Admin and Finance Associate
- Posted
- Date not provided
- Last verified at source
- 2 days ago
About Aspera
Most of the world's goods still move by ships because flying them has always cost too much. We think that's a solvable problem.
We are reviving the lost art of aircraft design to build the highest performing freighter aircraft on the planet. We want to enable a world where the cost of not flying is greater than the cost of flying and 100% of the world's cargo moves by the air. Our first aircraft is a 2,300 kg MTOW, 1,000 kg payload seaplane, cruising at 70 m/s across 2,000+ km stage lengths. The design is inspired by the biomimicry of sharks, whales, and dolphins. We have designed a retractable, hydrofoil-assisted takeoff architecture rather than a stepped hull.
We are a small, technical team that deeply cares about our art and believe in the fact that the cost of flying is an engineering problem.
Who are we looking for
We need someone who can hold the operational and financial spine of the company together. This is not a back-office role. You will be one of the first people on the ops side of Aspera. You will own finance, vendor coordination, workspace operations, and administrative systems entirely.
What you'll do
1. Workspace & Facility Operations (40%)
- Facility Scale-up: Drive the ground-level execution of moving from our current workshop/warehouse into a larger manufacturing facility with dedicated composite rooms built from the ground up.
- Day-to-Day Facility Management: Maintain the physical workspace—consumables, safety protocols, equipment access, inventory, and office utilities.
- Systems & Admin: Build operational workflows and trackers, manage calendar logistics, handle travel arrangements, and maintain organized company records.
2. Finance, MIS, Investor & Legal Relations (30%)
- Accounts Payable (AP) & Disbursements: Own end-to-end payment processing—from validating vendor invoices and matching POs to executing payments, managing contractor fees, and running monthly payroll.
- Statutory Compliance & TDS Checks: Verify applicable TDS deductions before releasing payments, coordinate GST data sharing, and work closely with our external CA to keep statutory filings up to date.
- MIS & Financial Reporting: Generate periodic MIS reports (monthly burn rate, variance analysis, cash flow projections) to keep leadership and investors clear on company financials.
- Financial Coordination: Act as the internal liaison for our external accounting firm (Zoho Books). Gather receipts, manage petty cash, track expenses, and ensure clean bank reconciliations.
- Investor & Legal Relations: Maintain cap table hygiene, organize virtual data rooms (VDR) for due diligence, coordinate statutory/legal filings, handle contract documentation, and support grant reporting (iDEX / DPIIT).
3. Hardware Procurement & Vendor Management (30%)
- End-to-End Purchasing: Manage procurement across all tiers—from composite raw materials, tooling, and specialized hardware down to daily office/workshop supplies.
- Active Sourcing: Maintain our current vendor database while constantly sourcing alternative suppliers, getting quotes, negotiating terms, and shortening lead times.
- Live Procurement Log: Keep a real-time log of orders and shipments so the technical team always knows when critical parts will arrive.
What you'll bring
- Kannada Speaker (Non-negotiable): Fluent spoken Kannada is essential. You will negotiate with local suppliers, manage contractors, and run day-to-day ground operations in Bengaluru.
- Organized to an unusual degree: You will be the person others come to when they can't find something. We want someone who has a knack for bringing order to a chaotic hardware environment.
- Process & Tool Efficiency: You are fluent in Google Workspace, comfortable working with spreadsheets, and quick to adopt lean digital tools that automate repetitive admin work.
- Finance & Governance Fundamentals: You understand MIS reporting, cash flow tracking, and basic statutory/legal processes. You can coordinate source documents, enforce clean governance, and hold external professionals accountable.
- Hardware & Procurement Instincts: You understand that hardware procurement is governed by lead times, supplier reliability, and stockouts.
- Background: B.Com, BBA, or equivalent practical experience in startup operations, finance, or business administration.
- Experience: 1–4 years. (We care more about speed of learning, agency, and execution capability than rigid years on a resume).
- Software Skills: High proficiency in Google Sheets/Excel (for financial modeling, AP logs, and MIS reports). Familiarity with Zoho Books and online payroll tools is a plus.
- Languages: Spoken fluency in Kannada and English is required. Working knowledge of Hindi is a strong plus.
What You Get
- A front-row seat to building an aerospace company from the ground up in India.
- Direct working relationship with the founder and technical leads.
- Massive multi-disciplinary ownership spanning infrastructure, corporate governance, finance, and hardware supply chains.
Should You Really Join Us?
If you like learning, if you like figuring things out by yourself without others telling you how to do it, and thrive under work pressure to build thousands of airplanes — then this is for you. We are a lean team. There is no rule book to what we're doing. You have an end goal which is based on a real product and you need to get it done your own way. It's hard, and we all love it here.How to Apply?
If you see yourself as a fit for any of the above roles, send a short email to [email protected] introducing yourself and why you'd be a strong fit for the role.Include:
- Links to things you've built (videos and photos work best)
- Your resume
- Anything else you think is relevant
What we're looking for in your email (i.e. how to make yourself stand out?):Focus on your work, not your credentials. Tell us about projects you've built: why you built them, how you built them, what problems you ran into, and how you solved them. Spend minimal time on degrees and coursework—we care about what you've made and what you've learned from making it.
We'll review and get back to you to schedule an interview.