Senior / Manager - Accounts Receivable

About the Role

We are a leading digital ads (News and Social Media Apps) organisation in India where the bulk of our revenue is generated from digital advertising sold through India's largest media-buying agencies (WPP/GroupM, Dentsu, IPG/Media brands, Publicis, Omnicom, Havas). The Manager Accounts Receivable will own the end-to-end AR function for this agency-led revenue stream billing, collections, reconciliations, dispute resolution and revenue assurance — and will be a key partner to Ad Sales and Ad Operations in protecting cash flow, reducing DSO and ensuring accurate revenue recognition.

Key Responsibilities

1. Billing & Revenue Assurance

• Own the monthly billing cycle for all ads revenue.
• Reconcile delivery between the ad server (Google Ad Manager / equivalent), order management system and finance ERP; resolve any delivery-vs-billing variance pre-invoice.
• Partner with Controllership on revenue recognition — unbilled revenue, deferred revenue and credit notes.

2. Collections, DSO & Cash Flow

• Drive collections from agencies and direct advertisers; own DSO targets and the AR ageing book.
• Maintain governance with agency finance/billing SPOCs.
• Forecast monthly and quarterly cash inflows for treasury; drive reduction in DSO, bad debts and write-offs.

3. Reconciliations & Dispute Resolution

• Lead periodic ledger reconciliations with each agency — matching IO value, delivered, invoiced, agency-acknowledged and amount received (net of TDS and commission).
• Resolve disputes around short delivery, viewability/IVT discrepancies, third-party ad-server (DCM/Sizmek) reporting variances, make-goods and PO/IO mismatches.
• Operate within agency vendor portals and tools for invoice submission, status tracking and dispute resolution.

4. Credit Policy, Risk & Controls

• Define and enforce the credit policy — agency/advertiser credit limits, payment terms, advances for high-risk clients, and stop-supply triggers in coordination with Ad Sales.
• Strengthen the AR control environment (segregation of duties, maker-checker, IFC controls); own AR closures with statutory, internal and tax auditors.

5. Team Leadership & Stakeholder Management

• Lead, mentor and develop a team of AR executives/associates handling billing, collections and reconciliations.
• Act as the finance face to Ad Sales, Ad Ops, agencies and direct clients; participate in Quarterly Business Review with top agencies and key advertisers.
• Partner with Ad Sales to balance commercial flexibility with collection discipline; review non-standard payment terms and barter/contra deals.

6. Systems, Automation & MIS

• Drive automation of the order-to-cash cycle — IO ingestion, auto-invoicing, dunning, reconciliation bots and AR dashboards — in partnership with IT/Tech.
• Deliver crisp monthly MIS to leadership: ageing, DSO, collection efficiency, top debtors, disputed amounts, ECL movement, and agency-wise performance.

Qualifications & Experience

• 7–10 years of progressive finance experience, with 6–8 years in AR / Order-to-Cash and minimum 4 years leading a team.
• Mandatory: prior AR experience in Media, Digital, Broadcasting, Print, OTT, AdTech or Publishing — i.e., a business where revenue flows through media-buying agencies.
• Direct working relationships with finance/billing teams of large agency networks (WPP/GroupM, Dentsu, IPG, Publicis, Omnicom, Havas).

Skills & Competencies

• Strong grasp of digital ad commercials — CPM, CPC, CPV, CPCV, programmatic deal structures, agency commission and viewability/IVT make-goods.
• Sharp commercial acumen, ownership mindset, strong negotiation skills and a non-negotiable controls/integrity orientation.

Key Performance Indicators

• DSO — overall and agency-wise; collection efficiency vs. payment terms.
• Billing accuracy and timeliness; agency-portal rejection rate; dispute resolution turnaround.
• Reconciliation closure (Form 26AS/AIS, GSTR-2B vs. books, agency ledger sign-offs); zero significant audit observations.

Why Join Us

• Own the receivables engine of one of India's most influential digital news content brands.
• High-visibility role with direct exposure to the Head of Finance, Ad Sales leadership and India's top media agencies.
• Opportunity to shape automation, controls and data-led decision-making in the order-to-cash cycle.