EVP – International Strategy — Industrial-Equipment Business

The mandate

An industrial-equipment business has received automation proposals from plants in four markets. Each case is locally logical, but together they assume incompatible demand growth, duplicate specialist processes and commit the company to proprietary control platforms. Meanwhile, customers are asking for shorter configured lead times and regional resilience rather than lowest unit conversion cost. The Chief Executive has created an unplanned EVP – International Strategy role to determine the international operating thesis before further capital is released.

The business encompasses approximately 3,225 employees and material partners across engineering, manufacturing, sales, installation and service. The EVP has no substitute line organisation; plant and functional executives retain execution. The role owns the integrated strategic fact base, option design, investment sequencing, partnership assessment and post-decision value tracking, with direct access to the executive sponsor.

Automation choices will begin with demand and product architecture. High-volume repeat components may justify dedicated cells, while volatile configured work may gain more from digital work instructions, quick changeover or supplier capacity. The strategist will analyse variation, routing, bottlenecks, labour availability, quality loss and customer lead-time value. Headcount removal cannot be the default benefit when constrained engineering or commissioning limits output elsewhere.

International allocation requires explicit resilience economics. Duplicating every capability is unaffordable, yet concentrating safety-critical or export-controlled processes in one site may be irresponsible. Scenarios will cover tariffs, rules of origin, sanctions, logistics interruption, intellectual-property exposure and the time needed to qualify an alternate. The answer may combine centres of excellence, qualified backup and regional final configuration.

Technology ownership also matters. Vendors offer attractive demonstrations but differ on data access, interoperability, cyber support and lifetime upgrade cost. The EVP will insist that architecture and procurement decisions preserve the company’s ability to maintain, integrate and migrate assets. A short payback calculated without software and obsolescence cost is not investment-grade.

Market strategy must connect to the installed base. Automation can support faster parts, upgrades and remanufacturing as well as original equipment. The leader will compare capital allocation between new-build volume and lifecycle revenue, including service technician capacity and customer willingness to standardise.

This urgent role follows a board challenge to an aggregate capital request, not a planned vacancy. Individual projects have sponsors and early commitments, so delay carries cost; proceeding without portfolio logic carries more. The EVP must create a decision process quickly without turning strategy into centralised veto.

What you will own

• Build the international product, process and capacity thesis underlying automation investment.
• Compare dedicated automation, flexible technology, sourcing, partnership and manual alternatives.
• Design resilient capability allocation across markets, regulations and customer commitments.
• Set strategic requirements for industrial data, interoperability, cyber support and vendor dependency.
• Integrate original equipment, aftermarket and remanufacturing economics.
• Sequence capital against demand evidence, workforce readiness and execution capacity.
• Create decision records and benefit ownership for approved investments.
• Support regional leaders in communicating choices to employees, partners and customers.

The first 12 months

Within 50 days, catalogue every material automation commitment, expose common assumptions and identify decisions that cannot wait. Select representative product families and build end-to-end economics from order variability through service life. Present the executive team with no-regret actions, pause recommendations and the questions needed for portfolio choice.

By month six, approve an international capability map, technology principles and sequenced capital envelope. Complete partner or make-buy evaluations for priority processes and align workforce plans with the chosen model. Each project should have an operational baseline, adoption owner and exit condition before funding proceeds.

At twelve months, reallocate or avoid at least £120 million of low-confidence capital, improve expected portfolio return by three percentage points and shorten configured lead time by 20% in the first implemented flow. Approved projects must remain within 10% of phased cost and deliver validated adoption. No new critical cell should create an unmitigated single-vendor, cyber or regional continuity dependency.

What the sponsor will measure

• One coherent international logic replacing unrelated local business cases.
• Automation matched to actual product variation and customer value.
• Resilience and lifecycle economics visible alongside labour savings.
• Vendor and data dependencies understood before selection.
• Capital stopped or redirected when evidence changes.
• Regional leaders able to execute because choices and boundaries are clear.

The person

You bring 22–28 years in international strategy, industrial operations, corporate development or technology investment within equipment manufacturing. You have influenced a major footprint or automation portfolio and remained accountable long enough to see what was adopted. Strategy consulting alone is insufficient unless followed by senior line or enterprise implementation authority.

A relevant prior perimeter exceeds £1 billion revenue, 2,000 employees and partners or £200 million of capital. Evidence should include a plant proposal you stopped, a technology architecture decision and a regional resilience trade-off. You can test technical details without pretending to replace engineers and can lead difficult capital discussions with operating peers.

Compensation and terms

The base range is £210,000–280,000 plus annual incentive linked to capital quality, lead time, strategic adoption and portfolio value. This permanent onsite Manchester appointment reports to the Group Chief Executive or designated sponsor and requires international travel. Availability will be balanced against the immediate investment timetable.

Confidentiality

The company, investment pipeline, plant alternatives, vendors and market scenarios are confidential. Detailed cases follow qualification, conflict clearance and an undertaking. Candidates must not use industry relationships to identify projects or approach potential technology suppliers on the client’s behalf.