CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

Educational Solutions & Distribution | Hyderabad | Full time

Looking for candidates from Hyderabad , interested candidate may contact S Krishnan at (phone hidden)

About the Opportunity

A leading Hyderabad-based educational solutions group with over 75 years of legacy is seeking a Chief Financial Officer to lead financial strategy, governance, and operational excellence across multiple business verticals including publishing, textbook and stationery distribution, curriculum consulting, and retail operations. The group serves schools across CBSE, ICSE, IB, IGCSE, and State Board curricula across multiple states and is in an active phase of nationwide expansion.

This is a senior leadership role reporting directly to the MD and CEO, with full accountability for financial strategy, compliance, working capital optimization, investor readiness, and building a high-performance finance organization scaled for aggressive growth.

This is not a maintenance CFO role. The group is building for scale and the CFO will be a co-architect of that journey from establishing institutional-grade financial processes to positioning the organisation for strategic investment. Candidates who have navigated the transition from founder-led to institutionally governed businesses, or who have prepared and closed PE investment rounds, will find this mandate particularly compelling.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Finance and Leadership

- Develop and execute corporate financial strategy aligned with group-wide business objectives and long-term scaling plans
- Partner with MD and CEO on strategic planning, capital structuring, debt management, and 3 to 5 year growth roadmap
- Provide financial insights, predictive analytics, and actionable recommendations to senior leadership
- Prepare the organisation for private equity investment — building investor-ready financial frameworks, clean data rooms, due diligence readiness, and institutional-grade reporting standards
- Support fundraising processes including PE engagement, term sheet evaluation, and post-investment governance





Financial Planning and Analysis

- Lead annual budgeting, forecasting, and long-range financial planning across multiple business entities
- Drive profitability analysis by business unit, product category, customer segment, and channel
- Ensure robust management reporting, automated KPI dashboards, and variance analysis for leadership review
- Maintain oversight of accounts payable, accounts receivable, billing, and treasury functions
- Manage month-end, quarter-end, and year-end close processes efficiently

Process Excellence and SOP Development

- Design, document, and implement Standard Operating Procedures across all finance functions — accounting, treasury, procurement, inventory valuation, and reporting
- Institutionalise financial controls, approval hierarchies, and governance frameworks across group entities
- Drive automation of repetitive transactional processes through ERP workflows and AI-enabled tools
- Build scalable finance infrastructure capable of supporting multi-state and multi-entity expansion
- Ensure SOPs are regularly reviewed, updated, and embedded into team culture

Compliance, Taxation and Audit

- Ensure full compliance with Income Tax, GST, TDS, Companies Act, and all applicable regulations
- Manage external auditors and ensure clean and timely statutory audit process
- Oversee internal audit function and implement recommendations to strengthen controls
- Liaise with regulatory authorities, tax consultants, and legal advisors as required

Working Capital and Cash Flow Management

- Optimise cash flow, high-volume inventory, receivables, and payables management across all entities




- Improve working capital efficiency and liquidity planning to support scaling operations
- Manage banking relationships, treasury activities, and funding requirements
- Drive initiatives to reduce operational costs and enhance margins

Team Leadership and Talent Transformation

- Build and mentor a modern finance team incorporating automation, AI, and advanced ERP workflows
- Foster a culture of high performance, financial accountability, and data-driven decision-making
- Develop succession pipelines within the finance organisation

Qualifications

- CA, is mandatory
- 15+ years of progressive corporate finance experience with 3 to 5 years in a CFO or senior finance leadership role
- Demonstrated experience in preparing organisations for private equity investment — PE due diligence, data room management, investor reporting, and post-investment governance is a strong differentiator
- Proven track record of designing and implementing SOPs and financial controls from scratch in a scaling or transformation environment
- Strong preference for candidates with experience in e-commerce platforms, publishing houses, retail distribution, large-scale logistics or warehousing, or supply-chain heavy environments
- Deep expertise in ERP systems — SAP, Oracle, or NetSuite
- Expert-level understanding of inventory valuation, corporate tax laws, marketplace reconciliation, and data analytics
- Executive presence with strong communication, negotiation, and cross-functional leadership skills

What Makes This Role Distinctive

This is not a maintenance CFO role. The group is building for scale and the CFO will be a co-architect of that journey — from establishing institutional-grade financial processes to positioning the organisation for strategic investment. Candidates who have navigated the transition from founder-led to institutionally governed businesses, or who have prepared and closed PE investment rounds, will find this mandate particularly compelling.

How to Apply

This is a confidential search.

Contact S. Krishnan via WhatsApp or call: +91 83096 18146

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