Chief Operating Officer — Powertrain Division

The mandate

A powertrain division is attempting to deliver combustion, hybrid and electric programmes while embedded software changes the meaning of launch readiness. Mechanical engineering, controls, plants and suppliers maintain separate plans; integration failures are consequently discovered after capacity, tooling or customer dates have been committed. The board has created an urgent operating role to replace coordination by committee with one accountable delivery system.

The COO will direct an approximately ₹15,900 crore regional revenue and programme perimeter, influencing 1,800 employees and material partners. Responsibility spans manufacturing, industrialisation, programme operations, supplier delivery, quality execution, capacity and operational improvement. Product and engineering leaders retain technical design authority. The COO owns whether their commitments form a buildable, testable and economically supportable sequence.

The central problem is not simply late software. Calibration maturity may change test-cell demand; a control release can alter component validation; hardware substitutions can invalidate software evidence. The executive must expose those connections before a plant schedule becomes the default answer. One integrated readiness model will distinguish design maturity, tooling, supplier capacity, software evidence, homologation and service preparation, with no green status created by averaging unrelated risks.

Operating recovery must protect current customers while the future portfolio is reorganised. The COO will define which legacy lines require maintenance and scarce skills, where flexible capacity should be reserved, and which transition inventory is justified. Productivity cannot be claimed by postponing validation, increasing field repair or consuming supplier liquidity. Finance will verify benefits against total programme and warranty consequence.

Why this seat is open

The position was not in the approved plan. An upcoming programme gate exposed that split authority could no longer reconcile plant, supplier and software commitments. Interim leaders preserve daily output but lack authority over the whole division. The firm intends to appoint within four to six weeks; there is no displaced incumbent or concealed conduct event.

What you will own

• Install one operational plan from engineering release through supplier, plant, vehicle integration and service readiness.
• Set escalation and recovery authority for programme, capacity, quality and industrialisation conflicts.
• Rebalance footprint, shifts, tooling and specialist resources using scenario demand rather than optimistic volume.
• Govern supplier readiness with evidence of process capability, software compatibility and sub-tier resilience.
• Connect productivity to cash, launch quality, warranty and lifecycle cost.
• Build operations, programme and manufacturing leaders able to run cross-domain decisions without executive arbitration.

The cadence will be deliberately selective. Daily control will cover safety, customer stoppage and critical-path deviation; weekly reviews will decide integration and capacity conflicts; monthly forums will revisit portfolio assumptions and capital. Each unresolved item must have a decision date, accountable executive and consequence of delay. The COO will close forums that merely restate status and preserve technical dissent where evidence remains incomplete.

Plant visits will test whether reported readiness exists at the workstation. The executive should expect to trace a software-dependent end-of-line test, a constrained supplier operation and a service repair pathway personally. Digital dashboards are useful only when definitions reconcile to physical output, first-pass yield and completed validation. Operators and supplier teams need a protected route to surface mismatch before it becomes a launch crisis.

The first 12 months

During the first 60 days, the COO will validate the ten most consequential programme dependencies, stabilise any customer-threatening shortfall and agree decision rights with engineering and product. By day 90, the sponsor will receive a capacity-and-readiness baseline, leadership assessment and choices on deferred or conflicting commitments.

By month eight, three priority programmes should operate one evidence standard, critical supplier and test-cell constraints should have funded recovery, and at least two obsolete reporting loops should be retired. A revised footprint and skills sequence will be reflected in the operating plan.

At year-end, milestone adherence should exceed 90% on the selected portfolio, severe cross-domain escalations should close within 21 days, and conversion cost per conforming unit should improve by at least 8% without higher field failure. Forecast output, validation demand and supplier capacity must remain reconciled for three consecutive months.

What the board will measure

• Delivery promises grounded in integrated engineering and operating evidence.
• Earlier closure of plant, supplier and software dependencies.
• Productivity sustained without warranty or inventory displacement.
• Stronger programme and operations succession.
• Transparent decisions when technical evidence remains uncertain.

The person

You are a COO, EVP Operations or business operations president who has led a powertrain, complex automotive or comparable engineered-products system. You bring 18–22 years of experience, accountability above ₹9,200 crore and leadership of at least 1,250 people. Your record must include a programme where hardware, software and industrialisation plans diverged and the operating model you installed remained effective for two reporting periods.

You can challenge engineering without appropriating design authority and can explain plant consequences to a board without reducing the issue to utilisation. Pune is the working base under a hybrid arrangement, with frequent plant, supplier and proving-location travel.

Compensation and terms

Fixed compensation is ₹3.2–4.6 crore plus performance variable and LTI, calibrated to scope and current mix. Measures will include delivery reliability, conforming cost, working capital, leadership depth and customer quality. Notice up to six months can be considered.

Confidentiality

The manufacturer, programmes, plants, customers and technical dependencies are confidential. Qualified candidates receive controlled detail after an undertaking. Pune and the rounded operating perimeter must not be used to identify the firm.