Head of Finance

About Us:

Kraftshala

Scaling with Soul, to us, means we always prioritise student outcomes– specifically our Placement Rate (percentage of students placed)- over other metrics, such as number of enrolments or company valuation in the coming year.

This is, of course, easier said than done. There are painful choices to be made at every stage, from admissions to training to placements, that wouldn’t have been needed were we willing to give up on either of high quality or scale.

But in the long run, we believe that our obsession over these student outcomes will earn Kraftshala the trust of Indian students, their families, recruiters and the broader ecosystem.

That’s why we make each of our Placement Reports public, capturing how many students are placed in each batch, in what companies, at what salaries etc.

We don’t need to. None of our competitors do (though we’d be happy to be proven wrong and have more educators join us!). Simply put, we have tasted the benefits of an education model grounded in high quality paired with the transparency of student outcomes and now cannot imagine doing it any other way.

We are not the largest in terms of enrollments. Nowhere close, actually. Not yet.

However, we are proud to be one of the largest, if not the largest already, in terms of actual, verifiable placements.

And in terms of Placement Rate, the metric that matters most to us, we are the absolute best in edtech. In the last 4 years, we have placed more than 2000+ students with a Placement Rate of 94% (and improving).

This is our long game- to Scale with Soul. We invite you to join us for the play. 

What do we value (the Kraftshala Kode):

Kraftshala is on a mission to become the largest career launchpad in the world.

Team Kraftshala is for the ambitious, the forever-learners, and most of all, for those who live to add value to others. In a world where education companies often lose sight of their core, we aim to Scale with Soul, to offer greater value to each stakeholder (including our team) everyday we get bigger.

Joining Kraftshala now means becoming part of a story still in its early chapters- one you’ll help shape with your ideas, actions, and leadership. Here are things we care for: 

• 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 optimize 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.

Head of Finance - Purpose & Role Description

As part of the Head of Finance profile, you will be responsible for turning finance into a strategic engine for growth. From improving forecast accuracy and budget discipline to building investor-grade reporting and coaching a lean, high-ownership team, you’ll bring clarity and control to the systems that drive our most important decisions.

Specific responsibilities will include:

• 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

Some of your Monthly Outcomes for the first 3 months in this role:

Month 1:

• 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.

Month 2:

• 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.

Month 3:

• 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.

Top Grading:

• 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.

Must Haves:

• 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.

Good-to-haves:

Experience in managing business finance for an ed-tech organization

Location:

Delhi