should reduce by 20%, with no passenger-critical transition failure.

What the board will measure

• City portfolio choices executed on time, including disciplined withdrawal where repair cannot earn an acceptable return.
• Contract delivery and acceptance evidence that supports cash collection without eroding authority trust.
• Product reuse and lower custom-code burden across retained deployments.
• Reliability of passenger-facing services during migrations, renewals and portfolio changes.
• India P&L and cash forecasting that reconciles sales commitments to delivery capacity.
• A country leadership team with explicit decision rights and successors for critical operating roles.

The person

You are a Managing Director, country chief executive or business president with 28+ years in transport technology, public infrastructure systems, smart cities or another long-cycle technology service. You have owned public-sector contracts after the award, not merely during pursuit. Your record includes saying no to uneconomic customisation and recovering delivery credibility without compromising procurement integrity.

Candidates should have led a business or accountable portfolio exceeding ₹3,500 crore and at least 700 employees and partners. You understand milestone revenue, working capital, software product choices and the operational consequence of system downtime. The board will seek precise examples of a contract you repaired, a market you left and an executive you changed when accountabilities remained blurred.

The role is hybrid in Bengaluru with extensive city travel and direct Group Chief Executive and board exposure. Relocation is expected after a practical transition period.

Compensation and terms

The fixed package is ₹5.0–7.5 crore plus annual variable and long-term incentive, calibrated to verified country scope. Performance will encompass cash, city portfolio execution, passenger-service reliability, platform reuse and leadership. This permanent hybrid appointment is centred in Bengaluru, reporting to the Group Chief Executive and board. Notice of up to six months may be supported.

Confidentiality

The group, authorities, cities and contract issues are intentionally withheld. Qualified candidates will receive detailed portfolio information only after conflicts and mutual confidentiality are complete. Figures are rounded and situations blended; applicants must not approach public officials, technology vendors or employees to infer the client.