Company: Crepdog Crew (CDC) Location: Delhi NCR Function: Finance Reporting To: Founders / CFO Experience: 6–10 years Role Overview Crepdog Crew is looking for a commercially sharp *Finance Controller* to take ownership of financial planning, budgeting, expense control and capital allocation across the business. This role goes beyond accounting and reporting. The Finance Controller will work closely with the founders and business heads to ensure that every rupee deployed across *inventory, retail expansion, marketing, people, technology and new business initiatives* is aligned with CDC's growth and profitability objectives. The ideal candidate should be equally comfortable building detailed budgets, questioning spends, analysing business performance and helping leadership decide *where CDC should—and should not—deploy capital.* Key Responsibilities 1. Budgeting & Financial Planning - Lead the annual budgeting and quarterly forecasting process across the organisation. - Build department-wise and business-unit-wise budgets. - Track *Budget vs Actuals* monthly and identify key variances. - Work with business heads to create realistic revenue, margin and expense forecasts. - Develop rolling cash-flow and profitability forecasts. - Build scenario models for different growth and investment plans. 2. Expense & Cost Control - Own company-wide expense monitoring and establish strong spending controls. - Review major operating expenses including: - Marketing - Rentals - Salaries & manpower - Warehousing & logistics - Technology - Store operating costs - Professional fees - Travel and administrative expenses - Identify unnecessary or inefficient spends and recommend corrective actions. - Establish approval matrices and spending limits across departments. - Ensure expenses remain aligned with approved budgets. 3. Capital Allocation Act as the financial gatekeeper for major investments. Evaluate capital deployment across: - New CDC stores - Inventory purchases - Brand/category expansion - Marketing investments - Technology and infrastructure - New business verticals - Strategic partnerships and projects For every major investment, evaluate: *Investment → Revenue Potential → Gross Margin → Contribution → Payback Period → ROI* Create investment cases and recommendations for the founders before significant capital is committed. 4. Inventory & Working Capital Management Given CDC's inventory-heavy business model, maintain tight control over working capital. Monitor: - Inventory investment - Inventory ageing - Stock turns - Sell-through - Slow-moving inventory - Vendor/consignor payments - Receivables and payables - Cash conversion cycle Work closely with merchandising and buying teams to ensure capital is not unnecessarily locked in inventory. 5. Retail Store Financial Performance Create individual store P&Ls and monitor: - Revenue - Gross margin - Contribution margin - Rent-to-sales ratio - Employee costs - Store operating expenses - EBITDA - Inventory productivity - Store-level ROI Evaluate the financial feasibility of new store locations and calculate expected *investment, breakeven and payback periods.* 6. E-Commerce Financial Performance Monitor online unit economics including: - Revenue - Gross margin - AOV - Orders - Discounts - CAC - Marketing spend - ROAS - Logistics - Returns/RTO - Contribution margin - Online EBITDA Partner with marketing and e-commerce teams to improve profitable growth rather than revenue alone. 7. MIS & Management Reporting Create a strong monthly management dashboard covering: *Revenue → Gross Margin → Contribution Margin → EBITDA → Cash Flow* Along with: - Budget vs Actual - Expense analysis - Store-wise performance - Online performance - Category profitability - Inventory ageing - Working capital - Cash position - Capital deployed - ROI on major investments Provide founders with clear insights rather than only financial reports. 8. Cash Flow & Treasury - Maintain weekly and monthly cash-flow forecasts. - Ensure sufficient liquidity for operations and growth. - Plan major payments and capital requirements. - Highlight potential cash-flow gaps well in advance. - Optimise deployment of surplus cash wherever appropriate. 9. Financial Controls & Governance - Strengthen internal financial controls and approval processes. - Ensure accurate accounting and timely monthly closing. - Coordinate with auditors, tax advisors and external consultants. - Ensure GST, TDS, statutory and other financial compliances. - Maintain financial discipline as CDC scales. Key KPIs The Finance Controller will primarily be measured on: - Budget accuracy - Expense vs budget - EBITDA improvement - Cash-flow management - Working capital efficiency - Inventory productivity - Capital allocation ROI - Store-level profitability - Contribution margin improvement - Timeliness and accuracy of MIS - Reduction in unnecessary operating expenses Ideal Candidate We are looking for someone who: - Has *6–10 years of experience* in finance, FP&A, controllership or business finance. - Has strong budgeting and financial modelling capabilities. - Understands *retail, e-commerce or consumer businesses*. - Has experience managing inventory-heavy businesses. - Is highly analytical but commercially minded. - Can challenge business teams and founders when an investment does not make financial sense. - Is comfortable working in a fast-growing entrepreneurial environment. - Has strong Excel / financial modelling and ERP capabilities. - Can convert large amounts of financial data into simple management decisions. *CA / MBA Finance preferred*, although strong relevant operating experience will be equally valued. What Success Looks Like at CDC The Finance Controller should be able to answer three questions at any point: *1. Where is CDC making money?* *2. Where is CDC losing or unnecessarily spending money?* *3. Where should CDC deploy the next ₹1 crore to generate the highest return?* The objective of this role is simple: *Make CDC financially disciplined while allowing the company to scale aggressively and profitably.*