Interim Group Finance Chief — Greenfield Glass Commissioning

The mandate

A manufacturing group is bringing a greenfield glass plant into commissioning and needs executive finance leadership through that phase. Capital commitments, commissioning costs and lender reporting need executive finance decisions that cannot be left to project accountants independently. The interim group finance chief will hold the finance seat, maintaining control of the existing business while establishing a dependable financial boundary between the new project's construction and operating phases.

The start is 26 October 2026, with twelve months of executive coverage and no extension. Recruitment of a permanent CFO is underway separately. The handover condition includes reconciled capital expenditure, supported treatment of commissioning items, reliable lender reporting and two complete plant-finance operating cycles. The successor must inherit a clear account of unfulfilled commitments and residual claims rather than a capital book made artificially final through unsupported closure entries.

The interim can approve supported expenditure within the approved project budget, assign finance controls and execute authorised funding drawdowns. Scope increases, permanent restructuring, new borrowing facilities and material contractor settlements require the project board or directors. Engineering retains responsibility for technical commissioning and safety certification. Financial acceptance of a cost record is not a claim that the furnace or plant is technically ready for production.

Forty-six staff support group and project finance, with regular onsite commissioning reviews alongside the Mumbai leadership base. Product-market redesign, contractor litigation and technical performance remediation are excluded. The interim must nevertheless quantify their financial dependencies and preserve evidence for qualified specialists. Completion of the role depends on controlled finance transfer, not a promise to achieve production output or settle legal claims whose outcome lies outside finance authority.

What you will own

• Establish a commissioning finance control map that distinguishes construction commitments, trial activity and continuing operating expenditure, obtaining qualified technical evidence before concluding the appropriate financial treatment of material items.
• Decide supported project payments within delegation, checking authorised scope, documentary acceptance and funding availability while escalating disputed contractor claims or changes that would exceed approved capital commitments.
• Reconcile the capital book to procurement records and physical asset evidence supplied by project owners, identifying incomplete documentation and assigning resolution rather than prematurely closing balances for reporting convenience.
• Lead funding and lender reporting routines that explain commissioning delays and cost movement honestly, executing approved draws while reserving new facilities or covenant amendments for the authorised board decision.
• Test plant-finance operating cycles with local managers, verifying inventory, cost and close responsibilities as commissioning work transitions into regular production and keeping unresolved project issues separately visible.
• Hand over a complete group and commissioning finance book to the permanent CFO, including commitments, residual exposures, control tests and a demonstrated next-cycle operating calendar with accountable internal managers.

Candidate qualifications

• Greenfield executive finance experience is essential, supported by Chartered Accountant qualification and a 22–28-year career that includes manufacturing CFO accountability. Your expansion evidence must identify decisions on capital control, funding or transition into operations. Attendance at project steering meetings is insufficient unless you can explain the authority you held and how you exercised it under uncertain commissioning conditions.
• Demonstrate technical judgement in capital expenditure, commissioning costs, asset records and manufacturing accounting. You must know what evidence is needed from engineers or project managers and avoid claiming finance can independently certify technical readiness. Selection will examine a material cost-treatment decision, including incomplete documentation, alternatives and the qualified advice used where the conclusion exceeded your own expertise.
• Have managed banking or lender reporting during a capital project whose timing or cost changed. Show how you preserved funding visibility, escalated covenant or budget concerns and resisted pressure to obscure unfavourable movement. The interim needs an integrated view of existing-business liquidity and project demand, rather than treating the new plant as a separate financial world with guaranteed access to cash.
• Be available for five-day executive coverage from the stated date, including sustained plant visits during commissioning. Bring practical leadership of group and site finance managers and a demonstrable interim handover method. A successor should receive supported balances and explicit residual risks; the role requires confidence leaving an issue transparently unresolved when evidence does not justify a convenient final conclusion.

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 9 October 2026. Mandate reference CVU-INT-2026-IND-114.