Website Teach For India

Working at Teach For India

Teach For India is on a journey to reach an India free of poverty and filled with love by ending educational inequity in our country. Twelve years into our journey we are a movement of 3800 Alumni working at all levels of the education system, who are reaching 1 in 10 children across the country. These Alumni have graduated from our two-year Fellowship Program where they taught in under-resourced classrooms to put 32,000 low-income children on a different life path. Today, we have 970 Fellows and are the largest pipeline of driven, skilled talent into the educational ecosystem in India.

In 2022, we embark on Phase 4, our fourth strategic phase. We have a bold and ambitious ten-year journey ahead of us that aims to grow 50,000 leaders, who will work collectively, and with love, to transform the lives of 1 in 10 low-income children in our regions, through an education that unleashes the potential of self, others and India. In this decade, five key priorities will lead us to this vision.

Strengthen our core Fellowship to build strong teacher leaders who provide an excellent and equitable education to our children and continue to do so beyond the Fellowship
Scale our impact by strategically introducing additional Fellowships as alternative pathways for leadership development
Match the Alumni of our programs at an intersection of their interests and the needs of the system and our children
Advocate for key issues that impact educational equity, and engage 3.5% of the population in the movement for educational equity
Act collectively with our Alumni to learn about and address key issues in our regions.

Our work will only be completed when we have built a movement of leaders that is large enough to ensure that every child in India attains an excellent education.

We pride ourselves as being a passionate, idealistic, mission-driven team of individuals. We’re committed to learning and excellence in our roles, and to being deeply rooted in our core values.

What Teach For India Can Offer You

The opportunity to be part of one of the most established and visionary movements in the education sector in India which is at a pivotal point in terms of expanding its scale and outreach across the nation and working with changemakers across the country.
A challenging yet flexible workplace in which every individual employee’s Staff journey is tracked for excellence and leadership development.
A work environment in which employees’ holistic well-being is a core priority, enabling people to be their best selves.
Access to connections and resources from the global Teach For All network that includes partner organizations spanning 50+ countries across 6 continents.
Remuneration that is competitive within the top quartile of the Indian NGO pay scales, and a benefits package that includes extensive medical insurance and maternity coverage for both parents.

Position Summary

The City Director (CD), Chennai plays a critical role in unleashing the potential and power of a local movement for educational equity in this metropolis. This individual creates and shapes a vision for the city that is rooted in the local context and develops a long-term strategy that will fully realise the regional vision. The City Director, therefore, has a five-fold charge:

1. Ensuring that Chennai’s Teach For India Fellows are not only driving transformational outcomes for children in classrooms, but that they’re growing as leaders.

2. Fostering a local, growing Alumni movement that is committed to providing all children an excellent education.

3. Building a local, enduring institution that promotes sustainable funding, talent, and operations. – leadership development, ops, people dev, assembling and coaching teams

4. Serving as a critical organisational leader for operations that span Teach For India’s vision and mission.

5. Co-creating and executing a strategy and roadmap that leads to excellent education for 1 in 10 children from low-income communities in Chennai

To achieve that five-fold charge, the CD works closely with the local program team to create an ecosystem of support for Fellows that enables them to be successful in their roles as teachers and future leaders of the movement. The CD also works to foster a sense of community among Alumni in the city and mobilises them towards shared goals, while also building partnerships with a range of government, corporate, and civil society players to catalyse systemic impact and ensure the long-term sustainability of our efforts. Last but not least, the CD plays an integral role in building the capability and commitment of members of the Chennai City Operations team to contribute to our mission in the long-term.

Responsibilities

1. Envision, develop and update a contextualized vision for Teach For India’s operations in Chennai:

Articulate a vision rooted in the local context, yet positioned within our larger national movement, and set clear goals that will serve as milestones of progress.
Build investment and ownership among Staff, Fellows, Alumni, & Partners in the vision and goals.

2. Develop a long-term strategy and operational plan that is designed to realise the vision:

Design a strategic plan that effectively sets priorities, searches for innovative paths and best practices, and accounts for regional uncertainties.
Design short-term tactical plans to mobilise resources effectively in the short-term.

3. Manage the Executive Team in Chennai:

Ensure the infrastructure needed to maximize performance and operations of both talent and resources (processes, structure, systems, communication)
Develop and maximize talent with direct reports to ensure a team that is comprised of the right skills, knowledge, and mindsets needed to advance transformational progress for children.
Build a systematic approach to people development to ensure that team members across the site are growing, performing and flourishing in their roles through a balance of oversight and support.
Establish clear accountability, decision making rights and performance management levers that are aligned to the strategic plan

4. Build relationships with key partners and stakeholders to foster collective impact and ensure long-term sustainability:

Build the site into a sustainable organisation rooted in local funding and talent.
Develop the operational infrastructure to facilitate scalable progress.
Plan and execute a strategy designed to ensure staff members are engaged, clear, and performing.
Prioritise staff development to ensure that team members are growing and learning.
Build a broad coalition of private sector support – including the management of an advisory board – and play a major role in fundraising capacities

5. Manage a growing team towards short-term outcomes and long-term success:

Manage city vertical leads that span Program, Alumni, HR and Government Relations
Design systems and processes to manage progress across layers.
Build and execute a strong performance management plan to ensure progress.

6. Build a strong culture of inspiration, support, and accountability among team members:

Foster an internal team culture that is rooted in our organisational values.
Model culture both internally and externally.
Build on-going relationships with our internal community to mobilise progress.

7. Collaborate with Teams across Teach For India, especially Recruitment, Selection, Matriculation, Training, Finance, Strategy & Impact, Alumni Impact, Admin, IT and HR.

Preferred Qualifications, Experiences and Expectations

A Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree in any field
8+ years of relevant work experience
Previous experience managing large projects and teams to successful outcomes
Previous teaching/education experience would be an added advantage
Strategic and critical thinking skills so as to conceptualise multiple approaches to solving a problem and draw out a clear roadmap with roles and responsibilities
Relationship-building and networking skills so as to connect individuals, groups, and partners with shared goals
Influencing and persuasion skills so as to leverage people and relationships to outcomes
Communication skills so as to deliver a compelling message through oral and written mediums to diverse stakeholders
People management skills so as to manage diverse teams to outcomes
Ability to be resourceful and entrepreneurial in the face of uncertainty
Proficiency in analysing data and making inferences to drive strategies and decisions
Strong project planning and project management skills
Understanding of Teach For India’s short-term and long-term theory of change
Understanding of Teach For India’s leadership development philosophy and framework

To apply for this job please visit teachforindia.secure.force.com.