Chief Financial Officer - Food Processing Industry

1. Role Overview:

The CFO will serve as a strategic co-pilot during the crucial transition from project commissioning to full-scale commercial export operations. The role combines MNC-level financial control and export-trade mastery with the entrepreneurial agility required to finalise project funding and scale a global B2B manufacturing business.

2. Key Responsibilities:

- Lead capital raising, commercial trade finance, working-capital management, plant costing and financial governance.

- Finance leader who secured project funding under tight timelines by navigating bank consortiums and structuring debt-equity for greenfield plants and expansions.

- Built and ran the full finance function for a 100% Export Oriented Unit, covering international trade practices, customs-port clearances, shipping logistics, export incentives, and relationships with Western customers and overseas partners.

- Drove rigorous working-capital discipline - establishing internal controls and vendor schedules, surgically managing cash outflows pre-revenue, and optimising the cross-border cash-conversion cycle (ocean transit, customs, customer credit).

- Developed standard absorption costing and shop-floor yield variance tracking, accounting for seasonal procurement, moisture losses and perishable dynamics; partnered with operations and consultants to optimise utilities, raw materials and unit economics.

- Owned end-to-end governance and compliance (GST, Income Tax, statutory audits, Board and lender reporting) and led ERP implementation (SAP-Oracle) while overseeing the existing Zoho Books environment.

3. Ideal Profile:

- Education: CA and-or MBA with specialisation in Finance from a premier B-school.

- Experience: 20+ years of progressive financial leadership with significant experience in Food Processing - FMCG - Process Manufacturing MNCs or large Indian companies; direct experience in FMCG - food-ingredient manufacturing preferred.

- Export exposure: Demonstrated expertise in 100% EOU operations and Western export markets.

- Fund raising: Proven track record of securing project funds and structuring debt-equity for greenfield or brownfield manufacturing projects.