Board Capital Envelope Challenge Director

The mandate

The Board Finance Committee requires an independent view of the capital envelope before individual proposals compete for approval. The advisory question is whether aggregate commitments remain affordable and resilient across cash generation, financing constraints, execution capacity and plausible downside—not whether any single investment paper appears attractive in isolation.

The Director will work through a monthly committee cycle, a preparatory meeting with finance owners and one analytical day each week. Advice should reveal commitments already embedded in the baseline, capacity reserved for uncertainty and the trade-offs created when new requests consume financial or execution headroom.

The role has no line authority, vote, funding power or right to direct management. The adviser may recommend envelope size, buffers, sequencing rules and deferral triggers, then record unresolved risks through the Chair. Directors approve the envelope; executives allocate and execute within authorised boundaries.

The term concludes after a complete annual allocation round and two downside refreshes. Renewal is not presumed. Potential conflicts encompass current capital-seeking clients, financial interests affected by allocation choices and prior involvement in proposals under review; disclosure may result in limited access or recusal.

What you will own

• Reconcile existing commitments, unavoidable maintenance, discretionary proposals, contingencies and financing effects into one capital capacity view.
• Define envelope buffers based on cash sensitivity, execution bottlenecks, commitment irreversibility and downside lead time.
• Challenge aggregate assumptions for slippage, carryover, cancellation, inflation and benefit timing that individual proposals treat inconsistently.
• Present three envelope options with consequences for resilience, strategic flexibility, return and management response.
• Establish release and deferral triggers that distinguish deteriorating affordability from normal project timing variation.
• Observe the allocation round and assess whether portfolio choices respect approved buffers and capacity constraints.
• Run two downside refreshes showing how committed, stoppable and avoidable cash changes across defined scenarios.
• Transfer the envelope challenge checklist and reconciliation method to the committee secretariat and finance owner.

Candidate qualifications

• At least 18 years in capital planning, FP&A, treasury-facing strategy or board financial advice.
• Evidence of setting or challenging an aggregate capital envelope where individual business cases were insufficient to reveal portfolio risk.
• Mastery of integrated cash capacity, commitment curves, contingency design, financing headroom, execution constraints and scenario response.
• A case where preserving optionality produced more value than filling the initially available budget.
• Experience advising boards while respecting the separation between envelope governance, proposal approval and management execution.
• Ability to reconcile commitments and avoid double-counting buffers across independently prepared submissions.
• A complete conflict-disclosure posture suitable for reviewing confidential allocation priorities.

Working terms and boundaries

• The seven-month advisory term operates at three days each week around one monthly committee and scheduled downside work.
• No line authority, vote, approval or project direction is provided; recommendations are submitted through the Finance Committee Chair.
• Conflicts are declared at entry and before allocation papers are released, with formal recusal where prior involvement compromises independence.
• Proposal diligence, financing execution and implementation assurance are outside remit, except insofar as their assumptions affect envelope analysis.
• The engagement ends after the allocation round, two downside refreshes, method transfer and committee acceptance of the closing view.

Application

Applications for this mandate are received in one way only: through the India Board Terminal's application process. It is automated end to end. Your Executive Passport travels to the mandate holder in its confidential form, your answers to the three questions below are read before anything else in your file, and every stage that follows is recorded on your applications page.

There is no address to write to and no intermediary to call. The mandate holder reads what the Terminal delivers and nothing else, which is what keeps the process the same for every applicant and keeps your name out of it until you release it. Applications close on 11 October 2026. Mandate reference FPA-ADV-2026-OSL-23.