CIO — Global Professional Services practice (based India)

Position overview

Gladwin International Leadership Advisors is representing a confidential organisation in Professional Services on a senior CIO leadership mandate anchored in India. The remit explicitly spans Africa, Malaysia, Singapore.

This is a country CEO / MD-class mandate with board- and headquarters-facing accountability for strategy execution, regulatory relationships, and brand in-market.

The brief rewards leaders who can translate group strategy into market wins without burning the organisation on vanity initiatives.

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Context you will inherit

• Market & sector: Diversity leadership — traditionally male-dominated professions need leaders who can build more diverse and inclusive professional cultures
• Geographic spine: Primary hub India with explicit corridor responsibility across Africa, Malaysia, Singapore.
• Organisation stage: Digital and data maturity uneven across business lines — quick wins exist beside multi-year platform investments.
• Stakeholders: Expect dense matrix: global product houses, regional P&L owners, shared services, and internal audit all pull on the same calendar.
• Secondary lens: Partner elevation and external lateral hiring — identifying senior partners with the right client relationships, technical depth, and culture fit to contribute at the highest level of a professional services firm

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The mandate (12–24 month arc)

1. Core systems: Stabilise ERP / core banking / policy admin (as relevant) — reduce outages and major incident frequency.
2. Roadmap governance: Align business cases to enterprise priorities; stop pet projects that drain scarce capacity.
3. Cyber posture: Partner with CISO on identity, segmentation, and third-party risk — especially for critical vendors.
4. Business partnership: Embed IT leaders into P&L forums with clear service levels and joint accountability.
5. Cloud & infrastructure: Right-size hosting strategy; improve disaster recovery and scalability where growth strains capacity.
6. Sourcing: Rationalise SI relationships; improve contract discipline and outcome-based metrics.

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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

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

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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)

• Growth quality: Mix of recurring revenue, new logos, and cross-sell — not volume for its own sake.
• Productivity: Unit cost, automation savings, or throughput improvements with audited baselines.
• Customer: NPS / CSAT where tracked; contract renewals; reference-ability in strategic accounts.
• Franchise: Clean compliance record; reputation stability in industry and government forums.

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First 90 days (orientation arc)

• Days 1–30: Listening tour — customers, regulators (as appropriate), top team 1:1s, and unfiltered view of numbers; pause major reorganisation.
• Days 30–60: Publish a short memo on priorities, non-goals, and decision rights; align executive committee on three enterprise bets.
• Days 60–90: Lock operating cadence; fill or upgrade one to two critical seats; deliver one visible win (customer, cost, or culture).
• Commission a pragmatic view of data, cyber, and automation posture; sponsor one bounded pilot with ROI hypothesis.
• Establish escalation discipline with matrix partners — fewer meetings, clearer decision logs.

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Stakeholder map (illustrative)

• Internal: CEO or regional president, CFO, risk / legal, CHRO, CIO or CDO, business GMs, internal audit.
• External: Strategic accounts, channel partners, industry associations, regulators (where material).
• Owners: PE operating partners, promoter office, or public investors — pace and clarity matter as much as vision.

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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

Market-aligned CIO remuneration in Professional Services with performance linkage; sign-on and relocation considered for exceptional fits.

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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: professional-services · CIO · India · Gladwin International Leadership Advisors