Executive Search Success Story: Rebuilding Operations and Project Leadership to Recover Margins and Backlog Execution at a National Automation Integrator

How JRG Partners executed a confidential, multi-role North American executive search strategy that equipped a national industrial automation integrator with the operations, project management, engineering, field services, and supply chain leadership required to reverse project margin erosion, clear a late backlog, build a recurring aftermarket services business, and restore customer and lender confidence.

The Challenge

A national integrator had grown its backlog to a record $900M on demand for warehouse and manufacturing automation, but growth had outrun its execution capability: project margins had fallen from 18% to 9% through scope creep, change order leakage, and rework; more than a third of projects were behind schedule; engineering was consumed by firefighting; component lead times and price increases were absorbed rather than passed through; and the company had no meaningful aftermarket services business despite thousands of installed systems. Lenders had tightened covenants and two large customers had withheld milestone payments. Executive leadership identified several critical vulnerabilities threatening the company:

• Project margins down from 18% to 9% through scope creep, change order leakage, and rework
• More than a third of a $900M backlog behind schedule with customers withholding payments
• No project management office, stage gates, or consistent risk reviews
• Engineering productivity consumed by rework and firefighting
• Component cost and lead time increases absorbed with no procurement strategy
• Thousands of installed systems with no aftermarket services or recurring revenue

Recognizing that recovery required execution leadership built for project-based businesses, the Chief Executive Officer and board engaged JRG Partners to recruit a Chief Operating Officer, Vice President of Project Management Office, Vice President of Engineering, Vice President of Field Services & Aftermarket, and Vice President of Supply Chain & Procurement. The company required an executive search partner with deep integrator expertise and access to leaders who had recovered project margins at scale.

Why They Chose JRG Partners

Industrial Automation & Robotics Integration Focus

JRG Partners maintains a dedicated practice serving automation and material handling integrators, with a clear understanding of project economics, change order management, engineering productivity, and the aftermarket opportunity in installed bases.

Project Margin Recovery Experience

Our firm has extensive experience recruiting executives who have recovered margins and schedule performance in project-based industrial businesses, with a clear understanding of stage-gate execution and risk governance.

Multi-Role Execution

Our team specializes in running coordinated operations, project management, engineering, services, and supply chain searches in parallel, ensuring leaders are selected as a complementary unit aligned to a single recovery plan.

Our Executive Search Strategy

Phase 1 — Recovery Plan Alignment

Our consultants partnered directly with the Chief Executive Officer, board, and lender advisors to review project performance, backlog status, engineering workload, procurement exposure, and installed base data, defining five executive profiles aligned with the margin recovery plan.

Phase 2 — Talent Identification & Mapping

Our research team performed an extensive talent mapping initiative targeting operations, project management, engineering, field services, and supply chain executives at automation and material handling integrators, engineering and construction firms, and industrial equipment companies who had led documented margin and schedule recoveries. Over 410 executives were systematically assessed across these sectors.

Phase 3 — Candidate Engagement

Priority during outreach was given to leaders with a documented history of recovering project margins through change order discipline and stage-gate execution, clearing late backlogs, improving engineering productivity, building aftermarket services businesses on installed bases, and implementing procurement strategies for automation components. Only candidates meeting these strict performance baselines advanced.

Phase 4 — Selection Process

Finalists presented recovery plans to the Chief Executive Officer and board, completed structured leadership assessments, and underwent reference verification focused on quantified margin, schedule, and services outcomes.

Key Outcomes

• 410+ automation integration and project-based industrial executive profiles mapped across North America.
• Successfully placed a synchronized leadership tier spanning operations, project management, engineering, field services, and supply chain within six months.
• Recovered $22M in unbilled change orders in the first year.
• Reduced late projects from more than a third of backlog to under 8%.
• Built $75M in recurring aftermarket revenue within two years.
• Recovered project margins from 9% to 17% and restored covenant compliance.