Associate Lead - Governance and Controls (Group Finance)

Associate Lead Governance and Controls (Group Finance)

Location: Mumbai Qualification: Chartered Accountant (CA)

Experience: 57 years

Reporting: Head - IFC

Role Purpose

The Associate Lead Governance and Controls is responsible for providing strong controls assurance across the Group by designing, assessing, and monitoring the effectiveness of financial and operational controls. The role focuses on ensuring that key risks are adequately mitigated, internal controls are both well-designed and operating effectively, and governance frameworks meet regulatory, audit, and stakeholder expectations.

The role acts as an independent assurance partner within Finance, supporting management and leadership with insights on control maturity, risk exposure, and remediation effectiveness across Group entities.

Key Responsibilities

1. Controls Assurance & Effectiveness

• Establish and maintain a Group-wide controls assurance framework covering design and operating effectiveness of key controls.
• Periodically review and assess critical financial and business controls to provide assurance to leadership.
• Identify control weaknesses, assess severity and impact, and recommend pragmatic remediation actions.
• Track control remediation plans and validate closure through evidence-based assessments.

2. Audit Assurance & Issue Resolution

• Act as the central assurance interface for internal, statutory, and special audits related to governance and controls.
• Review audit findings from a controls effectiveness perspective and challenge risk ratings where required.
• Drive sustainable closure of audit observations and prevent recurrence through control improvements.
• Provide inputs and responses for audit committees, management representations, and governance reviews.

3. Risk Assessment & Mitigation

• Support periodic financial and process risk assessments across the Group.
• Evaluate adequacy of controls against identified risks and emerging regulatory requirements.
• Proactively flag high-risk areas and systemic control issues to senior leadership.
• Strengthen risk-awareness and first-line ownership of controls within business and finance teams.

4. Regulatory & Governance Compliance

• Ensure ongoing compliance with applicable statutory, regulatory, and corporate governance requirements from a controls standpoint.
• Monitor regulatory changes impacting control environments and assess readiness.
• Partner with Legal and Secretarial teams to ensure governance controls are embedded and auditable.

5. Process Standardization & Control Maturity

• Drive standardization of key financial processes and controls across Group entities.
• Reduce dependency on detective controls by strengthening preventive and automated controls.
• Support system implementations and finance transformation initiatives to embed controls by design.

6. Stakeholder & Leadership Assurance

• Provide independent, risk-based insights to Group Finance leadership on control health and assurance outcomes.
• Partner with Business Finance Heads to balance strong controls with operational efficiency.
• Support leadership and Board / Committee requirements related to controls assurance and governance reporting.

Internal

Key Skills & Competencies

• Deep expertise in internal controls, controls testing, and assurance frameworks
• Strong understanding of IFC / ICFR, audit methodologies, and regulatory expectations
• Ability to assess design vs. operating effectiveness of controls
• Strong analytical, documentation, and issue-resolution skills
• High integrity, professional scepticism, and risk mindset
• Ability to influence without authority and challenge constructively
• Effective communication with senior stakeholders, auditors, and leadership

Qualification & Experience

• Qualified Chartered Accountant (CA)
• 58 years of experience in controls assurance, internal audit, risk, governance, or finance controllership roles
• Experience in Group / multi-entity environments strongly preferred
• Demonstrated exposure to audits, regulatory reviews, and controls certifications