Director, Finance and Legal

About Antler

Antler backs the world’s most ambitious founders from the very start. Founded on the belief that innovation is the key to building a better future, we partner with people across six continents to launch and scale high-potential startups that address meaningful opportunities and challenges. Knowing that exceptional founders can come from anywhere with any background, we have offices in 30 cities, including New York, London, Berlin, Stockholm, Bangalore, Singapore, Seoul, and Sydney.

Our global community supports founders on deep business model validation, initial capital, expansion support, and follow-on funding. Fueled by a personal passion that goes beyond traditional investing, we have helped create and invested in more than 1,500 startups across a wide range of industries and technologies.

Antler India is led by founding Partners Rajiv Srivatsa (ex co-founder at Urban Ladder) and Nitin Sharma (14 years of global investing experience). Our team of 20 (based out of Bangalore) comprises several experienced operators, with the majority of the team having prior startup experience. You can read more about our values, team, terms and programs here: www.antler.co/india. 

As we gear up for the next phase of our growth, we are now recruiting for one of the most critical roles in our core team, for an experienced professional to head the finance function.  

Role & Responsibilities

The ideal candidate will build and lead the entire finance and legal function within Antler India, which will include the following priority areas:

• Limited Partner support: Interactions pertaining to fund structuring, fundraising, fund accounting, capital calls, reporting and compliance
• Investment processes: Interfacing with all entrepreneurs supported by Antler across the investment cycle (financial and legal diligence, execution of standard investment documents, negotiations, ensuring robust MIS / dashboards, etc.)
• Fund management: In-charge of portfolio construction and planning for deployment, follow-on fundraises and exits 
• Regulatory and compliance relationships: Interactions with regulatory bodies in India, management of requisite filings and periodic compliance requirements
• Mentoring and supporting founders: Portfolio support in relevant areas such as company structuring, finance team hiring, cash planning and certain aspects of fundraising
• Internal finance: Managing all matters related to finance, accounting and tax for the Antler India organisation, including directly working with the Antler Global CFO and his/her team.

Keys to Success: This role requires..

Seniority and gravitas: This is a senior role that comes with a high level of responsibility and autonomy; you will be a highly trusted internal and external advisor, especially to some of the highest-potential founders in India. The role will report directly to, and work very closely with the founding Partners at Antler India. In terms of progression, it is expected that a high performer will grow into a Partner/CFO role within a few years. While the ideal candidate will be able to recruit and build an in-house team over time, we anticipate that a major part of the role will still involve coordination with third-party advisors and vendors (in areas such as fund administration, custody and trusteeship, fund accounting, audit and valuation, KYC, compliance, outsourced CFOs for startups, etc.). Hence, excellent communication and people management skills will be critical for success.

Genuine excitement about early-stage founders: We value a deep passion for working with early-stage founders and an appreciation for what it entails (lack of structure, patience with some first-time founders, though a high percentage are repeat founders)

Scale thinking: The ideal candidate is someone who is hungry to be part of a high-growth platform and can think about scaling processes and systems for much larger portfolios and funds over time. 

Living Antler values: Put Founders First | Build Talent Density | Take 100% Ownership | Be Uncomfortably Ambitious | Live Off the Land | One Antler

Ecosystem relationships: Ability to earn trust and respect, and establish strong relationships across the early-stage tech ecosystem.

This role is based in Bangalore, India. 

Background Qualifications and Skills

• Strong finance and accounting backgrounds, with 8-10 years of relevant experience, but exceptions will be considered. We expect most strong candidates to bring some combination of Big 4 accounting experience and a CA qualification, but other backgrounds (boutique accounting or financial advisory firms, investment banking, or internal finance at a high-growth, venture-funded company) may also be considered. 
• Candidates with prior finance roles inside a fund, or with extensive exposure to venture capital / private equity funds as clients, will be strongly preferred. Ideal candidates would have some experience in investor communications, and some understanding of concepts like capital call workings, distribution waterfalls, setting up SPVs, carried interest calculations, etc.
• Bachelor’s degree required

Additional guidelines: 

• Excellent financial modelling and valuation skills
• Superlative attention to detail, as shown through prior experience with monthly / quarterly reporting functions, monitoring of metrics/KPIs, or creating and managing performance dashboards
• Highly motivated, self-starter personality with the ability to plan and execute multiple projects, and drive timely results, without too much supervision. As indicated earlier, the ability to professionally manage day-to-day interactions with multiple third parties will be one of the most critical parts of this role
• Experience in managing statutory compliance functions, including SEBI/RBI reporting, income tax returns, GST issues, etc. will be preferred
• Your ability to build and maintain relationships with peers in the industry (CFOs, investors, bankers, auditors, etc.) will be a plus point

Compensation and Benefits

Competitive in the industry, and commensurate with experience. 

Additionally, you are eligible for:

• Carry from the Antler India Fund
• Antler India Profit Sharing Pool
• Group Medical Insurance and all other organisation-wide perks 

The Process

Interested candidates may please apply via the form below. Shortlisted candidates will be invited for 2-3 interviews with the India leadership team, and the global CFO in the next few weeks. 

Preference will be given to strong candidates who are able to join the organisation within 2-3 months.