He is the President of Project Management Associates[5] and is the former chairperson of the board of governors of the National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra.
[8] He also previously served as Vice President of International Project Management Association[9] and as Special Secretary representing India in the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation.
[6] Pillai joined the Defence Research and Development Service and has four decades of experience in ISRO and DRDO and has worked with Vikram Sarabhai, Satish Dhawan and APJ Abdul Kalam.
He contributed to the successful development of SLV III as a core team member and to the evolution of PSLV configuration for ISRO.
In 2007, under his leadership as CEO of Brahmos Aerospace, the company bought Kerala Hitech Industries Limited.