EVP – Strategy and Portfolio — Project-Development Pipeline

The mandate

A privately held developer has carried several projects through successive planning cycles without decisive advance, redesign or exit. Land, approvals, safety requirements, claims and funding have changed, but opportunity values still reflect earlier assumptions. The planned succession of the portfolio leader gives the group a chance to replace accumulated optionality with explicit decisions.

The EVP will guide approximately ₹24,000 crore in development projects and operating assets and influence 1,775 employees and material partners. Scope covers portfolio strategy, project origination, stage gates, investment thesis, scenarios, partnerships, capital allocation and strategic reviews. Development leaders own permits and stakeholder work; delivery teams own execution. The EVP owns comparable evidence and recommendations on where the group should commit, preserve an option or withdraw.

Each project will be re-underwritten from current facts. Demand, revenue, land, design, approvals, safety, climate, claims, construction market and financing will receive named assumptions. A project will not retain a preferred position because management has invested time or public reputation. Conversely, delay can preserve valuable rights where milestone cost and expiry are understood.

Safety and claims belong in strategy before construction. Design standards, access risk, community interfaces, liability history and insurance can change feasibility and counterparty appetite. The EVP will ensure these exposures affect structure, partner selection, capital and bid terms rather than being left for later mitigation.

Why this seat is open

The incumbent will leave after a planned four-to-six-month succession and supports an orderly handover. No failed bid, safety event or conduct matter drives the replacement. Confidentiality protects live development and counterparty discussions while the group assesses candidates.

What you will own

• Set comparable develop, hold, partner, bid, sell and exit criteria.
• Re-underwrite demand, approvals, safety, claims, cost and financing.
• Establish stage gates with decision dates and option-expiry consequences.
• Align capital and scarce development talent to approved priorities.
• Structure partnerships around contribution, authority and exit rights.
• Build strategic and development capability beyond the EVP office.

The pipeline will distinguish platform strategy from project advocacy. Sponsors may lead an opportunity, but independent owners will validate market, delivery, safety and finance assumptions. Red teams will test the three largest downside mechanisms before investment committee review. Unresolved issues will not be buried in a blended contingency.

Option value will be made concrete. The team will identify the next evidence milestone, cash required, rights preserved and date after which delay destroys value. Projects consuming indefinite management attention without improving a decision will be stopped. External advisers will be used for defined evidence, not to provide comforting consensus.

Partnership cases will consider what the counterparty contributes beyond capital: land, authority access, technical capability, operating expertise or risk absorption. Governance, deadlock, change control and exit will be designed before headline valuation. The EVP will avoid structures that obscure accountability or leave the group carrying uncapped completion exposure.

Post-decision reviews will compare actual evidence with the approved thesis. A project can move between scale, redesign and exit when triggers change. The strategy team will record lessons from abandoned and successful development equally, strengthening future bids rather than rewarding only visible wins.

Development data rooms will preserve current permits, designs, studies, stakeholder commitments and option terms with source dates and accountable owners. This allows a partner or investment committee to distinguish controlled rights from management expectation. Sensitive community information will remain access-restricted, and stale evidence will be retired rather than quietly reused in a later bid.

Independent assurance will sample the evidence supporting every major gate before irreversible capital is released.

The first 12 months

Within 90 days, the EVP will re-underwrite the 15 largest opportunities, assess leadership and identify decisions delayed beyond their evidence window. The sponsor will receive portfolio choices, capital consequences and immediate action on safety or claim exposure.

By month eight, at least four projects should reach approved advance, redesign, partnership or exit gates. Capital and development talent will reflect the new priorities, and every retained option will carry a milestone, budget and expiry.

At year-end, 90% of committed development capital should map to approved priorities, gate forecasts remain within 10% and at least ₹900 crore of weak or premature commitment be avoided, released or redirected. No project may advance with an unowned material safety or claims assumption.

What the board will measure

• Decisive portfolio movement based on current evidence.
• Safety and claims shaping early project choices.
• Capital and talent aligned to genuine priorities.
• Partnerships with clear authority and downside.
• Strong internal strategy and development succession.

The person

You are an infrastructure strategy EVP, development portfolio leader or investment executive with 22–28 years of experience. You have governed at least ₹13,900 crore and 1,250 employees. Evidence must include a project you stopped, a partnership you restructured and an opportunity where safety or claims changed the investment thesis.

This hybrid Mumbai role requires authority, lender, partner and project travel. You can maintain constructive ambition while refusing weak evidence.

Compensation and terms

Fixed compensation is ₹2.2–3.0 crore plus performance variable. Measures include portfolio movement, capital quality, stage-gate integrity, partnerships, strategic value and succession. Final terms will reflect the confirmed pipeline and decision authority.

Confidentiality

The developer, pipeline, authorities, counterparties and investment choices remain confidential. Controlled details follow qualification and an undertaking. Mumbai and approximate figures are non-identifying.