Finance Manager

Role: HR & Finance Manager

Function: Human Resources & Finance

Location: Bangalore

Type: Full-time

Industry: Information Technology & Services, Artificial Intelligence, Critical Infrastructure

About Company

A research-first AI company incubated at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). It builds advanced AI for the planning and operations of critical networks.

Its core technology is a World Model that augments LLMs to reason about network state and dependencies — even with incomplete information. The founding team has raised over $100M in prior ventures and published at leading AI research venues.

The company has just closed its seed round and is at the zero-to-one stage of building.

Position Overview

This is a hands-on, dual-function role that builds and runs the people and finance backbone of the company. Reporting directly to the founders, you will independently own HR operations, payroll, statutory compliance, and day-to-day accounting — creating the systems and processes that let the technical team focus on frontier AI. At a company of this stage, you won't inherit a playbook; you'll write it.

Role & Responsibilities

• Own the full employee lifecycle — onboarding, records management, leave/attendance tracking, and offboarding — ensuring a seamless experience at every stage.
• Process monthly payroll accurately and on time; manage all statutory filings and compliance for PF, ESI, PT, and TDS without exception.
• Maintain books of accounts in Tally — covering invoicing, vendor bills, accounts payable/receivable, and monthly bank reconciliations.
• Support monthly MIS preparation, cash-flow tracking, budgeting inputs, GST filings, and coordination with statutory auditors.
• Coordinate recruitment logistics, HR policy rollout, performance management tracking, and employee engagement initiatives.
• Manage office administration, vendor contracts, and relationships with external stakeholders including legal teams, banks, and the Company Secretary.
• Build scalable HR and finance systems and documentation (policy guidebooks, trackers, SOPs) in partnership with the founders.

Must Have Criteria

• 3–6 years of experience in an HR generalist or HR operations role with direct exposure to finance and accounts.
• Hands-on working knowledge of Tally for day-to-day bookkeeping — invoicing, AP/AR, and bank reconciliations.
• Demonstrated ability to independently process payroll and manage statutory compliance filings: PF, ESI, PT, and TDS.
• Bachelor's degree in Commerce (B.Com) or a related field.
• Prior experience setting up or maintaining HR systems — attendance/leave trackers, onboarding/offboarding workflows, and compliance records — in a lean team environment.

Nice to Have

• M.Com or MBA (HR or Finance) preferred.
• Prior experience in a startup or early-stage company where you operated across both HR and finance functions simultaneously.
• Familiarity with GST filing processes and coordination with statutory auditors.
• Exposure to building HR/finance documentation from scratch — policy guidebooks, SOPs, or process playbooks.

What We Offer

• Direct access and reporting line to the founders — high visibility and influence over how the company is built.
• Opportunity to design and own the people and finance function from the ground up at a seed-stage, IISc-incubated AI company.
• Work at the intersection of frontier AI and critical infrastructure — a mission with long-term national and global significance.
• Lean, high-ownership environment where your work has immediate, measurable impact on the organisation.