Group Chief Financial Officer — Interim, Specialty Pharmaceuticals

The mandate

The board dismissed the group CFO after a covenant forecast understated working-capital pressure and lender disclosures arrived late. A qualified audit opinion is now a credible risk while three product launches consume cash faster than plan.

The interim is needed within two weeks for fifteen months, covering refinancing, year-end audit and permanent recruitment. Search work starts once the first lender waiver is signed, with a planned eight-week overlap after the successor accepts.

Exit is earned when the ₹1,100 crore refinancing has closed, the statutory audit is unmodified, weekly thirteen-week cash forecasts stay within five per cent accuracy for a quarter, and the new CFO has signed the control and covenant attestation.

The interim may negotiate financing terms within the board-approved range, approve payments under ₹5 crore and replace temporary finance resources. New borrowing, asset security and settlements above ₹10 crore need board consent; the CFO cannot change R&D portfolio priorities or appoint permanent direct reports without CEO approval.

Commercial launch strategy, plant remediation and overseas licensing negotiations are outside the assignment. Finance must illuminate their economics without taking operating ownership from the accountable executives.

Why this seat is open

The prior CFO lost the audit committee's confidence when liquidity and reporting weaknesses surfaced together. The group cannot enter lender negotiations with a caretaker who lacks signing authority. A seasoned interim will carry full finance accountability until refinancing, audit and succession are demonstrably complete.

What you will own

• Rebuild the thirteen-week cash forecast from bank, payable, inventory and launch-spend evidence, and attest it weekly.
• Secure covenant waivers while running a competitive refinancing process with downside liquidity protection.
• Decide inventory, creditor and receivable interventions required to release at least ₹180 crore of working capital.
• Direct audit remediation through account-level owners, evidence dates and audit-committee escalation of unresolved judgments.
• Reconstitute treasury controls for payments, hedging, borrowing certificates and lender communication.
• Present product-launch economics and cash gates without assuming commercial or scientific portfolio authority.
• Induct the permanent CFO through signed control maps, lender relationships, audit judgments and two forecast cycles.

Candidate qualifications

• Qualified chartered accountant with more than twenty-two years in complex finance leadership and prior group CFO accountability.
• Closed a refinancing above ₹750 crore under covenant pressure, with direct lender and board negotiation responsibility.
• Led a regulated pharmaceutical, healthcare or manufacturing audit through material-control remediation to an unmodified opinion.
• Deep command of working-capital levers, foreign-currency exposures, tax, product-costing and launch-investment governance.
• Ability to take independent finance judgments while preserving clear boundaries with R&D and commercial executives.
• Previous interim or turnaround tenure ending in an orderly transfer to a permanently recruited CFO.

Non-negotiables

• Free to start in Mumbai within two weeks and work onsite during refinancing and audit peaks.
• No current advisory relationship with participating lenders, auditors or direct pharmaceutical competitors.
• Willing to hold statutory and lender certifications within formally delegated authority.
• Available exclusively for fifteen months, including the planned successor overlap.

1. 49 words maximum. State your availability, notice position and earliest date for assuming finance signatory duties in Mumbai.
2. 49 words maximum. What refinancing did you close under covenant pressure, and which term did you personally negotiate?
3. 49 words maximum. Name the forecast-accuracy improvement you achieved and the evidence architecture behind it.