Chief Information Officer — Managed-Services Unit

The mandate

A listed managed-services unit operates a high-cost technology estate whose brittleness constrains expansion. Legacy applications, infrastructure, access models and vendors generate incidents and manual recovery, yet investment cases remain fragmented. The investment committee has paused further growth-stage funding until renewal priorities, service risk and economics become credible.

The Chief Information Officer will steward technology supporting approximately ₹2,100 crore in annual recurring revenue and lead around 500 employees and material partners. Scope includes enterprise services, architecture, applications, cloud and infrastructure, cyber, service management, data interfaces, vendors, technology economics and workforce. The CIO reports to the Group Chief Executive or designated executive committee sponsor.

The estate baseline will connect systems to business services, users, cost and risk. Applications, infrastructure, licences, incidents, controls, support and change demand should be visible. The CIO will identify which components are merely old and which create unacceptable customer, security or economic exposure.

Renewal sequencing must reflect dependency. Customer delivery, billing, workforce, suppliers and internal control may share brittle systems. Replacement cases need data, integration, migration, adoption, resilience and retirement. The business cannot modernise every component simultaneously or defer all risk behind a long target architecture.

Service stability comes first where exposure is severe. Service objectives, incidents, recovery, recurring toil and customer consequence should guide intervention. Root-cause removal will receive protected capacity; teams should not be rewarded for repeatedly recovering from preventable failure.

Cyber hygiene needs consistent operating evidence. Identity, privileged access, vulnerability, patching, configuration, logging and supplier access require clear ownership and thresholds. Compensating controls should have rationale and expiry. Renewal should reduce attack surface rather than reproduce old access patterns.

Technology economics will include build, run, cloud, vendors, support, incident effort and retirement. Benefits count only when legacy contracts, infrastructure or work genuinely end. Finance should be able to reproduce the baseline and challenge consumption assumptions.

Architecture standards should enable practical decisions. Approved patterns, data ownership, integration and exceptions need accountability. The CIO will challenge bespoke solutions that recreate common services and central platforms without committed demand or operational readiness.

Vendors need service, change, security, data, knowledge and exit obligations. Concentration and replacement time should be visible. The unit must retain enough internal capability to direct suppliers, recover services and make architecture decisions.

The technology organisation will strengthen service owners, architects and engineering leaders with economic accountability. Succession will be demonstrated through incident, investment and supplier decisions. The predecessor’s knowledge should transfer without leaving informal vetoes.

Why this seat is open

An accelerated transition created an urgent replacement need. Interim accountability protects critical services, but the board seeks appointment within six to eight weeks before the next renewal and funding choices become fixed.

What you will own

• Prioritise renewal across a brittle, high-cost technology estate.
• Steward technology supporting ₹2,100 crore of ARR.
• Improve service stability, recovery and recurring-toil removal.
• Strengthen identity, vulnerability and supplier cyber hygiene.
• Establish transparent build, run and retirement economics.
• Lead approximately 500 employees and partners with succession depth.
• Govern architecture exceptions, vendors and critical data interfaces.
• Give capital sponsors clear risk, sequence and downside choices.

The first 12 months

The first 90 days should reconcile services, estate cost and severe technology exposure. Meet the 30 stakeholders most consequential to renewal, including customers, operations, cyber, finance, engineers and vendors. Stabilise critical services, assess leaders and agree investment gates.

Months four to nine should begin priority renewal, remove recurring incident causes and tighten cyber hygiene. Renegotiate material suppliers and retire selected legacy services. Initial value may appear through fewer incidents, released licences, avoided spend or reduced recovery time.

By year end, service stability, cyber hygiene and technology economics should show sustained improvement. Delivery must remain within 10% of approval and forecasts should reconcile services, cash, customers and people for three quarters. Priority risks require independently accepted closure; severe escalation cannot remain open beyond 30 days.

What the board will measure

• Customer-relevant availability, recovery and incident recurrence.
• Vulnerability, access and configuration exposure within thresholds.
• Run cost removed after complete legacy retirement.
• Renewal delivery and adoption against dependency gates.
• Retain more than nine in ten pivotal technologists and ready cover across seven in ten direct roles.
• Supplier concentration, knowledge and tested exit readiness.

The person

You are a CIO, Regional CIO or Enterprise Technology Head with 18–22 years in software, cloud, platforms, IT services or technology-enabled business services. You have owned enterprise service, cyber, architecture and economics rather than one application tower.

Your accountable P&L, book, budget or portfolio has been at least ₹1,200 crore, and you have led 500 or more people. Outcomes must have endured over two reporting periods.

You understand managed services, brittle estates and staged renewal. You can balance urgent stability with architectural change, challenge vendors and make technology economics legible to capital sponsors.

Compensation and terms

Fixed compensation is ₹3.2–4.6 crore plus performance variable and LTI. This permanent appointment is based onsite in Hyderabad. Relocation is expected, with scope to agree a structured weekly commute for the opening quarter, and candidates serving notice of up to six months may be considered.

Confidentiality

The company, predecessor, estate and cyber exposure remain confidential. Identifying information follows reciprocal interest under an undertaking; published facts are composite.