J. J. Irani is a director of Tata Sons, Tata Industries, Tata Motors and Tata International, among others. He is chairman of Tata Refractories and TRF. Dr Irani also chairs the board of governors at XLRI in Jamshedpur.

Dr Irani began his career in 1963 as senior scientific officer at the British Iron and Steel Research Association, Sheffield. On his return to India in 1968, he joined Tata Steel as assistant to director (R&D). In 1979, he was appointed general manager, and president in 1985. He became the managing director in 1992, a position he held till July 2001.

He has received a number of awards recognising his contributions to the company and industry. Prominent among them are the 'metallurgist of the year' award in 1974 from the Ministry of Steel and Mines, the prestigious 'Platinum Medal' in November, 1988, by the Indian Institute of Metals, Ernst & Young's 'Lifetime Achievement Award, 2001' for entrepreneurial success and the 'Twelfth Willy Korf Steel Vision Award' from World Steel Dynamics and American Metal Market.

Dr Irani has also been awarded the Qimpro Platinum Standard in November 2000, and has received the Indian Merchants' Chamber's Juran Quality Medal for the year 2001, for his role as a statesman for quality. In October 1997, an honorary knighthood (KBE) was conferred on Dr Irani by Queen Elizabeth II.

An academician, Dr Irani is an MSc in geology from Nagpur University and has a doctorate from the University of Sheffield, UK.