Chief Marketing Officer — Passenger-Vehicle Business

The mandate

A passenger-vehicle business is introducing connected features, remote updates and software-enabled options, but its marketing remains launch-centric. Customers struggle to understand what works at purchase, what may change, which data is used and how long support will continue. Dealers receive late feature information and sometimes overpromise capability. A planned CMO succession creates the opportunity to build a lifecycle proposition before the next launches.

The CMO will shape marketing across approximately 2,300 employees and material partners and a business perimeter near ₹7,500 crore. Scope includes brand, portfolio proposition, customer insight, launch, digital journeys, dealer content, ownership communications, feature adoption and reputation. Product owns functionality; legal and privacy own approvals. The CMO ensures customer language is truthful, useful and consistent across sale and ownership.

Software-defined value cannot rely on novelty. Some features improve safety or convenience invisibly; others require subscriptions, connectivity or compatible devices. Marketing must state conditions, regional availability and support life clearly and refuse claims unsupported by production evidence.

Updates create continuing communication duty. Customers need to know benefits, downtime, choices and any change in data or vehicle behaviour. A failed release or delayed feature requires factual recovery, not a campaign designed to distract from the experience.

Why this seat is open

The incumbent will move into a group brand role after an agreed handover. This is a planned replacement with four to six months for selection. No campaign, product event or conduct issue drives the succession. The successor should join before future model and feature propositions are locked.

What you will own

• Define the brand and customer proposition for software-enabled vehicles across the ownership lifecycle.
• Establish claim evidence and clear language for features, data, connectivity and support.
• Align dealer, digital, launch and in-vehicle communications.
• Build adoption and retention journeys after vehicle purchase.
• Lead communication for updates, feature delays and service incidents.
• Use customer research to change product packaging and roadmap choices.
• Govern agencies, media, experts and customer data responsibly.
• Build successors across brand, product marketing and lifecycle engagement.

The proposition process will begin before creative development. Each software-enabled promise will carry a customer job, operating conditions, evidence owner, geographic availability, data requirement, commercial term and support horizon. Language used by sales advisers, websites, applications and the vehicle interface will draw from the same approved meaning while adapting to context. If capability remains in beta, depends on connectivity or varies by trim, that limitation must be prominent enough to shape a purchase decision. Dealer incentives and launch targets will not reward claims that production vehicles cannot consistently deliver.

After purchase, the CMO will build distinct journeys for discovery, activation, renewal, update and retirement. Research will examine why customers ignore a feature, abandon setup or distrust a permissions request, then feed packaging and product priorities rather than merely improve promotion. Update communications must explain benefit, timing, prerequisites and recourse; a delayed or withdrawn release needs an ownership response, not just press handling. The team will monitor comprehension, adoption, opt-out, complaint and retention by meaningful cohorts while applying consent and minimisation rules. Reputation planning will include outage, cyber and erroneous-feature scenarios jointly rehearsed with technology, service and legal leaders.

Agency briefs will include claim substantiation and ownership-stage measures before media production begins. Marketing investment will be reallocated when awareness rises without comprehension, activation or enduring customer value.

The first 12 months

Within 60 days, the CMO will audit feature claims, dealer content and customer confusion across current products. By day 90, unsupported language will be removed and a lifecycle communication standard approved for two forthcoming launches.

By month eight, selected models should use coordinated dealer, app and ownership journeys, and feature adoption evidence should enter product reviews. A customer-facing update protocol will be tested through a simulated delay or rollback.

At year-end, comprehension of priority features should improve by 20 points, eligible feature adoption by 15 points and connected-service opt-out or complaints decline against baseline. Dealer claim accuracy should exceed 95%, with no substantiated misleading feature or privacy communication.

What the board will measure

• Customer understanding and trust, not campaign reach alone.
• Feature adoption and retention supported by honest lifecycle communication.
• Dealer claims consistent with production capability.
• Product choices changed through customer evidence.
• Marketing leadership and succession.

The person

You are an automotive CMO, connected-product marketer or consumer-technology brand leader who has marketed capabilities that evolve after sale. You can translate technical conditions without diluting them and have managed service or update failure communications.

You bring 22–28 years of experience and have influenced scope above ₹4,300 crore across 1,600 employees and partners or more. Evidence should include a claim you withdrew, a feature whose adoption you improved and a launch you resequenced because product readiness changed.

The role is onsite in Bengaluru with dealer and customer travel.

Compensation and terms

Fixed compensation is ₹2.2–3.0 crore plus performance variable. Measures include comprehension, adoption, customer trust, claim integrity and succession. Reach alone is excluded. Final terms reflect current mix and scope.

Confidentiality

The brand, models, features and launch plans are confidential. Qualified candidates receive detail under an undertaking. Bengaluru and the rounded portfolio must not be used to identify the manufacturer.