Group Chief Financial Officer — Advanced-Node Design Organisation

The mandate

An advanced-node design organisation is reassessing customer programmes after changes in export-control classifications, tool access and licensed intellectual property. Engineering can technically continue some work, but contractual rights, customer end use, personnel access and future tape-out routes differ by programme. The planned replacement Group Chief Financial Officer will translate that changing perimeter into cash, accounting, investment and board decisions without substituting finance for legal judgement.

Approximately 900 employees and material partners sit across design centres, programme teams and corporate functions. The CFO owns planning, control, treasury, tax, programme finance, licensing economics, audit and capital allocation and reports to the Group Chief Executive and relevant board committee. Legal and export-control specialists determine permissibility; finance ensures no forecast, invoice or investment assumes activity outside approved boundaries.

Programme economics need to include access risk. EDA licences, compute, third-party IP, foundry services and specialist personnel may be restricted differently. A design can retain book value while its viable completion path changes materially. The CFO will create scenarios for re-scope, delay, alternate technology, customer transfer and termination, including stranded commitments and refund exposure.

Revenue and contract assets require disciplined reassessment. Milestone acceptance may depend on deliverables the organisation can no longer provide or the customer can no longer receive. The CFO will challenge progress estimates, collectability and modification accounting with independent evidence. Political optimism cannot support recognition.

R&D investment also needs traceability. Shared blocks may serve permitted and restricted programmes, creating allocation and impairment questions. The leader will ensure time, licence and asset use are captured sufficiently to support management and statutory decisions without creating excessive surveillance or uncontrolled sensitive data.

Liquidity planning must account for timing asymmetry. Customer payments may pause immediately while vendor commitments, retention and specialist costs continue. The CFO will establish a thirteen-week cash view and negotiate lawful amendments without coercing small suppliers or concealing contingent obligations.

Entity and tax consequences cannot be separated from programme redesign. Moving work, licences or intellectual property between locations may alter permanent-establishment, transfer-pricing, withholding and incentive assumptions. The CFO will require specialist analysis before restructuring flows and ensure any government support remains tied to eligible activity and verifiable employment.

Controls over sensitive payments need strengthening during uncertainty. Vendor substitutions, expedited licences and adviser engagements create fraud and conflict exposure. Beneficiary, service, approval and sanctions checks must be evidenced before payment, with no informal route justified by tape-out urgency. Whistleblowing and investigation independence will remain intact.

The incumbent will retire after the next audit and offers structured transfer. The board nevertheless needs the successor involved before programme restructuring is locked. The onsite Hyderabad appointment includes direct committee access and authority to strengthen finance talent.

What you will own

• Translate approved export-control boundaries into forecasts, contracts and investment decisions.
• Rebuild programme economics around tool, IP, foundry, customer and access scenarios.
• Govern revenue, contract assets, impairment, provisions and disclosures.
• Establish liquidity, currency and vendor-commitment visibility.
• Maintain tax, audit, statutory control and sensitive finance-data governance.
• Challenge R&D allocation and capitalisation with technical evidence.
• Support lawful contract amendment, transfer or termination.
• Build finance leaders capable of precise programme and board challenge.

The first 12 months

In the first 60 days, review priority programmes with legal, engineering and commercial leaders, reconcile contracted rights to forecast activity and identify accounting or cash exposure. Correct unsupported revenue or asset assumptions promptly. Establish decision ownership and the incumbent handover map.

By month six, implement programme scenario reporting, restructure affected commitments and complete impairment or provision analysis. Align tool and IP budgets to the approved portfolio and strengthen contract-modification controls. Board forecasts should show downside, triggers and cash consequence clearly.

At twelve months, maintain forecast cash within 8% across four months, resolve 95% of material affected contracts and complete audit without a significant control finding. Every design programme should reconcile approved access to revenue and cost assumptions. No payment, asset or vendor commitment may depend on an unapproved export-control interpretation.

What the board will measure

• Finance plans matching the legally approved operating perimeter.
• Programme assets and revenue supported by viable completion evidence.
• Liquidity preserving critical capability through contract change.
• Tool, IP and compute commitments aligned to portfolio decisions.
• Clear disclosure of uncertainty without political speculation.
• Strong succession from a respected incumbent to modern programme finance.

The person

You bring 22–28 years in semiconductor, electronic-design, technology or IP-intensive finance, including group or divisional CFO accountability. You have managed contract and asset decisions through sanctions, export restrictions or comparable loss of access. Audit-only experience without operating programme ownership is insufficient.

Your prior scope should include ₹5,000 crore revenue or investment, 650 employees and partners or a large R&D portfolio. Evidence must include an impairment decision, a contract re-scope and a liquidity plan under disrupted access. You can work with legal specialists while retaining independent financial judgement.

Compensation and terms

Fixed compensation is ₹3.2–4.6 crore plus performance variable and long-term incentive linked to cash, control, programme decisions and leadership. This permanent onsite Hyderabad role reports to the Group Chief Executive and relevant board committee. Appointment timing will overlap the planned retirement and audit.

Confidentiality

The organisation, customers, tools, intellectual property, legal analyses and financial exposures remain restricted. Details follow suitability, conflicts and signed confidentiality. Applicants must not contact vendors, advisers or employees to identify affected programmes.