Indian auto exports are at a record
Two-wheeler, three-wheeler, passenger vehicle and commercial-vehicle exports are raising the bar for engineering and quality leadership.
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Automobile & Auto Components.
Engineering, manufacturing and commercial leadership for an industry mid-transition.
01 / Overview
The practice.
Automotive is the industry mid-transition: from ICE to electric, from hardware to software, from single-vehicle to fleet. The leadership briefs reflect that transition almost every week.
We partner with OEMs, tier-1 and tier-2 suppliers, EV companies, mobility platforms and aftermarket businesses across India, the GCC and Southeast Asia.
02 / Market landscape
What the market is doing.
The forces shaping leadership demand in Automobile right now.
EV adoption is rewriting the supplier ecosystem
Batteries, BMS, motors, controllers and software are creating entirely new tier-1 and tier-2 leadership briefs.
Software-defined vehicles need a new leadership archetype
Embedded, cloud, OTA and connected-vehicle expertise are now mandatory at the CTO and Head of Software level.
Two-wheeler and commercial-vehicle electrification is creating new categories
Indian two-wheeler EV is a globally relevant market, and the leadership pipeline has not kept pace with demand.
03 / Talent landscape
"The best automotive leaders are powertrain-agnostic in judgment, even if their last role was ICE or EV. Our practice maps across both, and brings cross-pollination candidates into briefs where the client has been over-specifying."
04 / Roles we place
The mandates.
Representative roles across 5 role families.
Executive
- · CEO
- · COO
- · Plant President
- · Business Unit Head
Engineering
- · Chief Engineering Officer
- · Head of R&D
- · Head of Powertrain
- · Head of Battery
- · Head of Vehicle Engineering
Manufacturing & supply
- · Head of Manufacturing
- · Head of Quality
- · Head of Supply Chain
- · Head of Procurement
Commercial
- · Head of Sales
- · Head of Aftermarket
- · Head of Network
- · Head of Exports
Software & connected
- · Head of Software
- · Head of Connected Vehicles
- · Head of Autonomy
- · Head of Embedded Systems
05 / Our approach
How we hire for Automobile.
Powertrain-agnostic shortlists
We map leaders across ICE, hybrid and EV by the underlying engineering judgment — not the badge they last carried.
Tier-1 to OEM transitions
We routinely identify leaders ready to make the jump from supplier to OEM — and vice versa — without losing momentum.
Software fluency
For SDV mandates we screen for genuine software engineering and platform exposure, not bolt-on credentials.
Greenfield-ready leaders
For new EV and battery plants we shortlist leaders who have built capacity from zero.
06 / Methodology
Our 5-step process.
The way we run a sector search end to end.
- 01
Engineering and commercial brief
We engage engineering, manufacturing and commercial leaders to define the role around outcomes, not titles.
- 02
Powertrain-agnostic mapping
Cross-powertrain and cross-tier mapping including OEMs, tier-1 and tier-2 suppliers, EV pure-plays and software platforms.
- 03
Project and product referencing
References on actual products shipped and plants commissioned — not just titles held.
- 04
Capability and culture assessment
Structured leadership interviewing with explicit focus on engineering depth and team-building.
- 05
Closure & integration
Relocation, family planning, and structured first-90-day plant- or program-integration plans.
07 / Capabilities
What we deliver.
- OEM leadership
- Tier-1 / Tier-2 supplier search
- EV and battery leadership
- Engineering and R&D
- Manufacturing and quality
- Software-defined vehicle leadership
- Aftermarket and network
- Independent automotive advisors
08 / Cross-border
India · UAE · Singapore · Canada.
We run integrated India–GCC–SEA mandates across OEMs, suppliers and EV companies. Our practice routinely places Indian leaders into GCC and Southeast Asian roles, and brings global automotive talent into Indian EV and software-defined-vehicle businesses.
09 / Case snapshots
Recent work.
Anonymised to protect client and candidate confidentiality.
Head of EV for a top-3 Indian OEM
Confidential newly-created role. Mapped 70 candidates across global EV and battery; closed in 13 weeks.
Plant President for a tier-1 EV component supplier
Greenfield plant. Hired a leader who had previously commissioned two EV component plants in China and Europe.
Head of Software for a connected-vehicle platform
Hired from outside auto — a SaaS engineering leader — for cross-pollination value.
10 / Outcomes
Track record.
95+Automotive leadership searches
20+EV-focused placements
4Vehicle segments served
91%Closure rate
11 / FAQ
Questions, answered.
- Do you cover both OEM and supplier leadership?
- Yes — and we routinely move leaders between OEM and tier-1 roles.
- Can you handle EV-specific hiring?
- Yes. Roughly a quarter of our automotive mandates are EV-specific, including battery, BMS and motor leadership.
- Do you cover software-defined vehicle hiring?
- Yes — including dedicated Head of Software, Head of Embedded and Head of Connected Vehicle roles.
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