Plant Finance Lead - (Greenfield Setup)

plant P&L management, cost control, capex governance, inventory accounting, audits, and compliance

Role & responsibilities

Preferred candidate profile

1. Set-Up of Plant Finance Function (Greenfield Responsibilities)

• Build and operationalize the entire finance ecosystem for the new plantpolicies, SOPs, workflows, and approval matrices.
  
• Define accounting processes for material movement, costing, inventory, production booking, capex tracking, and vendor payments.
  
• Support design and configuration of ERP/SAP modules (FI/CO/MM/PP) specific to the plants needs.
  
• Work with engineering and project teams to align financial controls during construction and commissioning.
  
• Establish compliance framework, including statutory requirements, audits, and internal financial controls (IFC).
  
• Hire, train, and mentor the initial plant finance team; define roles and responsibilities.
  

2. Project Finance & Capex Control During Plant Construction

• Lead financial evaluation, budgeting, and monitoring of all capex for the plant setup.
  
• Track project progress, capital work-in-progress (CWIP), vendor milestone payments, and ensure proper documentation.
  
• Conduct cost-benefit analysis and investment reviews for machinery, utilities, infrastructure, and automation initiatives.
  
• Drive capex governance, ensuring approvals, timely capitalization, and adherence to project budgets.
  

3. Transition to Plant Operations Finance (Post-Go-Live)

• Establish standard costing, BOM validation, yield norms, overhead absorption, and unit economics.
  
• Own plant budgeting (AOP), forecasting, cost per unit, overheads, and monthly P&L reviews.
  
• Set up systems for material accounting, variance analysis (usage, yield, mix, scrap), and process loss reporting.
  
• Lead inventory management including cycle counts, physical verification, write-offs, and aging control.
  

4. Financial Controls, Governance & Compliance

• Implement robust financial controls and SOPs across procurement, production, stores, and engineering.
  
• Ensure accurate and timely monthly closing, GL review, MIS reporting, and statutory compliance.
  
• Drive internal/external audits with complete plant financial documentation.
  

5. Operational Business Partnering

• Work closely with plant head, operations, QA, supply chain, and procurement teams to improve efficiency and cost competitiveness.
  
• Provide financial insights for productivity initiatives, capacity planning, manpower planning, and energy/cost optimization.
  
• Partner in commercial negotiations with vendors, contractors, logistics partners, and service providers.
  

Key Skills & Competencies

• Strong understanding of FMCG manufacturing processes, costing, and material flow.
  
• Hands-on SAP expertise (FI/CO/MM/PP).
  
• Ability to set up processes from scratch and build scalable controls.
  
• Strong business partnering and leadership communication.
  
• High ownership, agility, and ability to work in a dynamic project environment.