CRO – Enterprise Risk — Precision-Engineering Division

The mandate

A precision-engineering division is consolidating machining, special processes, laboratories and support functions from several locations. Equipment qualification, permit changes, knowledge transfer and bridge supply are progressing at different speeds. The board has created a CRO – Enterprise Risk role to provide independent oversight of cumulative operational, customer and people risk across the consolidation programme.

The perimeter includes approximately 3,425 employees and material partners across plants, engineering, supply chain, quality, technology and customer programmes. The CRO owns enterprise-risk framework, operational and transition assurance, resilience, third-party risk, crisis readiness and board reporting. Line executives own delivery and regulatory compliance; the CRO sets appetite, tests evidence and has direct access to the relevant board committee.

Risk must be assessed by capability, not move list. A machine can be physically installed while tooling, methods, operator certification, measurement systems or utilities remain unready. The CRO will define end-to-end evidence for safe independent production and sample it at the receiving site. Project percentage complete cannot override an unmet technical prerequisite.

Cumulative risk needs explicit treatment. A delayed supplier qualification, low bridge inventory and departing expert may each sit within local tolerance yet combine into unacceptable customer exposure. The risk leader will aggregate dependencies and set escalation thresholds. Exceptions require named acceptance, expiry and restoration rather than repeated informal extension.

Closure decisions are particularly consequential. Once permits lapse, specialists leave or equipment is disposed, reversal may be slow or impossible. The CRO will require proof that receiving capability, records, customer approvals and contingency routes are operating before approving irreversible steps. Property savings do not justify an uncontrolled loss of technical resilience.

Data and cyber risk increase during transition. Temporary networks, vendor access, copied technical files and dual systems can weaken intellectual-property and configuration control. The CRO will ensure temporary arrangements carry owners, least privilege, reconciliation and retirement dates. Production urgency does not permit uncontrolled engineering data movement.

Legacy liabilities remain after physical exit. Leases, contaminated equipment, hazardous materials, customer-owned tooling, record retention and community commitments must have funded owners through closure and handback. The CRO will test environmental and insurance assumptions independently and prevent property proceeds or released provisions being counted before obligations are evidenced as discharged.

This new seat is urgent because the consolidation has entered its first live-transfer gates. Existing audit and quality teams provide important assurance but do not own integrated enterprise risk. The CRO will design a lean function, use specialist assurance selectively and avoid duplicating line controls.

What you will own

• Establish risk appetite and independent assurance for consolidation decisions.
• Aggregate equipment, process, supplier, people, customer, data and closure dependencies.
• Define evidence for capability transfer and irreversible site actions.
• Govern transition exceptions, acceptance, expiry and contingency.
• Test bridge supply, crisis response and alternate-route readiness.
• Oversee third-party, cyber, intellectual-property and temporary-system risk.
• Report emerging exposure and management response directly to the board committee.
• Build risk leaders who understand precision operations without taking line ownership.

The first 12 months

Within 45 days, map critical capabilities and dependencies, review upcoming cutovers and identify irreversible decisions lacking evidence. Sample transferred equipment and technical records at receiving sites. Present the board with cumulative risk, immediate limits and any closure gate that should pause.

By month six, implement capability-based assurance, exception expiry and aggregate transition reporting. Run a disruption exercise covering failed qualification and bridge-stock shortage and close the major findings. Confirm third-party and cyber controls across temporary arrangements and appoint critical risk talent.

At twelve months, complete all major cutovers with 100% of critical prerequisites independently verified, reduce overdue high-risk exceptions by 80% and close severe exercise actions on time. No customer line-down, unsafe release, material data loss or regulatory breach should arise from a known unaccepted transfer gap. Board reporting should expose every appetite exception before closure approval.

What the board will measure

• Risk expressed through operational dependencies and customer consequence.
• Receiving capability proven before sending capability disappears.
• Combined exposure visible across separately managed workstreams.
• Temporary controls expiring through restoration rather than normalisation.
• Data, vendors and technical knowledge protected throughout dual operation.
• Independent challenge that improves decisions without becoming project management.

The person

You bring 18–22 years in enterprise risk, operational assurance, quality, engineering or business continuity within precision or regulated manufacturing. You have challenged a site transfer, closure or major industrial programme and can show a decision changed by your evidence.

Your prior scope should cover at least 2,500 employees and partners, several sites or S$2 billion of operational assets. Evidence must include cumulative risk aggregation, an irreversible gate you paused and a resilience test that exposed a hidden dependency. Direct board-committee reporting and strong plant credibility are essential.

Compensation and terms

The base range is S$500,000–680,000 plus annual incentive and long-term incentive linked to risk reduction, safe cutovers, resilience, board confidence and talent. This permanent onsite Singapore role reports to the Group Chief Executive and relevant board committee and requires site travel. The live programme favours an accelerated start.

Confidentiality

The division, locations, transfer plans, customer programmes, vulnerabilities and assurance findings are confidential. Further disclosure follows suitability, conflicts and signed confidentiality. Applicants must not contact site staff, landlords, suppliers or customers to identify the programme.