What You Will Actually Do 1. Lead Financial Planning & Budgeting - Act as the thought partner to program leads (CoEs, state test-prep programs, Career Catalyst, girls in STEM, PMUs, research initiatives), translating program plans into financial implications. - Set up and run monthly and quarterly reviews: variance analysis (budget vs. actuals), driver analysis (students served, centres, headcount), and cash implications. Build and track key business metrics and unit economics: - Cost per student, cost per outcome. - Centre-level and program-level P&Ls. - Contribution margins by donor / program where relevant. - Use data to flag over- and underspends early, working with teams to reallocate budgets, tighten execution, or adjust plans as needed. - Support fundraising and program design teams with financial modelling for new proposals and pilots, including sensitivities around scale, staffing, and design choices. 2. Business Partnering & Performance Management - Lead cost-efficiency initiatives across the organization - identify spend categories where better design, consolidation, or renegotiation can improve value. - Own sourcing and vendor managementfor major non-people cost categories: - Define procurement approaches and selection criteria. - Run or oversee RFPs, commercial evaluations, and negotiations. - Ensure commercial terms reflect Avanti's risk, scale, and cashflow realities. - Work with program and operations leads to define standard unit costs and guardrails (e.g., per-student materials costs, acceptable CoE cost ranges, event norms) and monitor adherence. 3. Cost Efficiency, Sourcing & Vendor Management - Manage the relationship with Avanti's outsourced accounting firm: - Set expectations around timelines, quality, and formats. - Review monthly closes, reconciliations, and statutory submissions. Ensure robust internal controls over: - Approvals and spending limits. - Vendor onboarding and payments. - Cash advances, reimbursements, and field expenses. - Partner with legal / external advisors to ensure compliance with relevant regulations (including NGO finance regulations and FCRA as applicable). - Work with auditors to plan and execute audits smoothly; address management letter points and embed improvements in processes. 4. Oversee Accounting, Controls & Compliance (with Outsourced Partner) Build and continuously improve grant-wise financial tracking: - Budget vs. actuals by grant, including allocations of shared costs. - Burn-rate tracking and early warning for significant 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: - Move from manual spreadsheets to semi- or fully automated pipelines using Excel/Google Sheets and simple BI tools. - Standardize reports while allowing for customization for major institutional donors. 5. Donor Reporting, Grant Management & Automation Support the fundraising team on new proposals and renewals by: - Providing costing frameworks and multi-year budgets. - Stress-testing assumptions related to scale, staffing, and timelines. Assess Avanti's current finance systems and data flows and define a pragmatic roadmap toward: - Cleaner chart of accounts and cost-centre structures aligned with how programs actually operate. - Better integration between program data and financial data. - Simple, self-service dashboards for leadership and program heads. - Design systems explicitly to scale to INR 200 Cr+ in annual revenue: appropriate levels of standardization, automation, and control without unnecessary complexity. - Champion use of Excel/Google Sheets and analytics tools to reduce manual work and increase reliability - especially for forecasting, grant tracking, and donor reports. - Ensure that any new processes, templates, and tools make life simpler and clearer for non-finance teams (e.g., easier approvals, clearer cost coding), not more burdensome. 6. Systems, Tools & Data Infrastructure Who We're Looking For 5-10 years of total professional experience, including: - At least 3 years at a high-quality management consulting firm and/or a Big 4 accounting / advisory practice (strategy, deals, transaction services, risk, or similar), and - Significant hands-on experience in financial planning, budgeting, and analysis. - Demonstrated experience building and running budgets (preferably multi- program or multi-business unit) and presenting to senior leadership. - Proven ability to analyze large data sets, draw out clear insights, and translate them into practical recommendations. - Exposure to high-growth or scaling environments (corporate or social sector) where systems needed to evolve as size and complexity increased is a strong plus. - Track record of working in or closely with mission-driven organizations (non-profit, social enterprise, CSR, or public sector clients) is a plus but not mandatory. Must-Have Experience: - Exceptional Excel/Google Sheets and analytical skills: - Comfortable building robust financial models from scratch. - Strong with scenario and sensitivity analysis. - Able to structure messy program and cost data into clear views. - 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 to non-finance stakeholders - both in writing and in meetings. - Strong project management skills: able to design and drive organization-wide processes (budgeting, monthly reviews, cost-efficiency initiatives, system rollouts) to closure. - Comfortable working with and managing outsourced providers (accounting, tax, systems) - setting expectations, reviewing work, and ensuring quality. Capabilities - Deep alignment with Avanti's mission and values; genuine interest in how better financial management can unlock more impact for low-income students. - Hands-on and low-ego: willing to dive into details (spreadsheets, reconciliations, grant budgets, process mapping) while also operating at a strategic level. - Structured and organized: brings clarity, process, and follow-through in a fast-moving, sometimes ambiguous environment. - Collaborative and empathetic: able to build trust with program teams, understand their constraints, and still hold a clear line on financial discipline. - Comfortable working in a resource-constrained, growth-stage non-profit where systems are evolving and not everything is codified

Mumbai

Pune

Avanti Fellows -  Senior Director - Finance 

Job Description for Avanti Fellows -  Senior Director - Finance  in Avanti Fellows in  Mumbai Pune for (5-10) years of experience. Apply Now!