272 Interim CRO Czech Republic
About Our Client:
Our client is a Czech-based industrial manufacturing company with a long operational history and a strong footprint in heavy machinery production and sales for professional end markets.
The company employs approximately 150 FTE, operates three subsidiaries within the Czech Republic, and generates annual revenues of around 20 million EUR.
The business is owned by an investment fund and is currently under severe financial and operational pressure due to declining volumes, structural cost overload, inefficient manufacturing footprint, and weak cash protection mechanisms.
A decisive restructuring and downsizing programme is required. This mandate is not about growth or transformation. It is about hard stabilisation, cost base reset, and value protection in a distressed industrial environment.
The Interim Chief Restructuring Officer (CRO) will hold full statutory authority and legal accountability to execute a radical restructuring agenda, including major workforce reduction, site rationalisation, and the potential closure of selected entities or activities.
The core mandate is to stabilise the business under crisis conditions and deliver one of two outcomes: a fundamentally resized and stabilised entity or a controlled and orderly wind-down where recovery is not economically viable.
Project Description:
- Act as Interim Chief Restructuring Officer (CRO) and statutory representative with full authority to take immediate and irreversible decisions in a distressed environment
- Lead a comprehensive restructuring and downsizing programme, including significant headcount reduction, fixed cost elimination, footprint optimisation, and liquidity protection
- Secure short-term cash flow, protect working capital, and enforce strict financial discipline across all three Czech subsidiaries
- Assess the economic viability of individual sites and business units and execute closures where required
- Manage complex stakeholder dynamics involving the investment fund, lenders, employees, and local management
- Reset organisational expectations through direct, transparent communication in a highly sensitive and emotionally charged context
- Deliver a clear, fact-based restructuring and viability assessment to the shareholder within the first three to six months
Interim Manager Required Skills:
- Former CEO, Managing Director, COO, or Chief Restructuring Officer with a strong manufacturing background
- Extensive, hands-on experience in restructuring, turnaround, crisis management, including repeated exposure to large-scale downsizing and company closures
- Proven ability to protect liquidity, enforce financial discipline, and act decisively under severe pressure
- Strong understanding of statutory responsibility, insolvency risk, and legal accountability in distressed environments
- Highly resilient, pragmatic leader with the authority and emotional strength to lead organisations through uncertainty, resistance, and difficult decisions
- Experienced in working with investment funds and delivering tough, outcome-driven mandates
Fluent Czech is mandatory, with working English or German for investor communication
Key Requirements:
Requirement 01: More than 5 years of experience as CEO, Managing Director, COO, or Chief Restructuring Officer
Requirement 02: Proven track record in restructuring, massive downsizing, aggressive cost-cutting, liquidity protection, and site closures within manufacturing environments
Requirement 03: Fluent in Czech and available to start in January 2026
Type of Assignment:
- Interim
Scope of Interim Assignment:
- General Management / Restructuring
Functional Area of the Interim Manager:
- General Management
Location:
- Czech Republic
Duration:
- 6–12 months
Start Date:
- January 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.
