Assistant Manager - Commercial Finance, Deal Governance & Pricing

Assistant Manager - Commercial Finance, Deal Governance & Pricing Function Commercial Finance / Commercial Excellence Location Bengaluru, India Reports To Head of Commercial Finance Works Closely With Sales, Delivery, FP&A, Legal, and Business Unit Leadership Role Purpose The role owns commercial governance across the deal lifecycle - from pipeline hygiene and RFP review through pricing, deal structuring, and margin protection - and connects deal-level economics to firm-level P&L. The manager acts as the commercial control point that ensures every pursuit is priced competitively, structured profitably, and governed with discipline, while giving leadership a clear, metrics-driven view of the commercial engine. Key Responsibilities Pipeline Governance & Review • Run the periodic pipeline review cadence with Sales and BU leaders, enforcing stage-gate discipline, data hygiene, and realistic close-date and probability tracking in the CRM. • Maintain a single source of truth for weighted and unweighted pipeline, flagging stalled, at-risk, and slipping deals. • Track pipeline coverage against booking and revenue targets and surface gaps early. RFP / RFI Commercial Review & Deal Desk • Serve as the commercial reviewer for inbound RFPs, RFIs, and large proposals - assessing scope, pricing assumptions, margin, payment terms, risk, and contractual exposure before submission. • Operate a deal-desk function: standardise commercial approvals, discount thresholds, and escalation paths for non-standard deals. • Partner with Delivery and Solutions on effort estimates and with Legal on commercial terms, ensuring bids are both winnable and profitable. Deal Metrics & Commercial Analytics • Own and report the core deal metrics: Average Day Rate (ADR) / average bill rate, sold rate vs. rate card, win rate, and probability-weighted pipeline value. • Analyse rate realisation, discount leakage, and win/loss patterns by service line, geography, client tier, and engagement model (T&M, fixed-price, outcome-based). • Build benchmarks that inform pricing strategy and the shift from effort-based to outcome-based commercial models. Pipeline-to-P&L Visibility • Translate deal-level economics into firm-level P&L impact - connecting bookings, revenue phasing, and gross margin to the financial plan. • Build margin bridges from pipeline to booked to delivered, explaining variances across rate, mix, utilisation, and cost. • Support annual operating plans and forecasts with a bottoms-up, deal-informed view of revenue and margin. C-Suite Commercial Reporting • Design and present the commercial deck to the C-suite and Board, covering key KPIs - pipeline health, win rate, ADR / rate realisation, margin, and conversion trends. • Turn commercial data into a clear narrative: what is driving performance, where the risks are, and what actions leadership should take. • Own the recurring commercial governance dashboard and review rhythm. Key Metrics Owned Pipeline coverage ratio · Win rate · Average Day Rate (ADR) / rate realization · Sold rate vs. rate ccard · Discount leakage · Weighted pipeline conversion · Bookings-to-revenue conversion ·� Deal-level gross margin Qualifications & Experience • CA / MBA (Finance) or equivalent; 5–8 years in commercial finance, deal desk, pricing, or FP&A background. • Prior experience in IT / analytics / consulting / professional services strongly preferred, with exposure to T&M, fixed-price, and outcome-based models. • Demonstrated ownership of pricing, deal governance, or commercial and finance review in a services business. Skills & Attributes • Strong grasp of services-business economics (rate cards, utilisation, margin structures, revenue recognition). • Advanced Excel and financial modelling; comfort with CRM (Salesforce or similar) and BI tools. • Executive-grade communication and deck-building; able to influence Sales, Delivery, and Finance leaders. • Governance mindset balanced with commercial pragmatism - protects margin without slowing the deal.