Chief Technology Officer — Aftermarket And Services Unit

The mandate

The unit supports decades of industrial equipment through spare-part engineering, repair technology, remote diagnostics, upgrades and service software. Global sourcing redesign is changing component manufacturers, electronics, sensors and software dependencies. A cheaper substitute may fit mechanically but alter performance, certification, firmware or diagnostic behaviour across the installed base. The CTO must govern technical equivalence and build a service architecture that remains supportable over long equipment lives.

Approximately 2,050 employees and material partners fall within the technical ecosystem across service engineering, digital product, diagnostics, repair methods, parts engineering, technical documentation and supplier development. Procurement owns commercial sourcing and field operations owns service delivery. The CTO owns technical approval, architecture, lifecycle support and product safety and can reject a source change lacking evidence.

Installed equipment cannot all migrate together. Customers may run old control systems, isolated networks or modified machinery. The unit needs compatibility policy, secure update, diagnostic and upgrade pathways by generation. It should not promise universal remote service where connectivity or cyber conditions are unsuitable.

Technical documents and service software form part of the product. A supplier change must update parts catalogues, procedures, test equipment and technician knowledge before shipment. Configuration and entitlement also protect customers from counterfeit parts and unauthorised firmware.

Sourcing strategy must include obsolescence. Lifetime buys, redesign, repair, remanufacture and approved alternatives have different cash and support effects. The CTO will make those choices with procurement and service strategy rather than respond after end-of-life notice.

Digital-service economics need a clear commercial architecture. Remote monitoring may be bundled into service, licensed by asset, charged for outcomes or used only to improve internal support. Each choice changes uptime obligation, data rights, cyber support and long-term hosting. The CTO will require product, finance and commercial leaders to state the model before building features that become unfunded lifetime commitments.

Supplier intellectual property and source access matter during redesign. Firmware, diagnostic protocols and tooling may remain proprietary even when the company buys the component. Contracts should provide change notice, security support, documentation and appropriate escrow or transition rights. Technical continuity cannot depend entirely on a vendor whose future interest in a low-volume legacy product is uncertain.

Why this seat is open

The board created a planned new CTO role after separating commercial sourcing from technical lifecycle authority. Existing engineering leaders remain. Appointment before major component renegotiations will allow the new executive to set evidence and roadmap rather than review substitutions after contract.

What you will own

• Define technical approval for sourced parts, electronics, software, repair and remanufacture.
• Build installed-base architecture and compatibility policy by equipment generation.
• Govern obsolescence through redesign, lifetime buy, alternate source, repair or managed retirement.
• Create secure diagnostics, update and remote-support standards suitable to customer environments.
• Maintain configuration, documentation, tools and technician readiness through change.
• Establish supplier technical, cyber, provenance and change-notification requirements.
• Develop service technology products with measurable uptime and economic outcomes.
• Build technical leadership across parts, digital, diagnostics and repair.

The first 12 months

Within 90 days, map critical obsolescence and source changes, sample technical-equivalence evidence and segment the installed base. Freeze unsupported substitutions and protect urgent service with controlled interim approvals. Present lifecycle and architecture choices for priority equipment families.

By month six, qualify first alternative components through complete system and service evidence, launch common change governance and update documentation and training. Establish secure remote-support pilots only with customer consent and tested fallback. Conclude continuity plans for the highest-risk components.

At twelve months, secure approved lifecycle paths for every top-tier obsolescence risk, reduce emergency component premiums by 25% and cut repeat field visits linked to parts or diagnostic mismatch by 30%. Ninety-eight per cent of changed parts should have complete configuration and documentation evidence, critical vulnerabilities should meet remediation targets and selected digital services should demonstrate customer uptime value.

What the board will measure

• Installed-base support and customer uptime through sourcing change.
• Technical equivalence, safety and configuration evidence for substitutions.
• Obsolescence exposure reduced before emergency purchase.
• Secure, adopted diagnostic and service technology.
• Supplier technical control and counterfeit prevention.
• Technical succession and sustainable lifecycle ownership.

The person

You have 22–28 years in industrial technology, service engineering, product architecture or aftermarket leadership for long-life equipment. You have changed component or software sources across an installed base and can explain validation, documentation and field consequences.

Your experience should include more than ₹3,500 crore of installed-base, technology or service responsibility and 1,400 employees and partners. You can identify a lower-cost component you rejected, a lifetime buy you approved and how remote support changed uptime. Customer cyber and product-safety judgement are required.

The onsite Ahmedabad role entails customer and service-network travel and reports to the Group Chief Executive or designated sponsor.

Compensation and terms

The fixed package is ₹3.2–4.6 crore plus performance variable and long-term incentive tied to lifecycle support, uptime, obsolescence, cyber, value and leadership. This permanent onsite Ahmedabad role reports to the Group Chief Executive or designated executive sponsor and requires travel. Notice up to six months may be accommodated.

Confidentiality

The unit, installed base, customers, components and technical roadmap are confidential. Further information follows fit, security and conflict checks and a mutual undertaking. Scale and circumstances are blended; applicants must not contact suppliers, service firms or customers to identify the business.