Head - Strategy & Operations

About the Role:

The Head of Strategy & Operations will act as a key partner to the CEO - bridging long-term vision with near-term execution. You will be a senior leader responsible for driving operational excellence, leading transformation efforts, and ensuring scalable, cross-functional delivery. The role involves collaborating with internal teams and global stakeholders to design and implement solutions that align with strategic goals while cultivating a culture of clarity, ownership, and performance.

You will work across strategic and hands-on contexts - zooming out to align on priorities and zooming in to address critical execution challenges. The ideal candidate is not just an operator, but a transformation catalyst and thought partner - capable of driving clarity in ambiguity, creating alignment in complexity, and building systems that scale.

Success in this role will be measured by:

• Execution Against Strategic Goals - Delivery of agreed priorities within timelines, budgets, and expected outcomes.
• Operational Improvements - Measurable gains in efficiency, quality, and scalability of processes or systems.
• Stakeholder Impact - Strength and trust of relationships with internal functional leads, global stakeholders, and cross-border teams.
• Problem-Solving Agility - Ability to address challenges proactively, balancing immediate fixes with systemic solutions.
• Team & Capability Growth - Development of leadership maturity, functional capacity, and future-ready skills across the organization.
• Cultural Stewardship - Reinforcing companies values.

Key Responsibilities:

• Drive the execution of strategic priorities and transformation initiatives across functions.
• Lead cross-functional strategic projects covering process optimization, organizational design, and the development of scalable systems that enhance operational clarity and efficiency.
• Partner with functional leads to solve operational challenges and streamline decision-making.
• Represent the CEO in high-impact forums, including global stakeholder engagements and program reviews.
• Influence and align with senior global stakeholders across regions to ensure India's capabilities are leveraged as a strategic driver within the Group.
• Track progress against strategic goals; proactively identify risks and course-correct as needed.
• Foster a high-performance culture through values-based leadership, ethical rigor, and consistent delivery.
• Build organizational capacity by enhancing talent, capabilities, and processes.
• Work with global and group-level stakeholders to align priorities and lead implementations.
• Apply technology, automation, and KPI-driven insights to streamline operations and support scalable growth.
• Act as a culture-carrier and role model - embodying Organisation values.
• Shape how the India team is perceived within the Group - highlighting impact, innovation, and collaboration.

Who You Are:

• A high-integrity leader who can zoom in and zoom out - strong in both strategy and detail.
• A strategic thinker with strong operational execution and program leadership skills.
• Entrepreneurial and accountable with a bias for action and ownership.
• Adaptive and resilient - able to lead through ambiguity and drive alignment.
• Excellent communicator with high EQ and strong stakeholder influence.
• Proven ability to lead through others, elevate leadership maturity, and embed systems that drive long-term success.

Preferred Background:

• 14+ years of experience leading strategy, operations, or transformation in high-growth or matrix environments, with a proven track record of enterprise impact (exceptional candidates with slightly less experience but significant achievements will be considered).
• Proven success in scaling teams or systems.
• Background in consulting, strategy, or operations preferred.
• Strong stakeholder management and cross-functional collaboration experience.
• Experience applying technology, automation, and KPI-driven insights to streamline operations and support scalable growth.

If you're ready to shape how strategy turns into impact - and elevate how India contributes to a global vision - we'd love to hear from you.