EVP – Operations Transformation — Refining And Marketing System

The mandate

A multinational-owned Indian refining and marketing system requires an EVP Operations Transformation to integrate plant reliability, logistics and market readiness into a common operating model, ensuring that commissioning milestones align with downstream capability rather than being treated as isolated construction events.

The perimeter covers approximately ₹27,700 crore in operated assets and commercial portfolio and 1,725 employees and material partners. Accountability includes transformation architecture, project-to-operations integration, reliability, operating performance, maintenance productivity, supply coordination, improvement capability and benefit governance. Asset and project leaders retain line accountability, while safety and technical authorities remain independent. The EVP owns the transformation system, cross-functional decisions and realised operational benefit.

The major project changes crude, unit, utility, logistics or product relationships across the system. A delayed tie-in can alter inventory and customer plans; a commissioning shortcut can create years of reliability loss. The role must protect safe start-up while making transparent choices on scope, sequence and market consequence.

Transformation is not a parallel programme office. It must change the way operating leaders plan, decide and sustain performance after the recovery team leaves.

Why this seat is open

The role was not included in the approved hiring plan. The project recovery exposed the need for one independent integrator before the next operating gate. The board intends to complete a qualified search within four to six weeks. Interim coverage safeguards immediate decisions, but cannot own the full transformation.

What you will own

• Build one recovery baseline across project, operations and supply.
• Integrate commissioning, shutdown, inventory and customer readiness.
• Reset reliability, maintenance and operating performance routines.
• Govern benefits from physical evidence through finance realisation.
• Remove initiatives that compete with the critical recovery path.
• Develop transformation leaders and transfer ownership to line teams.

Recovery will start with a controlled critical path. Engineering completion, construction, pre-commissioning, utilities, feed, product evacuation, control systems, permits, procedures and competent people will have reconciled evidence. The EVP will expose assumptions hidden in percentage-complete reporting and ensure each readiness gate has an accountable acceptor.

Interface decisions will include system economics. Shutdown duration, inventory build, alternate supply, crude plan, product placement and customer communication must move together. The EVP will chair contested choices where protecting one unit or date creates risk elsewhere. Commercial urgency cannot override process safety or technical acceptance.

Reliability work will identify bad actors, maintenance backlog, operating windows and repeat defects by consequence. Planning and scheduling will be tested in the field, with emergency work and schedule break-ins visible. The team will distinguish project defects, design limitations, operating practice and maintenance execution so remedies reach the right owner.

Improvement activity will be consolidated around a few value streams. Loss reduction, energy, yield, maintenance, logistics and service initiatives need clean baselines and capacity. The EVP will stop projects whose resource demand competes with safe recovery or whose benefits double-count another action. Digital tools will be used where they remove a constraint, not as transformation theatre.

Benefits will reconcile physical driver, financial result and sustainability period. Deferred work, inventory movement and favourable market price will be excluded from operating claims. Asset leaders will own benefits after coached cycles, and finance will independently confirm value. A transformation team cannot remain permanently responsible for normal performance.

The first 12 months

Within 60 days, the EVP will validate the project critical path, operating readiness and ten largest system losses and assess leadership. The sponsor will receive scope, sequence and intervention decisions with safety and market consequence.

By month eight, the project should pass agreed readiness gates, three operating value streams should show verified trend and duplicate initiatives should be removed. Line leaders will run the new performance and reliability cadence with decreasing central support.

At year-end, safe start-up milestones should meet the board-approved recovery plan, targeted unplanned downtime fall 15% and maintenance schedule compliance exceed 90%. Verified benefits should remain within 10% of the approved case, with 75% sustained for two reporting cycles and ready successors covering 70% of pivotal transformation roles.

What the board will measure

• Safe project recovery integrated with the operating system.
• Clear physical evidence behind readiness and progress.
• Lower reliability loss and stronger maintenance discipline.
• Benefits free of timing, market and double-count distortion.
• Line ownership and transformation capability sustained.

The person

You are an EVP Operations Transformation, refinery executive or major-project recovery leader with 18–22 years of experience. You have carried accountable scope above ₹16,050 crore and led at least 1,200 people. Your record connects commissioning, operations, maintenance, supply and measurable benefit.

The board will examine a start-up you delayed for missing evidence, a transformation initiative you stopped and a recovery whose benefits remained after handover. You must challenge project and asset leaders without displacing their accountabilities. Consulting-only experience without line consequence will not qualify.

This onsite Vadodara role requires sustained presence at assets, project sites and commercial coordination centres.

Compensation and terms

Fixed compensation is ₹2.2–3.0 crore plus performance variable. Measures include recovery, safety, reliability, service, verified benefits, line adoption and succession. Final terms follow the confirmed transformation perimeter.

Confidentiality

The company, assets, project, recovery dates, customers and performance data remain confidential. Further detail follows qualification and mutual confidentiality. Composite context protects identity.