Chief Executive Officer

CEO – CAMPUS TRANSFORMATION | CHENNAI
What if your next leadership role wasn't about managing what already exists — but about changing what is possible?
We are looking for an experienced industry leader to take overall charge of an established educational campus in Chennai and help transform the way it operates, grows and creates value.
Education-sector experience is not mandatory. In fact, we believe an outside perspective could be an advantage.
We are looking for someone who has spent years building organisations, leading people, managing complexity and making things happen — and now wants to apply that experience to something with a larger institutional and social purpose.
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THE OPPORTUNITY
The campus brings together institutions across school, undergraduate, engineering and management education, with a legacy extending over several decades. The group has an ambition to strengthen its position among India's leading institutions.
This is therefore not a turnaround of a failing organisation.
It is something more interesting:
A chance to take an established institution with strong foundations and build its next level of excellence.
The CEO will work closely with the Trust leadership and take broad responsibility for the strategic, operational and organisational performance of the campus.
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WHAT WILL YOU LEAD?
1. STRATEGY & TRANSFORMATION
Translate the institutional vision into a clear strategy, priorities, measurable outcomes and execution.
2. OPERATIONS & SYSTEMS
Bring stronger systems, processes, technology, data and accountability into the way the campus operates.
3. PEOPLE & CULTURE
Build leadership capability, strengthen teams and create a culture of ownership, performance and continuous improvement.
4. BRAND, GROWTH & OUTREACH
Strengthen institutional positioning, admissions, communications, external visibility and relationships.
5. FINANCE & RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Drive financial discipline, sustainability, productivity and better utilisation of resources.
6. INDUSTRY, INNOVATION & NEW OPPORTUNITIES
Build meaningful industry relationships and identify opportunities around innovation, entrepreneurship, partnerships and new initiatives.
7. CAMPUS & STAKEHOLDER EXPERIENCE
Raise the experience of students, parents, faculty, staff and the wider community.
These responsibilities are drawn directly from the breadth of the proposed CEO mandate, which covers strategy, operations, branding, admissions, finance, infrastructure, HR, technology, compliance, quality, risk, data, industry partnerships and entrepreneurship.
WHO ARE WE LOOKING FOR?
We are deliberately looking beyond traditional education profiles.
You could come from:
Hospitality | Healthcare | Retail | Real Estate | Manufacturing | Technology | Consulting | Consumer Businesses | Professional Services | Other complex, people-intensive businesses
You may currently be a:
CEO | COO | Business Head | Operations Leader | Transformation Leader
Your industry matters less than your track record.
We want someone who has:
• Built or transformed an organisation, business or major function
• Managed substantial teams and budgets
• Improved operational performance and productivity
• Built systems and processes where they were previously weak
• Led through change and ambiguity
• Strong commercial and financial understanding
• Built brands, customer experiences or new growth opportunities
• Used technology and data to improve performance
• Strong stakeholder and people leadership
• The ability to move seamlessly between strategy and execution
The proposed role itself calls for strong strategic thinking combined with operational execution, financial management, process optimisation, technology adoption and systems-driven management.
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THE MOST IMPORTANT THING
We are looking for a builder.
Not someone who is satisfied with reviewing reports.
Not someone who believes every problem needs another committee.
Not someone who will spend six months studying how educational institutions traditionally operate.
We want someone who will:
Walk the campus.
Talk to the people.
Understand the numbers.
Find the bottlenecks.
Question assumptions.
Spot opportunities.
Build teams.
Make decisions.
Execute.
Measure.
Improve.
You should be comfortable getting your hands dirty.
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YOU DON'T NEED TO KNOW EDUCATION.
We already have people who understand education.
What we need is someone who can bring a different lens:
How do great organisations build culture?
How do great businesses create exceptional experiences?
How do you build accountability without destroying initiative?
How do you use technology to fundamentally improve the way an organisation works?
How do you turn a good institution into a great one?
And most importantly:
How do you turn ideas into results?
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THIS ROLE MAY BE FOR YOU IF...
You have spent a significant part of your career building and leading organisations.
You have accumulated experience, judgement and perspective.
You are now looking for something where your impact is visible and lasting.
You don't necessarily need another corporate title.
You want a meaningful challenge.
You enjoy solving problems that don't come with ready-made answers.
And you want to be able to look back after a few years and say:
“I helped change this place.”
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THIS ROLE IS NOT FOR YOU IF...
You are looking primarily for a title.
You prefer strategy to execution.
You need a large corporate infrastructure around you to get things done.
You are uncomfortable challenging established practices.
Or you believe that because something has always been done one way, there must be a good reason for it.
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If you are an experienced industry leader who sees an opportunity here, we would like to hear from you.
Location: Chennai
Position: Chief Executive Officer – Campus Transformation
As part of your application, please answer one question:
“If you were given the mandate to transform this campus, what are the first three things you would look at — and why?”
We are interested not only in where you have worked.
We want to understand how you think.
Education experience is not mandatory.
Leadership, judgement, execution and the desire to create change are.

Work arrangement
No