Chief Risk Officer — Fleet-Operations Network

The mandate

This fleet network has historically priced growth from expected utilisation and funding cost. Losses arising from vehicle damage, driver default, insurance gaps, unsafe operation and concentrated customer contracts were handled in separate functions, often after commercial terms were agreed. As margin has tightened, the omission is no longer tolerable. The Chief Risk Officer must put a common risk-adjusted view behind every fleet cohort and ensure the organisation acts before weak economics become stranded assets or human harm.

The role governs approximately 450 employees and partners across enterprise risk, fleet underwriting, safety oversight, insurance strategy, fraud, collections policy and assurance. Operations remains accountable for safe daily work; credit owns collections execution; legal manages claims and disputes. The CRO sets appetite, provides independent challenge and tests whether controls and pricing reflect exposure. Their authority includes escalation to the relevant board committee without executive filtering.

The objective is not lower risk at any cost. Some higher-risk driver or customer segments may deserve service if pricing, security, support and monitoring make the choice explicit. Conversely, apparently profitable contracts may consume risk capacity through long payment terms, route hazards or uninsured liabilities. The appointee must create language that commercial and fleet leaders can use before committing assets.

Why this seat is open

The incumbent resigned unexpectedly during an external opportunity process and will provide only a limited handover. Interim board oversight protects appetite decisions, but day-to-day leadership cannot remain divided among finance, legal and safety. This urgent replacement must be appointed promptly while preserving full fit-and-proper, integrity and reference checks.

What you will own

• Build cohort risk-adjusted returns incorporating default, damage, downtime, insurance, fraud, residual value and concentration.
• Redesign driver and small-operator underwriting using lawful, explainable evidence and fair review for borderline or declined applicants.
• Set risk appetite for vehicle class, geography, route, customer, funding structure and counterparty concentration.
• Review insurance design, exclusions, deductibles, claims recovery and uninsured exposures, then connect findings to contracts and operating controls.
• Establish independent safety assurance using incidents, near misses, telematics and field observation without converting it into punitive surveillance.
• Challenge customer and fleet commitments before signature and define exception authority with expiry and compensating controls.
• Strengthen fraud and asset-recovery response while protecting due process and avoiding coercive third-party practices.
• Report emerging risk, control effectiveness and appetite usage to the board in decision-ready language.

The first 12 months

During the first 90 days, reconstruct returns for five contrasting fleet cohorts, review severe safety and loss cases, test insurance recoverability and map concentrations. Suspend only exposures that breach clear interim limits; bring the remainder into monitored decisions. Agree risk appetite and an exception register with the board committee, and verify that data used for driver decisions meet fairness and quality standards.

By month six, embed risk-adjusted pricing into fleet and customer approvals, renew priority insurance on improved evidence and pilot revised driver underwriting with an appeal path. Complete field assurance across the highest-loss depots and close urgent control gaps. Commercial committees should see risk capacity and expected loss alongside revenue and utilisation.

At year end, reduce loss and unrecovered damage per active vehicle by 20%, lower driver-default vintage loss by 15% without disproportionate exclusion, and close 90% of high-risk audit actions by due date. No single customer or region should exceed approved concentration without explicit board action. Insurance claim acceptance and recovery time should improve materially, and serious safety recurrence should decline in independently tested areas.

What the board will measure

• Risk-adjusted cohort returns used in actual pricing, allocation and exit decisions.
• Fair, explainable underwriting with monitored outcomes across relevant driver groups.
• Reduction in preventable safety, damage, fraud and default loss.
• Insurance and contract structures aligned with real operating exposure.
• Transparent appetite exceptions, concentrations and emerging risks.
• Independent risk leadership capable of challenging growth without becoming an unaccountable veto.

The person

You have 22–28 years in risk leadership across fleet, mobility, vehicle finance, leasing, logistics, insurance or another asset-and-credit network. You have integrated operational safety and financial risk rather than treating them as unrelated disciplines. A banking-only background will be relevant only where it includes physical assets, third parties and field control.

Your career should include risk authority over at least ₹1,800 crore and leadership of 300 or more employees and partners. You can evidence a portfolio you deliberately reduced, an underwriting approach you corrected for unfairness and an insurance or safety control that changed realised loss. The board expects an executive who escalates early and remains constructive after a decision is made.

This onsite Pune role reports to the Group Chief Executive and relevant board committee and requires regular depot and partner travel.

Compensation and terms

The appointment offers ₹2.2–3.0 crore fixed plus performance variable linked to loss outcomes, safety, appetite discipline, fairness and risk leadership. It is a permanent onsite position in Pune, reporting to the Group Chief Executive and relevant board committee. The urgent succession can accommodate a notice period up to six months only with an agreed interim-risk plan.

Confidentiality

The operator, loss history, models, insurers and fleet counterparties are withheld. Detailed risk material is reserved for candidates completing conflict, integrity and mutual-confidentiality requirements. Scale and events are intentionally rounded and blended; attempts to identify the client through market enquiries are incompatible with the role.