Chief-of-staff to regional chair (CMO calibre) — Agriculture · Malaysia

Position overview

Gladwin International Leadership Advisors is representing a confidential organisation in Agriculture & AgriTech on a senior CMO leadership mandate anchored in Malaysia. The remit explicitly spans Singapore, Middle East, Canada.

This is a strategic transformation mandate at CXO level — equal parts operating leadership, change orchestration, and investor / board narrative ownership.

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: Rural market leadership — building leaders who can operate effectively in India's 600,000 villages, managing complex agronomic, logistical, and social dynamics
• Geographic spine: Primary hub Malaysia with explicit corridor responsibility across Singapore, Middle East, Canada.
• 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: Supply chain from farm to fork — building leaders who can manage the perishable supply chains that connect farmers to modern retail, food processors, and export markets

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The mandate (12–24 month arc)

1. Brand & positioning: Refresh the brand story for the next growth chapter — consistent externally, actionable internally.
2. Demand generation: Improve funnel economics; align marketing spend to segments with defendable win rates.
3. Product marketing: Tie roadmap narratives to customer outcomes and proof points, not feature lists.
4. Customer insight: Institutionalise research, segmentation, and CLV thinking in planning conversations.
5. MarTech & data: Rationalise stack; improve attribution where possible without boiling the ocean.
6. Partnerships & ecosystem: Use alliances, co-marketing, and channel programmes to extend reach without linear cost.

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Responsibilities (representative)

• Own brand architecture, positioning, and major campaign investment decisions.
• Align marketing and sales on pipeline definitions, targets, and hand-offs.
• Sponsor customer research and segmentation used in S&OP and strategy conversations.
• Rationalise MarTech spend; enforce governance on data and consent.
• Lead executive communications and high-stakes external messaging as needed.

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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.
• Growth leadership: Demonstrated impact on pipeline, win rate, or brand strength in Agriculture & AgriTech.
• Judgment: High signal-to-noise under pressure; ethical clarity; willingness to halt initiatives that break risk appetite.
• Geographic muscle: Comfort operating from Malaysia with regular engagement across Singapore, Middle East.

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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.

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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 CMO compensation for Agriculture & AgriTech 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: agriculture-agritech · CMO · Malaysia · Gladwin International Leadership Advisors