Avanti Fellows - Senior Director - Finance

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:

10-15 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