Associate Director - Finance

Location: Noida (Work from Office - 5 days in week)

CA (Chartered Accountant) Qualified

Own financial strategy and operations for 20M+ users across 15+ regional languages with scope to go global soon. Build systems that enable disciplined growth and turn financial data into strategic advantage — not just close books.

What You Will Own (Non-Negotiable)

This role owns the financial health and strategic clarity of the business, not just accounting.

You Are The Final Authority On

• How company allocates resources (content budgets, marketing spend, expansion decisions)
• How company plans for the future (fundraising, runway, scenario modeling)
• What the real numbers are — and what they mean for decision-making
• How company leverages AI to automate, predict, and optimize financial operations
• How company communicates with investors — with clarity, confidence, and credibility
• The systemic rigor that turns financial data into strategic advantage

Your mandate spans FP&A + Accounting + Compliance + Treasury + Strategic Finance + Investor Relations + AI Adoption.

Key Responsibilities

Own All Fundraising Activities

• Financial Planning & Analysis (Strategic Finance Engine)
• Build companys Financial Command Center — the single source of truth on business performance, unit economics, and growth levers.
• Own monthly/quarterly financial reviews with sharp insights on:
• Revenue trends by region, language, and content category
• Subscriber cohorts, churn, LTV, and payback periods
• Content ROI and acquisition efficiency
• Cash burn and runway projections
• Present a monthly Finance Insights Deck to leadership with clear, articulate recommendations on resource allocation and strategic pivots.
• Influence Content, Marketing, Product, and Growth roadmaps with financial clarity and strategic foresight.
• Build predictive financial models using AI/ML tools for forecasting, anomaly detection, and scenario planning.
• Content Economics & Unit Economics Mastery (OTT-Specific Intelligence)
• Build and continuously refine the unit economics model:
• Subscriber acquisition cost (CAC) by channel, region, and language
• Lifetime value (LTV) by cohort, content genre, and user behavior
• Content cost per hour watched and per subscriber
• Revenue per user (ARPU) trends and payment method analysis
• Churn drivers and retention economics
• Master content economics:
• Content amortization schedules for library valuation
• Licensing vs. original content ROI trade-offs
• Content asset valuation and depreciation
• Regional content performance (Haryanvi vs. Gujarati economics)
• Structure content deals from a finance lens:
• Minimum guarantees, revenue shares, licensing windows
• Creator contract economics and payout structures
• Content investment cycles and working capital management
• Identify margin leaks and partner with Growth, Product, Content, and CX teams to improve efficiency.
• Use financial data to uncover hidden consumer pain points — subscription drop-offs, regional pricing mismatches, payment gateway issues.
• 3. Fundraising & Investor Relations (Capital Strategy & Articulation) This is a senior-level, strategic mandate requiring exceptional articulation skills.
• Build compelling pitch decks and financial models
• Lead investor conversations with clarity, confidence, and strategic depth
• Coordinate due diligence processes with legal, product, and operations teams
• Manage data room preparation and investor queries

• Series B/C dynamics: growth metrics scrutiny, path to profitability, valuation defense
• Secondary transactions and cap table optimization
• Investor syndicate management

• Monthly investor updates with sharp insights and honest assessment
• Quarterly board decks that tell the business story through numbers
• Annual audited financials and investor reporting
• Board relationship management and governance
• Accounting, Compliance & Regulatory Rigor (Operational Foundation)

Own ALL finance verticals with zero gaps:

• P&L, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow statements
• Accounts Receivable (AR) and Accounts Payable (AP) management
• Month-end and year-end close processes
• Fixed asset management and depreciation schedules
• Revenue recognition under Ind AS 115 (subscription complexity, bundles, ads, B2B licensing)

• GST (registration, filing, reconciliation, audits across multiple states)
• TDS (deduction, payment, returns — especially for content creators and licensing)
• Income Tax (advance tax, returns, assessments)
• ROC filings (annual returns, financials, director KYC)
• Audit coordination (statutory, tax, internal)
• FEMA compliance (for foreign investments and international content deals)
• Digital Media regulations (Intermediary Guidelines compliance)
• Audit Committee readiness and governance

• Cash flow management and liquidity planning
• Bank account management and signatories
• Forex management for international content licensing
• Vendor payment systems and approval hierarchies
• Crisis/runway management under stress scenarios
• Payment Infrastructure & Tier 2/3 Economics
• Payment gateway economics and transaction costs
• Carrier billing partnerships and economics
• UPI, wallets, and regional payment behavior
• Payment failure patterns and recovery
• Regional pricing strategy and elasticity
• AI Adoption & Finance Automation (Future-Ready Finance) This is a core requirement, not a nice-to-have.

• Implement AI-powered tools for expense categorization, invoice processing, and reconciliation
• Build predictive analytics for cash flow, churn, and revenue forecasting
• Automate financial reporting and dashboard generation
• Use AI for fraud detection, vendor analysis, and spend optimization

  Evaluate and deploy finance tech stack (ERPs, FP&A tools, automation platforms).

• Train the finance team to work alongside AI systems — not resist them.
• Stay ahead of AI trends in finance and continuously improve automation maturity.

• Strategic Thinking & Cross-Functional Leadership You are not just the Finance head — you are a strategic thought partner to the CEO and leadership team. Translate complex financial concepts into clear, compelling narratives for board, investors, and teams. Influence company culture around financial discipline, data-driven decisions, and long-term thinking. Your strategic thinking must elevate every major business decision.
• Team Building & Finance Culture (Leadership Excellence) Create a culture of curiosity, rigor, and continuous improvement within finance. Train non-finance teams to understand key financial metrics and think like owners. Foster an AI-first mindset where automation is embraced, not feared. You create the systems and culture that make the finance engine run predictably, intelligently, and withquality.

Experience: 10–15+ years in Finance, with at least 5 years in senior leadership roles (Head of Finance, CFO, VP Finance, or equivalent).

Proven Ownership Of

• Financial planning & analysis (FP&A)
• Accounting operations (AR, AP, GL, fixed assets)
• Compliance & statutory (GST, TDS, Income Tax, ROC, FEMA)
• Treasury & cash management
• Fundraising & investor relations
• Strategic finance & unit economics

• Growth Fundraising (Series B/C+) — Series C scrutiny is different — path to profitability,

valuation defense, investor syndicate management

• AI Adoption — Implemented automation tools or used AI/ML for forecasting/analytics
• Content Deal Structuring — Experience structuring content licensing deals, MGs, revenue

shares from finance POV

• Compliance Mastery — Zero compliance delays or penalties in previous roles
• Consumer Business — OTT, fintech, e-commerce, SaaS, food delivery, or mobility with deep understanding of unit economics
• Payment Infrastructure — Understanding of Tier 2/3 payment behavior, gateway economics, carrier billing
• Revenue Recognition (Ind AS 115) — Subscription revenue complexity — bundles, ads, B2B licensing
• Strategic Thinking — Changed business strategy or resource allocation through financial

insights

• M&A / Strategic Partnerships — Evaluated acquisition targets or structured strategic deals

(preferred)

• International Finance — Multi-currency, transfer pricing, international entity setup (preferred, given global expansion plans)
• Crisis Management — Runway extension under stress, turnaround scenarios
• Audit Committee Experience — Board-level governance and audit processes

Skills: financial planning & analysis (fp&a),accounting operations,compliance & statutory,treasury & cash management,undraising & investor relations,finance head