Role Overview:

We are looking for a Manager - Category Finance (A&C) to serve as a central finance partner for Advertising & Consumer investments across India. This role will drive financial planning, governance, and performance analytics for A&C spending across brands and categories, while partnering closely with stakeholders across Marketing, Media, Procurement, and Finance.

The role plays an important part in ensuring that marketing investments are planned effectively, governed with strong financial discipline, and evaluated through data-driven insights. As media investments continue to evolve, including a growing shift toward digital channels, this role will help the organization better understand the effectiveness and return on marketing investments.

In addition to managing the A&C agenda, the role will support Central Category Finance workstreams, including leadership reporting, cross-category analysis, and strategic finance initiatives.

Key Responsibilities:

A&C Financial Planning and Governance:

- Lead the budgeting, forecasting, and financial planning processes for Advertising & Consumer (A&C) investments across brands and categories.

- Monitor A&C spend performance against plan and provide structured variance analysis and insights.

- Ensure strong financial governance across A&C spends, including compliance with approval processes, accounting policies, and internal controls.

- Manage spend tracking, accruals, reconciliations, and reporting accuracy related to A&C investments.

- Partner with stakeholders to support effective allocation and prioritization of marketing investments.

Marketing Investment Analytics and ROI Insights:

- Drive analytics and insight generation around A&C investments to support better decision-making.

- Evaluate spend effectiveness through ROI analysis, performance tracking, and benchmarking.

- Develop internal and external benchmarks to assess marketing investment productivity.

- Provide data-backed insights to support optimization of marketing investment strategies.

Digital and Media Spend Evaluation:

- Partner with stakeholders to analyze the effectiveness of media and marketing investments across channels.

- Support financial evaluation of digital marketing spends and emerging media investments.

- Develop insights into evolving media economics and investment performance.

Cross-Category Finance Support

- Act as a central finance resource supporting cross-category A&C workstreams.

- Contribute to leadership reporting, business reviews, and strategic presentations.

- Support finance leadership in generating insights and analysis for key decision-making forums.

- Identify opportunities for process improvement and simplification across A&C finance processes.

Stakeholder Partnership:

- Work closely with stakeholders across Marketing, Media, Procurement, and Finance teams.

- Provide financial insights and decision support for marketing investment discussions.

- Support leadership discussions through clear analysis, structured insights, and recommendations.

Experience & Qualifications:

- 8 to 12 years of relevant experience in Finance

- CA or MBA in Finance

- Experience in areas such as Category Finance, Marketing Finance, Commercial Finance, or Business Finance

Preferred Background:

Experience in one or more of the following environments will be advantageous:

- FMCG or consumer goods companies with exposure to marketing or category finance

- Ecommerce or Quick Commerce organizations with experience in digital marketing or revenue analytics

- Roles involving evaluation of marketing investments, media spend analytics, or commercial performance tracking

Key Skills and Capabilities:

- Strong financial planning, forecasting, and reporting capabilities

- Experience managing or evaluating marketing / A&C / commercial investments

- Strong analytical skills with the ability to derive insights from complex datasets

- Understanding of marketing investment effectiveness and ROI evaluation

- Exposure to digital marketing spend analytics is preferred

- Strong stakeholder management and communication skills

- Ability to operate effectively in cross-functional and dynamic environments