Job Opportunity for Director – Programs at Milaan in Gurugram

About Milaan Foundation

Milaan is a non-profit organization, which envisions an inclusive and equal world, where every girl is educated, healthy and safe.

India is home to 120 million adolescent girls, most of these girls live in underserved communities and their potential to thrive is limited JUST because they are girls. About 40% of adolescent girls drop out of the education system before even completing secondary school, which is a critical life milestone for them to be on the path of self-reliance. Not being in school pushes the girls into child marriage, making India the home to the largest number of child brides in the world with 1 in every 4 girls getting into forced and child marriage before the legal age of 18 years, which furthers pushes them to an intergeneration cycle of exploitation and poverty. These are not just percentages but representative of the lives of millions of girls who live in the hinterland of the country unable to break the shackle of social structural barriers of patriarchy, poverty, and gender-regressive social norms.

We use a girl-centric programming approach to movement building, to challenge the social norms that reinforce gender inequality and re-write the narratives that shape the day-to-day lives of women and girls, normalizing social, economic, and political exclusion.

Position Description

The Director of Programs would be responsible for leading programmatic initiatives with and for adolescent girls from vulnerable communities in India. They would be responsible for leading the planning and implementation of Milaan’s program with the goal of directly working to impact 100,000 girls by 2025 in the target geographies of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, and Rajasthan. We are looking for a sector expert and leader with the proven ability to drive growth, convergence, and sustainability to align various programmatic initiatives to the organizational mission.

Key Areas of Accountability

1. Develop a strategic program implementation plan which is agile in nature to accommodate changing requirements of a growing organization.

2. Responsible for overall coordination of program operations and delegation of responsibility for field delivery to achieve high-quality programming in line with the objectives of the organization.

3. Responsible for driving convergence between various direct and indirect program teams such as Impact, Technology, etc for process efficiency and effectiveness.

4. Accountable for program progress and delivery in accordance with grant agreements, objectives, milestones, timeframes, and budgets.

5. Working closely with the Finance lead to serve as an overall budget holder for most programming; managing and supporting budget holders for individual projects and grants.

6. Responsible for the preparation of timely and high-quality progress reports, program reports, and donor reports.

7. Help establish, maintain, and improve active and regular working relationships with government authorities, donors, and partner agencies including institutional donors, and local and international NGOs.

8. Support the fundraising team in the development of fundraising proposals for institutional donors for the programs.

9. As the leader of one of the largest teams in the organization, support the development of an organizational culture that reflects our values, promotes accountability and high performance, encourages a team culture of learning, creativity, and innovation, and frees up our people to deliver outstanding results.

Skills and Qualifications Required

1. Has a Master’s degree with at least 15 years of work experience in managing operations for large multi-location scale projects, preferably with women and children.

2. Substantial experience and knowledge of effective financial budgetary control for managing grants from institutional donors.

3. Ability to analyze information, evaluate options and think and plan strategically.

4. Previous experience in managing and developing a team and the ability to lead, motivate and develop others.

5. Excellent interpersonal, communication, and presentation skills.

6. Fluency in written and spoken English and Hindi.

7. Available to travel for at least 30% of the time for program development.

How to apply?

Please send your CV along with a Cover Letter telling us in brief why you are suitable for the position to careers@milaanfoundation.org with the subject “Application for Director – Programs”.

Note: Milaan is an equal-opportunity employer. We encourage applications from all individuals regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, disability, or sexual orientation, and evaluate all candidates based on merit.