Interim Chief Operating Officer — IT Services Margin Recovery

The mandate

Four strategic accounts recorded late cost-to-complete increases that erased expected margin, and the delivery COO was dismissed after a board portfolio review. Client delivery continues, but utilisation, subcontractor, scope and productivity data do not reconcile into reliable account decisions.

The interim must start within three weeks for twelve months, spanning account recovery and three quarterly portfolio cycles. The permanent COO search begins after the first set of client recovery plans is accepted, with extension possible for six weeks if succession overlaps annual planning.

Handover is complete when the four accounts meet approved recovery or settlement paths, portfolio margin stays within revised tolerance for two quarters, cost-to-complete forecasts prove reliable, unowned scope stops, and the successor signs one quarterly delivery attestation.

The interim may replace account delivery leaders, redeploy workforce, stop unapproved work and allocate ₹25 crore within the recovery envelope. Client settlements above ₹20 crore, workforce action above 5%, site exit, permanent executive hires and contracts affecting over ₹100 crore of revenue require CEO or board approval.

New sales strategy, acquisition activity and proprietary product investment are outside scope. The interim owns delivery economics after signature, not opportunity qualification or corporate portfolio strategy.

Why this seat is open

The late losses showed that account reporting rewarded milestone appearance while deferring cost and scope truth. Business-unit leaders cannot independently challenge their own forecast and talent deployment. A temporary COO can reset controls without protecting prior annual-plan commitments.

What you will own

• Recalculate cost-to-complete for the four strategic accounts using scope, effort, skills, productivity, defects and contractual exposure.
• Decide account leadership, workforce and subcontractor changes required for executable recovery.
• Stop unapproved work and establish client-signed change control with price, schedule, capacity and acceptance consequence.
• Rebalance critical skills across the portfolio using committed demand, bench readiness and transition risk.
• Negotiate account recovery or settlement choices within delegation and present larger exposures to the board.
• Demonstrate two quarters of reliable delivery margin and forecast variance across the portfolio.
• Transfer account plans, talent decisions, contractual risks, operating controls and annual-plan assumptions to the permanent COO.

Candidate qualifications

• Held COO, global delivery head or services business president authority in large IT services.
• Recovered multiple loss-making strategic accounts with direct client and P&L accountability.
• Rebuilt cost-to-complete, utilisation, subcontractor and change-control governance at portfolio scale.
• Directed workforces above 10,000 across locations and service lines.
• Made senior account-leadership changes under visible customer pressure.
• Presented contract, margin and workforce choices to a listed-company board or equivalent.

Non-negotiables

• Available for Bengaluru leadership within three weeks and frequent client travel.
• No current engagement with the four customers or their programme advisers.
• Will stop unfunded scope despite relationship pressure.
• Must have carried end-to-end global delivery P&L.

1. 49 words maximum. Confirm availability and disclose any customer or competitor conflict.
2. 49 words maximum. Quantify a loss-making services account you recovered and the margin movement achieved.
3. 49 words maximum. Which cost-to-complete assumption do you test first in a fixed-price programme?