Head Finance And Administration

Shooting Stars Foundation; Chennai District; On-site; INR 1,339,000 - 2,009,000; Full time

Job summary

Shooting Stars Foundation in Chennai is seeking a Head of Finance and Administration who will lead finance strategy, governance, payroll, and HR finance. The role oversees NGO-specific accounting, donor reporting, CSR funds, budgets, and compliance, while coordinating with external partners and US-India finance processes.

The position blends core financial operations with HR support in a hybrid setup, with a focus on robust SOPs, dashboards, and board reporting.

Qualifications

• 1015 years of progressive experience in finance and financial operations, with at least 5 years in a senior finance leadership or management role
• Demonstrated experience managing NGO-specific financial requirements, including grant and project accounting, donor reporting, CSR funds, restricted funds, UCs, audits, and statutory compliance
• Strong understanding of Indian nonprofit compliance and regulatory requirements, including Income Tax, 12A, 80G, CSR-related compliance, and other applicable statutory and reporting requirements
• Proven experience building or significantly improving finance processes and internal controls, including budgeting, expense management, vendor payments, approvals, reconciliations, reporting, and month-end closing
• Experience managing external finance partners, with clear SLAs, governance, and accountability
• Experience implementing or improving finance systems and automation, such as ERP, expense tools, payroll, and dashboards
• Strong budgeting expertise, project-cost accounting, budget-versus-actual analysis, forecasting, cash flow, and board reporting
• A strategic yet hands-on problem solver with strong stakeholder management across programs, HR, operations, and leadership

Responsibilities

• Own annual budgeting process and department budgets, CSR project budgets and cash flow planning
• Set-up monthly MIS and board finance reports; manage risk and financial policies
• Oversee CSR project accounting, donor accounting, and grant management
• Lead outsourced accounting partner relationships with SLAs and periodic reviews
• Design payroll operations and payroll-software integration; ensure compliance
• Drive MIS reports and board reporting for US and India finance

Education

CA/CMA/MBA Finance

Tools

Tally

Payroll software

Accounting software

Job description

Company Description Shooting Stars Foundation (SSF) (www.shooting-stars-foundation.org) (US and India non profit) focuses on expanding access to higher education for learners who face financial and social barriers. We are seeking a highly capable professional who brings strength in accounting/controllership while also supporting operational HR functions. As a smaller organization, SSF can benefit from a hybrid role that manages core financial operations while ensuring smooth HR processes, particularly payroll and compliance.

• Role: Head of Finance And Administration
• Location: Chennai
• Hybrid Opportunity: (Once a week Work from Office)
• Type: Full Time (40 hours a week)
• Salary: Rs per month (Indian Rupees Only ) (Depending on experience)

Role Description

A) Finance Strategy & Governance

• Own annual budgeting process - create overall budget, department wise budget, CSR project budgets, etc.
• Set-up monthly MIS
• Cash flow planning
• Financial forecasting
• Board finance reports
• Risk management
• Financial policies - payment policy, vendor onboarding policy, procurement policy, financial documentation, program / project approval matrix

B) Finance Operations: Design end-to-end processes for

• CSR project accounting
• Scholarship payments
• Donor accounting
• Budget tracking
• Expense management
• Vendor payments
• Final output: Every process should have SOP, Owner, Approval Matrix, Dashboard (as needed)

C) Outsourced Accountant Management: Own the accounting partner relationship like

• MOU ownership
• Defining their SLAs
• Weekly review meetings
• Escalations
• Monthly close calendar
• Data quality
• Tally accuracy
• Final output: by the end of her / his term, the vendor should be able to perform independently

D) Financial Systems: Lead implementation and integration of

• Expense management
• Budget tracking
• Payroll software
• Accounting integrations
• Financial reports
• Final output: Design org level data repository which has

E) Compliance: Own statutory compliance, CSR compliance, FCRA, Income Tax, 80G, 12A, audit coordination, UCs, board reporting, etc

• Design org level data repository which has all organization documents so that people have access to those documents as they need

F) Payroll & HR finance: Design payroll operations with payroll partner, salary workflow, leave integration, reimbursements, settlements, employee data - as well as employee hiring , engagement and retention

G) Take ownership of US based finance and accounting processes (much simpler than India counterpart)

H) Contribute to creation and sustenance of MIS Reports and Board reporting of US and India Finance

Qualifications

• 1015 years of progressive experience in finance and financial operations, with at least 5 years in a senior finance leadership or management role
• CA, CMA, MBA Finance, or equivalent qualification in Finance or Accounting; a strong combination of relevant qualifications and demonstrated leadership experience may also be considered
• Demonstrated experience managing NGO-specific financial requirements, including grant and project accounting, donor reporting, CSR funds, restricted funds, utilization certificates (UCs), audits, and statutory compliance.
• Strong understanding of Indian nonprofit compliance and regulatory requirements, including Income Tax, 12A, 80G, CSR-related compliance, and other applicable statutory and reporting requirements.
• Proven experience in building or significantly improving finance processes and internal controls, including budgeting, expense management, vendor payments, approvals, reconciliations, financial reporting, and month-end closing.
• Experience managing external finance partners, including outsourced accounting firms, auditors, tax consultants, payroll providers, and other vendors, with the ability to establish clear SLAs, governance mechanisms, and accountability.
• Demonstrated experience implementing or improving finance systems and automation, such as accounting/ERP systems, expense management tools, payroll and leave management systems, and financial reporting dashboards.
• Strong expertise in budgeting, project-wise and cost-centre accounting, budget-versus-actual analysis, forecasting, cash flow management, and management/Board reporting.
• A strategic yet hands-on problem solver with strong stakeholder management skills, capable of working across program, HR, operations, and leadership teams to build scalable systems rather than relying on manual interventions.