LOCATION: Mumbai

TRAVEL COMPENSATION:

- 15-20% (primarily to program locations in rural India)

- Competitive within the Indian social sector; commensurate with experience

ABOUT US:

Avanti Fellows is a 15-year-old not-for-profit whose mission is to help students lift themselves and their families out of poverty in a single generation through access to high-quality STEM undergraduate courses and careers. We work with large public school systems and national residential school networks to level the playing field for talented students from low-income and marginalized communities.

We design and run free test-preparation, career guidance, and college-to-career programs delivered through a portfolio that includes high-intensity residential Centres of Excellence (CoEs), large-scale blended and online offerings, program management units embedded in government systems, and targeted initiatives for girls and first-generation college students in STEM.

In 2026, our programs will support over 30,000 students preparing for national competitive exams JEE, NEET, and state CETs across 56 residential CoEs, summer programs, and online test-preparation portals. Our 2035 ambition is a $50M annual budget and 3,00,000 students graduating from Avanti programs, doubling the representation of low-income students in India's top STEM institutions.

The Opportunity:

This is a newly created role the first full-time CFO in Avanti's history. We are bringing this position on as we scale from a strong operational nonprofit into a strategically sophisticated, multi-entity organization with an ambition to grow to INR 200 Cr+ in annual revenue. The CFO will be a genuine thought partner to the Co-CEOs and Board, not just a finance function head.

The right person will have the seniority, credibility, and judgment to sit at the leadership table and shape how Avanti grows through decisions about where to invest, how to structure funding portfolios, when to scale vs. consolidate, and how to tell a compelling financial story to institutional donors and Board members. At the same time, they will roll up their sleeves to build the systems, processes, and team capabilities that make this possible.

If you have spent your career in high-quality finance, consulting, or social sector roles and want to apply that expertise somewhere it directly enables tens of thousands of low-income students to access better futures this is a rare opportunity.

The Role:

The CFO will own Avanti's entire finance function planning, budgeting, analysis, controls, reporting, and treasury across all programs, entities, and geographies.

Critically, this is not a back-office role. It is a strategic leadership position for someone who can translate Avanti's programmatic ambitions into financial architecture: capital allocation frameworks, multi-year funding strategies, scenario models for growth decisions, and the unit economics that tell us whether we are creating impact efficiently.

You will spend roughly:

- 30-35% on strategic financial leadership working with Co-CEOs and Board on capital allocation, funding strategy, organisational financial health, and long-range planning.

- 25-30% on financial planning & analysis (FP&A) annual and multi-year budgeting, forecasting, scenario modelling, and portfolio analysis.

- 5-20% on business partnering working with program, fundraising, and operations leads on plans, unit economics, and performance.

- 10-15% on financial operations oversight managing the outsourced accounting firm and ensuring high-quality closes, internal controls, and compliance.

- 5-10% on donor reporting and systems building automated reporting for institutional donors and the Board; improving tools and infrastructure.

What Success Looks Like in the First 24 Months:

- The Co-CEOs and Board have a reliable, trusted financial partner who brings clarity and confidence to high-stakes strategic decisions.

- Avanti has a rigorous multi-year financial plan that links programmatic ambition to capital requirements, funding strategy, and risk management.

- We run a disciplined annual budgeting process that program heads own and understand, with clear links between activities, headcount, and costs.

- The organisation has transparent unit economics cost per student, cost per outcome that are actively used in program design and investment decisions.

- Donor and Board stakeholders receive high-quality, largely automated financial reporting that builds trust and supports renewal and expansion conversations.

- Finance systems are on a clear path to handle an INR 200 Cr+ annual budget without adding complexity for front-line teams.

- Avanti's US and India entities operate with strong financial coordination, clear intercompany processes, and full FCRA compliance.

What Youll Actually Do:

1. Strategic Financial Leadership & Board Partnership:

- Act as the primary financial thought partner to the Co-CEOs on all major strategic and investment decisions.

- Present to and engage with the Avanti India and Avanti Fellows USA Boards on financial health, strategy, and risk building credibility and trust as a senior financial voice.

- Develop and maintain a multi-year capital allocation framework that reflects Avanti's growth strategy across CoEs, blended programs, PMUs, and research initiatives.

- Lead scenario modelling for strategic choices scaling into new states, launching new program models, growing the Girls in STEM initiative, managing fundraising risk.

- Advise the fundraising team on portfolio construction: optimal mix of restricted vs. unrestricted funding, grant duration, donor concentration risk, and capital runway.

- Own Avanti's treasury and liquidity management, ensuring the organisation never operates in financial distress even during grant gaps or transition periods.

2. Financial Planning, Budgeting & Analysis:

- Design and run Avanti's annual and multi-year budgeting process across all programs and central functions, ensuring budgets are realistic, mission-aligned, and grounded in operating realities.

- Build and maintain multi-year financial models that support the Co-CEOs' and Board's long-range planning.

- Define and institutionalise budget ownership at program and department level clear templates, timelines, and review cadences.

- Build and track key unit economics: cost per student, cost per outcome, centre-level and program-level P&Ls, contribution margins by donor and program.

3. Business Partnering & Performance Management:

- Act as thought partner to program leads CoEs, state test-prep programs, Career Catalyst, Girls in STEM, PMUs, research translating program plans into financial implications.

- Set up and run monthly and quarterly financial reviews: variance analysis, driver analysis, and cash implications.

- Use data to flag over- and underspends early; work with teams to reallocate budgets, tighten execution, or adjust plans.

- Support program design teams with financial modelling for new proposals and pilots.

4. Cost Efficiency, Sourcing & Vendor Management:

- Lead cost-efficiency initiatives across the organisation identify spend categories where better design, consolidation, or renegotiation can improve value.

- Own sourcing and vendor management for major non-people cost categories: define procurement approaches, run RFPs, and ensure commercial terms reflect Avanti's risk and cashflow realities.

- Define standard unit costs and guardrails (per-student materials costs, acceptable CoE cost ranges, event norms) and monitor adherence.

5. Financial Operations, Controls & Compliance:

- Manage the relationship with Avanti's outsourced accounting firm set expectations, review monthly closes and reconciliations, and ensure statutory compliance.

- Ensure robust internal controls across approvals, vendor payments, cash advances, and field expenses.

- Partner with legal and external advisors to ensure full compliance with NGO finance regulations, FCRA, and any applicable US nonprofit requirements.

- Work with auditors on both India and US entity audits; address management letter points and embed improvements.

6. Donor Reporting, Grant Management & US-India Coordination:

- Build and continuously improve grant-wise financial tracking: budget vs. actuals by grant, burn-rate monitoring, and early warning for deviations.

- Work with fundraising and M&E teams to design integrated donor reporting that combines financial data with outcomes and operational metrics.

- Design and implement automated donor reporting moving from manual spreadsheets to semi- or fully automated pipelines.

- Oversee financial coordination between Avanti Fellows India and Avanti Fellows USA, including fund transfers, intercompany accounting, and compliance with both jurisdictions.

- Support fundraising teams on new proposals and renewals with costing frameworks, multi-year budgets, and stress-tested assumptions.

7. Systems, Tools & Finance Infrastructure:

- Assess Avanti's current finance systems and data flows; define a pragmatic roadmap toward cleaner cost-centre structures, better integration between program and financial data, and simple self-service dashboards.

- Design systems explicitly to scale to INR 200 Cr+ in annual revenue without adding complexity for front-line teams.

- Champion use of Excel, Google Sheets, and accessible analytics tools to reduce manual work and increase reliability especially for forecasting, grant tracking, and donor reports.

Who We're Looking for:

Must-Have Experience:

12-18 years of total professional experience, including:

- Significant time at a high-quality management consulting firm, Big 4 accounting / advisory practice, investment bank, or development finance institution, AND

- Meaningful leadership experience as a CFO, VP Finance, or equivalent.

- Demonstrated track record leading organisational finance at a senior level including Board-level reporting, fundraising strategy support, and multi-entity oversight.

- Experience with INR 30-100 Cr+ annual budgets and complex multi-donor funding portfolios.

- Strong working knowledge of Indian NGO finance, FCRA, and statutory compliance.

- Exposure to US nonprofit structures and US-India intercompany financial flows is a strong plus.

- Track record of working in or closely with mission-driven organisations non-profit, social enterprise, CSR, or public sector is a strong plus.

Capabilities:

- Exceptional financial modelling and analytical skills comfortable building robust multi-year models from scratch, strong in scenario and sensitivity analysis.

- Strong business judgment: can quickly understand diverse program models (residential CoEs, blended programs, PMUs, research projects) and identify key financial drivers.

- Ability to communicate complex financial information simply and persuasively to non-finance audiences program leaders, Board members, institutional donors.

- Strong project management skills able to design and drive organisation-wide processes to closure.

- Comfortable managing outsourced providers and external advisors.

Attributes:

- Deep alignment with Avanti's mission; genuine interest in how better financial management can directly expand access and impact for low-income students.

- Hands-on and low-ego willing to dive into spreadsheets and reconciliations while also operating at a strategic level.

- Collaborative and empathetic builds trust with program teams, understands their constraints, and still holds a clear line on financial discipline.

- Comfortable with ambiguity and resource constraints in a growth-stage non-profit where systems are evolving.

- High ownership mindset takes accountability for financial outcomes across the organisation, not just for the finance team's own deliverables.

Challenges of the Role:

- You will be building and leading Avanti's most senior finance function at a moment when the organisation is scaling rapidly programs are growing, donors are diversifying, and systems are being upgraded in parallel.

- Much of your impact will depend on influencing without authority getting busy program leaders to engage meaningfully with numbers and own their budgets.

- Coordinating across two entities (India and US) with different legal, tax, and reporting requirements adds genuine complexity.

- Working with an outsourced accounting partner means you won't control every step directly, but you will still be accountable for overall quality and timeliness.

- You will need to balance building for scale (INR 200 Cr+) with keeping things radically simple for teams on the ground.

Why This Role Matters:

Mission-critical leverage:

Every cost decision translates directly into how many students Avanti can serve and how intensively. Strong financial leadership enables us to scale responsibly, protect quality, and convince funders to back our ambition.

Strategic partner to leadership:

The CFO will help the Co-CEOs and Board make high-stakes choices about where to grow, where to consolidate, and how to design sustainable program and funding portfolios.

Enabler of institutional trust:

High-quality financial planning and reporting strengthens relationships with government partners, donors, and the Board, and positions Avanti as a disciplined, scalable partner both in India and with US foundations and institutions.

Application Process:

- CV (focus on concrete achievements, especially in FP&A, consulting/Big 4 accounting / advisory practice, and any prior work in social sector / education).

- Short cover letter (max 2 pages) briefly addressing:

1. Why Avanti and why this role at this stage in your career?

2. A specific example of a budgeting/FP&A or cost-efficiency initiative you led what you did and what changed.

3. A time you worked cross-functionally with non-finance teams to improve financial discipline or decision-making.

Compensation & Logistics:

Details will be shared shortly. We are committed to offering a competitive package commensurate with experience and the scope of the role.

Timeline:

We're reviewing applications as they come in. Strong candidates will hear from us within 2 weeks.

A FINAL NOTE:

The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is the senior-most finance leader responsible for driving the organization's financial strategy, planning, governance, and long-term sustainability. The role partners closely with the CEO, Board, donors, and business leaders to enable data-driven decision-making, optimize resource allocation, and support organizational growth.

This document reflects the job content at the time of designing the job description and will be subject to periodic change in the light of changing operational and environmental requirements. Such changes will be incorporated in the job description on an annual basis.