Delivery Head Automotive Embedded Engineering

Delivery Head – Automotive & Embedded Engineering (AUTOSAR / DevOps)

Location: Pune (Onsite)

Industry: Engineering IT Services / Product Engineering Services (Automotive)

Employment Type: Full-time

Role Summary

We are seeking a Technical Delivery Head to lead and scale our Automotive Embedded Engineering delivery portfolio from Pune. This leader will own end-to-end program delivery, customer success, engineering excellence, and growth for multi-project engagements in areas such as AUTOSAR (Classic/Adaptive), ECU software, middleware/BSW, diagnostics, functional safety, cybersecurity, toolchains, CI/CD, and DevOps for embedded.

You will be accountable for delivery governance, quality, cost, timelines, customer satisfaction, and team capability building, while partnering closely with Sales, Pre-sales, and Solution Architects to grow accounts and improve win rates.

Key Responsibilities

Delivery Leadership & Program Governance

• Own end-to-end delivery for multiple automotive embedded programs (fixed-bid / T&M / hybrid models).
• Establish delivery governance: project planning, RAID management, milestones, reporting, steering committees, and executive stakeholder updates.
• Ensure predictable delivery outcomes across schedule, effort, budget, scope, quality, and risk.
• Drive delivery transformation using best practices from Agile, SAFe, and hybrid engineering delivery models.
• Build a culture of engineering discipline, accountability, continuous improvement, and customer-first execution.

Automotive Embedded Engineering Ownership (Technical & Execution)

• Provide technical leadership for delivery in: AUTOSAR Classic/Adaptive architecture, configuration, integration; BSW, RTE, MCAL, ECU integration and validation; Diagnostics (UDS), CAN/LIN/FlexRay/Ethernet, bootloaders, OTA; Embedded C/C++, RTOS, microcontrollers, BSP/driver integration; Model-based development (MATLAB/Simulink) where applicable.
• Review key technical decisions and ensure solution integrity with architects/tech leads.
• Ensure adherence to automotive standards and quality expectations such as: ASPICE, ISO 26262 (functional safety), ISO/SAE 21434 (cybersecurity) (as applicable to scope).

DevOps / CI-CD for Embedded & Engineering Productivity

• Drive adoption of DevOps for embedded: automated builds, static analysis, unit testing, integration testing, and release pipelines.
• Establish CI/CD practices using relevant tools (example ecosystem): Git (GitLab/GitHub/Bitbucket), Jenkins/Azure DevOps, artifact repositories; Testing frameworks, code quality gates, and automation dashboards.
• Define and enforce Definition of Done, quality gates, traceability, and release hygiene.
• Improve engineering throughput via automation, reusable accelerators, and platform/tool standardization.

Customer Success & Stakeholder Management

• Act as primary escalation point for delivery and customer satisfaction.
• Build strong relationships with customer engineering leadership (Director/VP/Program Managers).
• Ensure high CSAT/NPS, transparent communication, and proactive risk mitigation.
• Support account growth through: Identifying whitespace opportunities, Proposing roadmap initiatives, Renewals and expansion planning.

Financial, Commercial & Contract Management

• Own program financials: GM%, leakage control, utilization, billing, forecasting.
• Manage scope changes, change requests, contract adherence, and commercial negotiations in partnership with Sales/BD.
• Run periodic reviews: revenue, margins, delivery health, staffing, and corrective actions.

People Leadership & Capability Building

• Lead and mentor engineering managers, tech leads, Scrum Masters, and project managers.
• Build scalable teams: hiring plans, onboarding frameworks, competency matrices, and training roadmaps.
• Drive performance management, succession planning, and leadership development.
• Create and maintain strong engineering culture: knowledge sharing, communities of practice, tech forums.

Pre-sales & Solutioning Support

• Partner with pre-sales on: RFP/RFQ responses, estimation, solution design, delivery plans; Due diligence, technical workshops, discovery engagements; Transition-to-delivery planning and project kickoffs.
• Contribute to creation of offerings/accelerators in AUTOSAR/embedded/DevOps space.

Success Metrics (KPIs)

• On-time delivery rate and milestone predictability
• Quality: defect leakage, rework %, customer-reported issues, audit outcomes
• Financial: gross margin %, utilization %, revenue realization, leakage control
• Customer success: CSAT/NPS, escalations reduction, renewals/expansions
• Engineering productivity: cycle time, automation coverage, pipeline stability
• People: attrition %, team capability index, hiring closure rate

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or master’s in engineering (CS/IT/ECE/EEE/Instrumentation) or equivalent.
• 15+ years of experience in Engineering/IT services delivery, with 8+ years leading large automotive engineering programs.
• Strong experience delivering in Automotive domain (OEM/Tier-1/Tier-2 ecosystem).
• Proven leadership delivering embedded software and AUTOSAR programs end-to-end.
• Experience scaling teams (multi-project / multi-customer) and running delivery governance.

Must-Have Technical Expertise

• AUTOSAR Classic (and/or Adaptive): architecture, integration, configuration, BSW/RTE concepts.
• Embedded development & integration: C/C++, RTOS basics, microcontroller ecosystem, ECU integration.
• Automotive protocols: CAN/LIN/FlexRay/Ethernet, UDS diagnostics.
• DevOps / CI/CD for engineering: build automation, testing automation, quality gates, traceability.
• Familiarity with ASPICE/ISO 26262/ISO 21434 expectations and how they affect delivery and documentation.

Nice-to-Have

• Exposure to SDV (Software Defined Vehicle) programs, zonal architecture, OTA pipelines.
• Experience with cloud connected vehicle platforms, edge gateways, or vehicle data pipelines.
• Experience with tools such as Vector (CANoe/CANalyzer), ETAS, dSPACE, EB tresos, DaVinci (depending on customer stack).
• Experience leading global teams and multi-site delivery (India + EU/US/APAC).

Core Competencies

• Executive stakeholder management and communication
• Strong program management, risk management, and decision-making
• Financial acumen and contract/commercial understanding
• Hiring, team building, coaching, and performance management
• Customer-first mindset with strong escalation handling
• Strategic thinking + hands-on problem-solving

Work Model

• Base location: Pune
• Offsite/Onsite as per program needs (customer workshops, PI planning, major releases)
• Travel: Up to 10–20% depending on customer geography

Key skills/competency

• Delivery Head Automotive Embedded Engineering
• AUTOSAR (Classic/Adaptive)
• Embedded C/C++
• DevOps / CI/CD
• Functional Safety (ISO 26262)
• Cybersecurity (ISO/SAE 21434)
• ASPICE
• Program Management
• Team Leadership
• Customer Relationship Management