1310 Interim CTO – CIO, e-commerce and manufacturing
About Our Client:
Our client is a founder-led, owner-managed small to medium-sized manufacturing business with a strong B2C model and a rapidly scaling e-commerce channel. The organisation employs approximately 100–150 people and operates a high-variant, made-to-order production environment where customers expect fast delivery, clear status updates, and a consistently premium experience from purchase through installation readiness.
The company sources components across Europe and Asia, and serves customers across the wider DACH and Southeast Europe region. Following a period of strong growth, the digital and operational complexity of the business has outpaced the current systems landscape. The organisation now requires experienced interim executive leadership to modernise the IT architecture, connect critical data flows, and enable scalable execution across e-commerce, warehouse, finance, and manufacturing.
This is a confidential transformation mandate in a founder-led environment, where success will be measured in systems clarity, improved planning reliability, better customer communication, and a stable digital foundation that supports growth.
Project Description:
This assignment is designed for an interim CTO or CIO who can take ownership of the technology agenda and rapidly bring structure to a highly fragmented systems environment. The primary goal is to create a connected, scalable architecture that supports operational performance, reliable planning, and a stronger end-to-end customer experience.
A key challenge is aligning e-commerce demand signals with manufacturing planning and warehouse execution, ensuring that order status, availability, lead times, and customer communication are driven by reliable data. The organisation needs a leader who can combine strategic technology vision with hands-on execution, translating business priorities into a clear roadmap and delivering tangible progress within the first 3–6 months.
You will report directly to the Owner and lead a core internal team, working closely with operational leadership to ensure technology becomes an enabler of operational excellence, not an additional bottleneck.
Key outcomes and decision-level scope include:
- Interim CTO / CIO reporting to the Owner, with mandate to define the target IT architecture and drive end-to-end integration
- Leading a technology transformation programme connecting e-commerce, warehouse, finance, and manufacturing data flows into one coherent operating system
- Establishing clear governance, project management cadence, and decision ownership across IT and business stakeholders to accelerate delivery and eliminate fragmented solutions
- Improving planning and execution reliability through better forecasting, inventory visibility, and production scheduling enabled by robust system design and data integrity
- Strengthening customer experience through reliable order status visibility, faster case resolution workflows, and improved aftersales communication enabled by integrated systems
- Assessing the current team, stabilising delivery capability, and defining which competencies should be retained, developed, or added to meet future needs
- Creating a scalable digital foundation for growth, including documentation, handover structure, and a roadmap that can be continued by a permanent technology leader
Key Requirements
- IT architecture redesign and systems integration leadership
- Digital transformation experience in founder-led SME or mid-market environments
- Data flow alignment between e-commerce, warehouse, finance, and manufacturing
- Planning enablement, forecasting discipline, and operational decision support
- Customer-impacting process automation and aftersales workflow improvement
Interim Manager Required Skills:
A senior interim technology leader, typically a former CTO, CIO, Head of IT Transformation, or enterprise applications leader with deep experience delivering practical integration and modernisation programmes.
- Demonstrated interim executive leadership in complex, fast-moving organisations, delivering measurable progress within the first 3–6 months
- Strong capability in IT architecture, systems integration, and roadmap delivery, with a focus on stabilising operations and enabling scalable growth
- Proven experience connecting commercial platforms with operational execution, translating customer demand into reliable availability and fulfilment performance
- Practical understanding of manufacturing and warehouse realities, including the impact of poor master data, unclear ownership, and misaligned system logic on delivery outcomes
- Strong governance mindset, able to run project management routines, prioritise effectively, and ensure decisions translate into implementation
- Composed, direct, pragmatic leadership style, capable of challenging legacy thinking while maintaining trust with the founder and internal teams
- Working English is required for cross-functional alignment and stakeholder management, local-language capability is highly preferred for fast on-site adoption
Key Requirements:
IT architecture integration, ERP/APS planning enablement, e-commerce to manufacturing data flow, operational decision dashboards (BI), customer service and aftersales automation.
Type of Assignment:
Interim
Scope of Interim Assignment:
Growth Acceleration
Functional Area of the Interim Manager:
IT
Location:
Wroclaw, Poland
Duration:
12 months
Start Date:
February 2026
Why work with us?
CE Interim delivers proven executive interim leaders within 72 hours across borders, cultures, and industries. We specialize in high-impact interim management for private equity firms, family offices, and global corporations facing moments of transition: digital transformation, market entry, operational turnaround, post-merger integration, or crisis.
What sets us apart is not just the speed or depth of our network, it’s how we lead. Every engagement is personally guided by a CE Interim managing partner: former CEOs, CFOs, or COOs who’ve been on your side of the table, steering organizations through high-stakes decisions.
With a global talent pool and operational reach spanning Europe, the USA, and the Middle East, we don’t fill roles, we build trust, lead transitions, and deliver outcomes.
As part of the Valtus Alliance, the world’s largest alliance of Executive Interim Management companies, we ensure seamless international execution through 25+ offices and 80+ senior partners in over 50 countries.
