Joint Managing Director – Operations — Vehicle-Software Programme

The mandate

A Chennai vehicle-software programme depends on external stacks, engineering partners, cloud toolchains and scarce internal integrators. Supplier delays and licence restrictions have disrupted release trains even when code teams meet their plans. The existing Managing Director owns product strategy and global sponsors; a Joint MD has led operations and will retire after a planned handover. The board wants continuity while supplier resilience becomes a permanent operating discipline.

The Joint Managing Director – Operations will lead approximately 925 employees and partners within a programme perimeter near ₹4,900 crore. The role owns software operations, supplier delivery, release readiness, toolchain service, capacity, quality workflow and operational recovery. The existing MD continues to own product strategy, architecture investment and global sponsorship. Both leaders must present one programme plan and resolve boundaries before they reach teams.

Software supply risk extends beyond contracted headcount. A supplier may control build components, test environments, source rights or specialist knowledge that cannot be replaced at notice. Open-source, cloud and licence dependencies create similar exposure. The Joint MD will map practical substitution and recovery, not count vendors as diversification.

Release resilience also requires discipline inside the programme. Branches, variants and manual approval can turn one supplier problem into several vehicle delays. Operations should reveal constraints, protect homologation and safety evidence and avoid resolving schedule pressure through untraceable workarounds.

Why this seat is open

The incumbent Joint MD will retire on an agreed date and supports a planned four-to-six-month succession. No programme failure or conduct concern drives the replacement. The handover will cover supplier knowledge and live release dependencies while allowing the successor to reassess the current operating design independently.

What you will own

• Set operating accountability with the existing MD and publish decision rights for strategy, architecture, delivery and recovery.
• Map supplier, licence, source, toolchain, knowledge and capacity dependencies across vehicle programmes.
• Establish release readiness covering code, evidence, environment, supplier and rollback.
• Negotiate operational knowledge transfer and exit obligations with strategic partners.
• Design recovery for build, test, integration and cloud service interruption.
• Reduce avoidable variants and manual hand-offs that amplify supplier delay.
• Lead cross-programme incidents without bypassing safety or homologation authority.
• Build successors across software operations, supplier delivery and release management.

The operating model will distinguish replaceable labour from non-substitutable control. A partner supplying routine testing can be diversified differently from one holding encryption material, compiler customisation or undocumented integration knowledge. Each critical dependency will therefore carry an accountable internal owner, contractual access position, minimum evidence pack, recovery-time objective and rehearsal method. Procurement decisions must incorporate switching friction and licence continuity, while engineering plans must reserve capacity for knowledge absorption. The Joint MD will also establish a release control room for material trains: unresolved supplier evidence, environment drift and rollback readiness will be visible before go/no-go, rather than discovered during deployment. Where the two managing directors disagree, the charter will specify escalation by decision class and deadline so teams are never asked to arbitrate leadership conflict.

Quarterly partner reviews will examine delivered resilience, documentation quality and recovery participation alongside cost and milestone performance, changing the commercial signal suppliers receive.

The first 12 months

The first 90 days will establish a joint-authority charter, verify the 20 most consequential dependencies and provide containment for upcoming releases. The board will receive a recovery map distinguishing alternate supply, internal capability, stock, contract and accepted exposure.

By month eight, two critical toolchain or supplier services should pass recovery tests, priority partners should operate knowledge-transfer plans and common release evidence should span at least three programmes. Chronic manual exceptions will have reduction targets and accountable owners.

At year-end, supplier-caused release delay should fall by 35%, critical toolchain recovery meet approved objectives and unsupported supplier-held sole knowledge reduce by 70%. Release forecast variance should remain below 10%, with no safety or homologation evidence lost through expedited recovery.

What the board will measure

• Joint leadership functioning without contradictory direction or escalated territorial disputes.
• Supplier and toolchain dependency visible before release commitment.
• Recovery proved under realistic operating tests.
• Release performance improved without hidden quality or compliance debt.
• Succession across critical operational leadership.

The person

You are a software-operations MD, automotive engineering executive or platform-delivery leader who has governed external ecosystems and production releases. You understand software supply, source, tools and validation and can operate as a peer to a strategy-led MD. The board values mature joint leadership over a desire for undivided control.

You bring at least 28 years of experience and have controlled scope above ₹2,800 crore with 650 employees and partners or more. Evidence should include a supplier dependency you internalised, a release you delayed and a joint-executive boundary you made work under pressure.

The role is onsite in Chennai with supplier and engineering travel.

Compensation and terms

Fixed compensation is ₹5.0–7.5 crore plus performance variable and long-term incentives. Measures include release reliability, supplier resilience, recovery, joint leadership and succession. Schedule alone is not performance. Final terms reflect current mix and the agreed operating authority.

Confidentiality

The software programmes, partners, architecture and leaders are confidential. Qualified candidates receive controlled information under an undertaking. Chennai and the rounded programme scale are not identifying information.