Associate Director - Finance
Location: Noida (Work from Office - 5 days in week)
CA (Chartered Accountant) Qualified
Own financial strategy and operations for 20M+ users across 15+ regional languages with scope to go global soon. Build systems that enable disciplined growth and turn financial data into strategic advantage — not just close books.
What You Will Own (Non-Negotiable)
This role owns the financial health and strategic clarity of the business, not just accounting.
You Are The Final Authority On
- How company allocates resources (content budgets, marketing spend, expansion decisions)
- How company plans for the future (fundraising, runway, scenario modeling)
- What the real numbers are — and what they mean for decision-making
- How company leverages AI to automate, predict, and optimize financial operations
- How company communicates with investors — with clarity, confidence, and credibility
- The systemic rigor that turns financial data into strategic advantage
Your mandate spans FP&A + Accounting + Compliance + Treasury + Strategic Finance + Investor Relations + AI Adoption.
Key ResponsibilitiesOwn All Fundraising Activities
- Financial Planning & Analysis (Strategic Finance Engine)
- Build company's Financial Command Center — the single source of truth on business performance, unit economics, and growth levers.
- Own monthly/quarterly financial reviews with sharp insights on:
- Revenue trends by region, language, and content category
- Subscriber cohorts, churn, LTV, and payback periods
- Content ROI and acquisition efficiency
- Cash burn and runway projections
- Present a monthly Finance Insights Deck to leadership with clear, articulate recommendations on resource allocation and strategic pivots.
- Influence Content, Marketing, Product, and Growth roadmaps with financial clarity and strategic foresight.
- Build predictive financial models using AI/ML tools for forecasting, anomaly detection, and scenario planning.
- Content Economics & Unit Economics Mastery (OTT-Specific Intelligence)
- Build and continuously refine the unit economics model:
- Subscriber acquisition cost (CAC) by channel, region, and language
- Lifetime value (LTV) by cohort, content genre, and user behavior
- Content cost per hour watched and per subscriber
- Revenue per user (ARPU) trends and payment method analysis
- Churn drivers and retention economics
- Master content economics:
- Content amortization schedules for library valuation
- Licensing vs. original content ROI trade-offs
- Content asset valuation and depreciation
- Regional content performance (Haryanvi vs. Gujarati economics)
- Structure content deals from a finance lens:
- Minimum guarantees, revenue shares, licensing windows
- Creator contract economics and payout structures
- Content investment cycles and working capital management
- Identify margin leaks and partner with Growth, Product, Content, and CX teams to improve efficiency.
- Use financial data to uncover hidden consumer pain points — subscription drop-offs, regional pricing mismatches, payment gateway issues.
- 3. Fundraising & Investor Relations (Capital Strategy & Articulation) This is a senior-level, strategic mandate requiring exceptional articulation skills.
- Build compelling pitch decks and financial models
- Lead investor conversations with clarity, confidence, and strategic depth
- Coordinate due diligence processes with legal, product, and operations teams
- Manage data room preparation and investor queries
Growth Fundraising Expertise Required
- Series B/C dynamics: growth metrics scrutiny, path to profitability, valuation defense
- Secondary transactions and cap table optimization
- Investor syndicate management
Own Investor Communication
- Monthly investor updates with sharp insights and honest assessment
- Quarterly board decks that tell the business story through numbers
- Annual audited financials and investor reporting
- Board relationship management and governance
- Accounting, Compliance & Regulatory Rigor (Operational Foundation)
Accounting Operations
Own ALL finance verticals with zero gaps:
- P&L, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow statements
- Accounts Receivable (AR) and Accounts Payable (AP) management
- Month-end and year-end close processes
- Fixed asset management and depreciation schedules
- Revenue recognition under Ind AS 115 (subscription complexity, bundles, ads, B2B licensing)
Compliance & Statutory
- GST (registration, filing, reconciliation, audits across multiple states)
- TDS (deduction, payment, returns — especially for content creators and licensing)
- Income Tax (advance tax, returns, assessments)
- ROC filings (annual returns, financials, director KYC)
- Audit coordination (statutory, tax, internal)
- FEMA compliance (for foreign investments and international content deals)
- Digital Media regulations (Intermediary Guidelines compliance)
- Audit Committee readiness and governance
Treasury & Banking
- Cash flow management and liquidity planning
- Bank account management and signatories
- Forex management for international content licensing
- Vendor payment systems and approval hierarchies
- Crisis/runway management under stress scenarios
- Payment Infrastructure & Tier 2/3 Economics
- Payment gateway economics and transaction costs
- Carrier billing partnerships and economics
- UPI, wallets, and regional payment behavior
- Payment failure patterns and recovery
- Regional pricing strategy and elasticity
- AI Adoption & Finance Automation (Future-Ready Finance) This is a core requirement, not a nice-to-have.
Lead AI Adoption Across The Finance Function
- Implement AI-powered tools for expense categorization, invoice processing, and reconciliation
- Build predictive analytics for cash flow, churn, and revenue forecasting
- Automate financial reporting and dashboard generation
- Use AI for fraud detection, vendor analysis, and spend optimization
Evaluate and deploy finance tech stack (ERPs, FP&A tools, automation platforms).
Train the finance team to work alongside AI systems — not resist them.
Stay ahead of AI trends in finance and continuously improve automation maturity.
- Strategic Thinking & Cross-Functional Leadership You are not just the Finance head — you are a strategic thought partner to the CEO and leadership team. Translate complex financial concepts into clear, compelling narratives for board, investors, and teams. Influence company culture around financial discipline, data-driven decisions, and long-term thinking. Your strategic thinking must elevate every major business decision.
- Team Building & Finance Culture (Leadership Excellence) Create a culture of curiosity, rigor, and continuous improvement within finance. Train non-finance teams to understand key financial metrics and think like owners. Foster an AI-first mindset where automation is embraced, not feared. You create the systems and culture that make the finance engine run predictably, intelligently, and withquality.
Requirements
Experience: 10–15+ years in Finance, with at least 5 years in senior leadership roles (Head of Finance, CFO, VP Finance, or equivalent).
Proven Ownership Of
- Financial planning & analysis (FP&A)
- Accounting operations (AR, AP, GL, fixed assets)
- Compliance & statutory (GST, TDS, Income Tax, ROC, FEMA)
- Treasury & cash management
- Fundraising & investor relations
- Strategic finance & unit economics
Must-have Experience
- Growth Fundraising (Series B/C+) — Series C scrutiny is different — path to profitability,
valuation defense, investor syndicate management
- AI Adoption — Implemented automation tools or used AI/ML for forecasting/analytics
- Content Deal Structuring — Experience structuring content licensing deals, MGs, revenue
shares from finance POV
- Compliance Mastery — Zero compliance delays or penalties in previous roles
- Consumer Business — OTT, fintech, e-commerce, SaaS, food delivery, or mobility with deep understanding of unit economics
- Payment Infrastructure — Understanding of Tier 2/3 payment behavior, gateway economics, carrier billing
- Revenue Recognition (Ind AS 115) — Subscription revenue complexity — bundles, ads, B2B licensing
- Strategic Thinking — Changed business strategy or resource allocation through financial
insights
- M&A / Strategic Partnerships — Evaluated acquisition targets or structured strategic deals
(preferred)
- International Finance — Multi-currency, transfer pricing, international entity setup (preferred, given global expansion plans)
- Crisis Management — Runway extension under stress, turnaround scenarios
- Audit Committee Experience — Board-level governance and audit processes
Skills: financial planning & analysis (fp&a),accounting operations,compliance & statutory,treasury & cash management,undraising & investor relations,finance head
