Multi-geography CHRO — Government & PSU · anchored Continental Europe

Position overview

Gladwin International Leadership Advisors is representing a confidential organisation in Government & Public Sector on a senior CHRO leadership mandate anchored in Continental Europe. The remit explicitly spans India, Singapore, Australia.

This is a multi-geography leadership role requiring orchestration across time zones, matrix stakeholders, and often dual-reporting into global and regional lines.

You inherit teams that are capable but often misaligned on priorities; your job is to simplify the story and the scorecard.

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Context you will inherit

• Market & sector: Professionalisation of public sector leadership — finding leaders who can bring private sector commercial discipline and technology adoption into organisations with legacy public sector culture
• Geographic spine: Primary hub Continental Europe with explicit corridor responsibility across India, Singapore, Australia.
• Organisation stage: Post-integration operating model still settling — some processes are global templates, others are stubbornly local.
• Stakeholders: Expect dense matrix: global product houses, regional P&L owners, shared services, and internal audit all pull on the same calendar.
• Secondary lens: Board governance evolution — as PSU boards become more independent and governance expectations rise, finding Independent Directors who can provide genuine strategic counsel

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The mandate (12–24 month arc)

1. Leadership pipeline: Build succession depth for critical roles; reduce key-person risk in revenue and operations.
2. Performance culture: Reset standards, feedback, and consequences — especially for the leadership population.
3. Rewards alignment: Tie incentive design to strategy; simplify schemes that accumulated complexity over years.
4. Talent acquisition: Fix hiring velocity and quality in scarce skill areas; partner with business on workforce planning.
5. Employee experience: Address engagement drivers linked to retention — career paths, manager capability, hybrid ways of working.
6. HR operating model: Clarify HRBP, centres of excellence, and shared services — reduce overlap and hand-off friction.

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Responsibilities (representative)

• Set talent strategy for critical roles; chair succession and calibration processes with the CEO.
• Modernise HR operating model — clarity between HRBP, COE, and shared services.
• Partner with CFO on workforce cost, productivity, and location strategy.
• Lead executive hiring for direct reports and key-2 roles with diverse slates.
• Ensure ER / IR stability during restructuring or automation programmes.

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Leadership profile

• Communication: Executive presence in English; additional languages valued where market-relevant.
• Education: Strong undergraduate grounding; MBA / advanced degree / professional qualification common at this level.
• People leadership: Experience resetting leadership standards and succession in matrix or multi-country settings.
• Judgment: High signal-to-noise under pressure; ethical clarity; willingness to halt initiatives that break risk appetite.
• Geographic muscle: Comfort operating from Continental Europe with regular engagement across India, Singapore.

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Team & culture

Silos are real. Your job is to design forums and incentives so product, technology, risk, and commercial leaders solve problems together instead of optimising local KPIs.

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Success measures (examples)

• Financial: Revenue and margin vs. plan; cash conversion; capital efficiency.
• Strategic: Share in priority segments; customer retention in anchor accounts; milestone delivery on transformation.
• People: Engagement trends; regrettable attrition in critical roles; diversity of succession slate.
• Risk: Audit and regulatory outcomes; conduct events; operational resilience metrics.

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First 90 days (orientation arc)

• Days 1–30: Shadow key customer journeys or operations — paper over slides where reality diverges.
• Days 30–60: Cut or pause low-value projects freeing capacity for strategic work.
• Days 60–90: Publish first integrated forecast or plan under your ownership — even if directional.
• Build trust with risk, legal, and audit through transparency — surprises erode licence to move fast.
• Pick one cultural signal (e.g. meeting hygiene, promotion criteria) and model it relentlessly.
• Add a timezone-friendly cadence for matrix decisions; rotate forum times to share pain fairly.

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Stakeholder map (illustrative)

• Internal: Matrix of global product houses and local P&L; tension is normal — your role is to broker trade-offs with data.
• External: Customers who influence reference deals; government or industry bodies in regulated sectors.
• Capital providers: Banks, sponsors, or minority investors — each needs a slightly different narrative on risk.

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Travel & mobility

Expect substantial travel — customer, hub, and owner meetings. Specific cadence discussed with shortlisted candidates.

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Compensation

Competitive CHRO compensation for Government & Public Sector leadership: cash, incentive, benefits, and potential equity or carry (case-dependent). Discussed with finalists only.

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Application process

Gladwin International is managing this search confidentially. Shortlisted candidates will engage in structured conversations with the firm’s partners before client introduction. Please apply through the careers portal with a concise note on why this geography, sector, and remit fit your trajectory.

We review every submission personally; unsolicited outreach to the end client is discouraged and may disqualify candidacy.

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Reference: government-public-sector · CHRO · Continental Europe · Gladwin International Leadership Advisors