Multi-geography CIO — Chemicals · anchored USA

Position overview

Gladwin International Leadership Advisors is representing a confidential organisation in Chemicals & Materials on a senior CIO leadership mandate anchored in USA.

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

The role suits an operator who treats integration, culture, and capital allocation as one system — not three separate programmes.

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Context you will inherit

• Market & sector: Technical leadership pipeline — chemistry PhDs and chemical engineers who combine deep science with commercial acumen are chronically scarce; building the leadership pipeline is an existential challenge
• Geographic spine: Primary hub USA with reporting lines into global / regional matrix partners.
• Organisation stage: Portfolio under review: non-core assets, JVs, and country footprints are actively questioned each planning cycle.
• Stakeholders: Stakeholders span board or regional executive committee, global functional heads, JV partners, and strategic account buyers.
• Secondary lens: Process safety and EHS leadership — the catastrophic consequences of chemical plant incidents demand the highest standard of safety and environmental leadership

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The mandate (12–24 month arc)

1. Service catalogue: Clear offerings, owners, and SLAs — reduce bespoke IT arrangements that don’t scale.
2. Major incident command: Practised playbooks, comms templates, and executive briefing discipline.
3. Technical debt register: Visible to leadership; fund pay-down in proportion to risk and customer impact.
4. License optimisation: True-up discipline and shelf-ware elimination — partner with procurement.
5. Regulatory projects: Ring-fence capacity for supervisor-driven change without starving business roadmap.
6. Geographic IT: Harmonise standards across hubs while respecting data residency and local support needs.

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Responsibilities (representative)

• Own IT service delivery, run cost, and major business system programmes.
• Partner with business on digital initiatives — clear roles vs. product/engineering where split.
• Lead infrastructure, cloud, and workplace technology strategy.
• Co-own cyber resilience with CISO; prioritise by business criticality.
• Rationalise application portfolio — retire, replace, or integrate duplicates.

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Leadership profile

• Communication: Executive presence in English; additional languages valued where market-relevant.
• Judgment: High signal-to-noise under pressure; ethical clarity; willingness to halt initiatives that break risk appetite.
• Business systems: Large programme delivery — ERP, core platforms, or digital workplace at scale.
• Education: Strong undergraduate grounding; MBA / advanced degree / professional qualification common at this level.
• Geographic muscle: Deep experience leading in or from USA with credible local stakeholder judgment.

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Team & culture

You inherit a mixed-tenure team — pockets of excellence beside roles that need upgrade. The mandate is to raise the bar without demoralising the organisation: clear standards, fair process, and visible wins that prove the new pace is achievable.

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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

Role requires face-to-face presence in the primary hub with regular regional travel; remote-only not viable.

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Compensation

Competitive CIO compensation for Chemicals & Materials 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: chemicals-materials · CIO · USA · Gladwin International Leadership Advisors