Financial Controller

Cotton & Clay Collective
· Candidate-facing

Job Description
Finance Controller   Cotton & Clay Collective

Location:

Chandigarh, India
Function:
Finance, Control & Commercial Planning
Reporting to:
Managing Director & CEO
Level:
Leadership
About Cotton & Clay   Cotton & Clay Collective is building a digital-first fashion and lifestyle business for the Indian market. Our ambition is to create well-made, well-priced clothing that customers genuinely want to wear, supported by disciplined sourcing, strong product quality, a distinctive brand identity, technology-led operations and an exceptional digital customer experience.
We are building the business for scale from the outset. That means every leadership and specialist role is expected to operate across functions, use data intelligently, protect commercial economics and help create repeatable operating capability rather than simply execute a narrow job description.
The Opportunity   The Finance Controller is responsible for building the financial control architecture behind Cotton & Clay’s growth. The role combines controllership, planning, cash and working-capital management, commercial finance, management reporting, statutory readiness and stewardship of the Money module. In a product business where inventory, marketing and cash timing can destroy otherwise attractive growth, Finance must be embedded in decisions rather than report history after the fact.
The mandate is clear:
Give leadership a reliable financial truth, protect cash and control, challenge commercial assumptions, and ensure every material growth decision is understood through revenue, margin, working-capital and cash consequences.

Key Responsibilities  1. Financial Control & Accounting   Establish accurate books, controls and close discipline.

· Own chart of accounts, accounting policies, reconciliations, journals and month-end close.

· Ensure revenue, inventory, landed cost, returns, marketing and operating expenses are recognised consistently.

· Maintain supporting evidence for material balances and transactions.

· Drive timely resolution of reconciling items and control exceptions.
2. Cash & Liquidity   Maintain forward visibility of cash, not merely bank balances.

· Build rolling cash forecasts covering inventory commitments, marketing, payroll, tax and operating expenditure.

· Identify liquidity pressure early and propose corrective actions.

· Govern payment controls, approval limits and banking access.

· Optimise supplier-payment timing without damaging critical relationships.
3. Working Capital & Inventory Finance   Treat inventory as both a commercial asset and financial exposure.

· Track inventory investment, ageing, turns, markdown exposure and cash conversion.

· Partner with Merchandising to challenge buy depth, reorder and clearance economics.

· Reconcile financial inventory to operational stock records.

· Model landed-cost and margin effects of freight, duties, FX and supplier terms.
4. Planning, Forecasting & Scenarios   Translate strategy into a financially coherent plan.

· Own annual budget, rolling forecast and scenario planning.

· Maintain driver-based assumptions for demand, margin, marketing, returns, fulfilment and headcount.

· Explain variance through business drivers rather than accounting labels.

· Stress-test downside cases and funding requirements before commitments are made.
5. Commercial Finance   Bring Finance into customer, product and channel decisions.

· Evaluate category, SKU, channel, customer and campaign economics.

· Partner with Growth on CAC, MER, contribution and payback thresholds.

· Support pricing, promotion and markdown decisions with margin analysis.

· Challenge revenue growth that does not create sufficient contribution or cash value.
6. Management Reporting …