Head of Finance

• Phanindra Sama and Sudhakar Pasupunuri, co-founders at Redbus and early investors in unicorns like Unacademy

• Amit Kumar Agarwal, Saurabh Garg and Akhil Gupta, co-founders at Nobroker.com (the world’s largest NoBrokerage Property Site and India’s first realty startup unicorn)

• Sujayathi Ali, Co-founder at ShopUp and Voonik

• Doreswamy Nandkishore (Former Fortune 100 CEO, Head of Asia, Oceania, Africa for Nestlé S.A. and Professor, ISB)

• Pallav Jain and Sarfaraz Khimani (co-CEOs of Performics, India's largest SEO/ performance marketing agencies)

• We seek a value-adding mindset in prospective team mates. Folks who demonstrate a capacity to understand their users' needs and are willing to go the extra mile to deliver on that, fit right in.

• We value problem solving skills. We look at problems objectively, work backwards from the user, solve for root causes and optimise for their long-term good instead of our short-term gain. We don’t let processes or hierarchies get in the way of adding value.

• We believe speed matters enormously in business. We value people who move with urgency, have a bias for action and are willing to take calculated risks in the face of uncertainty.

• We look for people with high learning agility, those truth seekers who pursue the best data, ideas, and solutions with rigour and open mindedness, and are constantly working to become better today than yesterday.

• We admire people with ambition & courage to take on large goals. We are seeking to build a team of self-starters who demonstrate high ownership.

• We aim for consistency and reliability and expect the same from others. Predictability just makes everyone’s life a lot smoother.

• We believe people who demonstrate candour with care are the most effective: real, open and direct in communication, while still being highly empathetic.

• We have learnt that Scaling with Soul requires frugality. Resource constraints help sharpen focus and breed inventiveness.

• We are practical optimists. Our team strongly believes in a better future and takes joy and pride in the fact that we are playing our part to make that future a reality.

• Ensuring the company has accurate short- and long-term financial forecasts by leading the planning and budgeting cycles across functions. Metric to measure: Forecast accuracy vs. actuals

• Owning the preparation of accurate, timely, and insightful reports and decks for founders, board meetings, and potential investors. Metric to measure: Timeliness and stakeholder satisfaction

• Maintaining full statutory compliance and readiness for audits, funding rounds, and due diligence processes. Metric to measure: Audit flags or statutory penalties

• Reducing manual dependencies in financial workflows by automating reconciliations, reporting, and approvals. Metric to measure: % reduction in manual effort

• Taking ownership of team output while mentoring current team members to handle responsibilities independently. Metric to measure: % of tasks handled independently

• Collaborating closely with the CEO and founders to model strategic bets and shape business direction using data-backed insights. Metric to measure: Use of financial inputs in leadership decisions

• Develop a deep understanding of Kraftshala’s business model, financial workflows, and program-wise revenue mechanics

• Conduct a diagnostic of the existing finance team’s output, systems (MIS, budgeting, collections), and tools.

• Review FY budgets and variance trends; highlight critical gaps in forecasting, reporting, or margin tracking.

• Establish weekly check-ins with the CEO and key department heads to align on financial dependencies.

• Prioritize top 3 opportunities for systems/process improvement.

• Fully own budgeting cycles, monthly MIS, and cash flow forecasts.

• Begin automation or streamlining of at least one reporting or reconciliation process.

• Improve clarity of program/batch-wise profitability reporting.

• Implement a lightweight review process with the current team to improve accuracy and reduce last-minute founder dependencies.

• Build and roll out a strategic finance calendar (budgets, reviews, reporting, audits, partner settlements, etc.) that functions independently.

• Lead scenario planning and financial modeling for new launches or pricing revisions.

• Deliver board-level reports and investor-ready decks with consistency.

• Implement governance and controls that can support future scale (including due diligence readiness).

• Upgrade team capabilities: assign ownership, create SOPs, and reduce escalations to founders.

• Drive >25% improvement in student financing adoption, working with admissions and ops.

• Strategic Finance: An A-Player builds forward-looking models and drives business-critical decisions with financial insights, while a B-Player focuses on past performance and plays a reactive role in planning.

• System Building & Automation: An A-Player redesigns and automates processes to reduce manual work and scale operations, whereas a B-Player maintains the status quo and relies on manual, repetitive workflows.

• Team Leadership: An A-Player coaches team members to independently own deliverables and builds accountability, while a B-Player delegates execution but lacks structure or consistency in team performance.

• Business Partnership: An A-Player proactively supports and challenges cross-functional teams with ROI-driven inputs, whereas a B-Player shares data when asked but rarely influences decisions.

• Investor & Stakeholder Readiness: An A-Player crafts investor-grade reports and maintains clean compliance across audits and processes, while a B-Player manages basic compliance but lacks polish or forward-planning capabilities.

• Chartered Accountant with 4 - 8 years of post-qualification experience in business finance, FP&A, and controllership. (We’re not fussed about the exact years of experience, as that’s just a proxy for your skill level.)

• Proven track record of playing a central role in building budgeting, forecasting, and reporting systems at a growth-stage startup, preferably one with online sales cycles.

• Experience in independently creating financial models for unit economics, CAC payback, LTV, and other ROI metrics used for business decision-making.

• Demonstrated ability to collaborate cross-functionally with product, marketing, and operations teams to drive cost efficiency and performance insight.

• Prior exposure to preparing board-level decks, working with investors, and managing statutory and internal audits.

• High standards of integrity, with the ability to handle confidential financial information responsibly.

• Strong systems orientation, with a clear bias toward automation, scalability, and long-term process improvement.

• Setting Expectations: This will be a call to understand your profile briefly and share the details of the selection process.

• Conversation 1: This will be a conversation with our HR Lead wherein you can expect to be evaluated on the competencies needed for the job (mentioned above).

• Technical Exercise: This is a specific assessment designed to evaluate your fit for this role

• Conversation 2: This will be a detailed assessment review conversation to go over your submission for the technical exercise along with other competencies required for the role.

• Conversation 3: A conversation with our CEO to ensure that there is a fit with the Kraftshala Kode.

• Extending an offer: If all goes well, we will extend an offer that will mention the relevant details.

Kraftshala