Technology Capital Allocation Board Adviser

The mandate

A digital technology holding board keeps returning to the question of whether the next available rupee should fund a product capability, an acquisition or a stronger liquidity reserve. Papers for those alternatives arrive from different sponsors with incompatible definitions of return and uncertainty. The adviser adds experienced finance challenge so directors can compare the choices without pretending that all technology investments share one economic pattern.

The eight-month term starts on 26 October 2026 and protects four advisory days per month. A monthly investment alternatives discussion and a written pre-read form the regular commitment; one committee session every two months is included in the retainer. Urgent paper clarification is acknowledged within one working day, while the substantive investment critique is due within four working days of a complete evidence pack.

The standing question requires commercial and financial judgement, particularly where product investment is claimed to create efficiencies that no operating owner has measured. Acquisition assumptions also need examination of integration effort, retained capabilities and funding exposure. The adviser will identify the assumptions that change the preferred choice and ask what evidence justifies commitment now, rather than construct an apparently precise ranking from incompatible sponsor forecasts.

No line authority is granted and there is no executive responsibility for investment delivery. The board retains capital approval, the CFO owns funding and operating executives own their proposals and results. This is an external advisory retainer, not a directorship or transaction execution appointment. Renewal is considered at the seventh-month committee review and requires board approval of a fresh scope and term within twelve months.

Concurrency is permitted with protected capacity and disclosed commercial relationships. Retainers for a competing platform, a target business or an investor seeking a particular allocation outcome must be reviewed before access to the relevant papers. Financial interests affecting the advice require recusal or removal of the topic; the chair may end the appointment where restrictions prevent useful neutral challenge. Compensation does not vary with approval of a proposal.

What you will own

• Test the economic comparability of competing investment papers, identifying differences in time horizon, commitment reversibility and funding assumptions that prevent a simple return comparison from supporting the board's choice.
• Challenge product efficiency claims through operating evidence and accountable benefit owners, asking which costs would genuinely disappear and which would merely move between platform or delivery teams.
• Probe acquisition alternatives for capability retention, integration expenditure and downside funding exposure, recommending further diligence questions where the strategic narrative outruns the evidence available to directors.
• Shape a board options paper that includes liquidity preservation and staged commitment, helping directors understand what they gain or sacrifice by waiting rather than presenting investment as the only active decision.
• Examine the proposed capital release conditions for major initiatives, pressing sponsors to identify evidence that should stop, revise or accelerate funding without taking ownership of implementation.
• Recommend clearer post-decision learning records that preserve the original assumptions and trade-offs, allowing later reviews to judge the board's allocation choice without retrospective rewriting of the case.
• Review material changes between successive proposal versions, highlighting when revised benefits, costs or timing alter the choice directors previously considered even if the sponsor retains the same investment recommendation.

Candidate qualifications

• Relevant experience includes CFO or senior strategic finance leadership in digital technology, AI services or technology-enabled commercial platforms, with personal involvement in capital decisions. Describe a choice between organic investment and acquisition where the preferred route changed after you examined implementation cost, financing capacity or the evidence supporting the expected business benefit.
• Applicants must have challenged product and transaction assumptions from a position of financial understanding rather than technical enthusiasm alone. Evidence should show how you assessed repeatable revenue, shared capability costs or integration effort and distinguished an uncertain strategic option from a dependable forecast benefit. Recognise when an independent technical or valuation specialist must answer a question beyond your expertise.
• Board advisory judgement needs concise alternatives, transparent uncertainty and independence from the sponsors seeking approval. Provide an example where directors retained a trade-off you had challenged, and explain how your advice made that risk acceptance explicit. The engagement values useful questions and documented reasoning, not an assertion that your preferred option would inevitably create greater value.
• Protected participation, reliable written preparation and a clear conflict position are required. Disclose sector retainers, target or investor relationships and relevant holdings before appointment. Show experience maintaining information boundaries and recusing from a financial decision where neutrality could not reasonably be preserved, while respecting the board's approval authority and management's responsibility for delivery.

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 CVU-ADV-2026-IND-204.