Chief Marketing Officer — Precision-Engineering Division

The mandate

The division serves industrial customers through configured precision components and assemblies. Marketing has historically supported opportunity generation and trade activity, while product variants, samples, minimum stock and forecast assumptions were negotiated between sales and plants. The result is a long tail of low-volume configurations, demonstration inventory and customer-specific packaging with uncertain repeat demand. The CMO will bring market and customer evidence into portfolio and demand choices so working capital supports strategic growth rather than accumulated hope.

The remit influences approximately 3,125 employees and material partners across product marketing, market intelligence, technical content, digital demand, exhibitions, channel enablement and customer insight. Sales owns accounts and orders; engineering owns product; supply chain owns inventory. The CMO owns segment, proposition, launch evidence and demand quality and must challenge activity that creates unqualified complexity.

B2B marketing here is technical. Customers choose on performance, qualification, lifecycle and application support, not promotional reach alone. The executive will create application-led propositions and credible evidence with engineering. Claims must respect customer confidentiality and cannot imply certification or field performance beyond verified use.

Samples and pilots need gates. Each new configuration should state target application, customer commitment, qualification path, reusable potential and retirement point. Marketing investment should follow from that discipline, with outcomes measured through qualified pipeline, design win, repeat order and contribution.

Demand planning needs independent market insight. Distributor optimism and one-off project enquiries should not become finished stock without evidence. The CMO will establish confidence categories and market scenarios for strategic materials and sectors.

Competitive and regulatory intelligence must reach portfolio decisions early. New standards, localisation, customer investment cycles and substitute technologies can change demand before orders appear. The CMO will maintain sourced hypotheses with owners and review dates, distinguish market movement from sales anecdotes and show S&OP which assumptions should affect capacity, samples or inventory.

Trade events and technical content need disciplined follow-through. A lead becomes qualified only when application, decision process, specification and realistic timing are known. The marketing team will close the loop from event or content through sample, qualification, repeat order and cash, revealing programmes that create engineering and stock burden without strategic customer progress.

Why this seat is open

The board created an urgent new CMO seat after a working-capital review found no enterprise owner for demand quality and portfolio proposition. Existing sales and communications leaders remain. Appointment before the next launch and exhibition cycle will allow the executive to reset commitments and measures.

What you will own

• Segment markets and applications by right-to-win, qualification, margin, repeat demand and working-capital burden.
• Build product and application propositions with verified technical evidence.
• Govern samples, pilots and launches through customer commitment and reuse gates.
• Introduce demand confidence and market scenarios into S&OP and inventory decisions.
• Rationalise low-value content, events and variants with product and commercial leaders.
• Establish qualified-pipeline, design-win, repeat-order and cohort contribution measures.
• Govern distributor and agency claims, leads and confidential customer evidence.
• Develop technical marketing, insight and portfolio leaders.

The first 12 months

In 90 days, map markets, variants, samples and marketing programmes to actual orders and inventory. Interview customers who qualified but did not repeat. Establish demand-confidence definitions and stop activity whose application or customer thesis cannot be stated.

By month six, launch application propositions in priority segments, implement sample and launch gates and provide S&OP with market scenarios. Agree rationalisation of low-repeat variants and customer transition. Reallocate spend toward content and programmes with qualified design-win evidence.

At twelve months, reduce sample and demonstration inventory by 35%, improve conversion from qualified opportunity to repeat order by 20% and cut low-confidence finished stock by 25%. At least 80% of marketing investment should map to priority applications, forecast accuracy should improve in targeted families and technical claims should show zero material substantiation failure.

What the board will measure

• Working capital released through better demand and portfolio evidence.
• Strategic design wins and repeat orders, not lead volume.
• Product variation and sample investment governed before commitment.
• Technical claim integrity and customer confidentiality.
• Marketing influence on S&OP and portfolio choice.
• Capability and succession in insight and technical marketing.

The person

You have 22–28 years in industrial marketing, product management or commercial strategy for precision engineering, materials, components or capital goods. You have used market evidence to stop a variant, sample programme or inventory assumption and can connect marketing to S&OP and cash.

Your experience should cover more than ₹4,000 crore of revenue or market portfolio and influence across at least 2,000 employees and partners. You can quantify design wins, repeat conversion and inventory consequence. Technical credibility and respect for confidential customer applications are essential.

The onsite Vadodara role requires customer and plant travel and reports to the Group Chief Executive or designated sponsor.

Compensation and terms

The fixed range is ₹2.2–3.0 crore plus performance variable measured through strategic growth, demand quality, working capital, claim integrity and leadership. This permanent onsite Vadodara role reports to the Group Chief Executive or nominated executive sponsor and involves customer and plant travel. Notice up to six months can be considered.

Confidentiality

The division, customers, applications, products and marketing data are restricted. Further detail follows relevance, conflict review and written confidentiality. Facts and values are composite; applicants must not contact distributors, customers, suppliers or employees to infer the organisation.