Job Opportunity for Head, Strategic Communications at The Convergence Foundation in New Delhi

Position

The Convergence Foundation (TCF), Head, Strategic Communications

About The Convergence Foundation

The Convergence Foundation (TCF) aims to make India a $10 trillion inclusive and sustainable economy by 2035. Set up and run by philanthropist—and formerly one of India’s leading private equity investors—Ashish Dhawan, TCF builds institutions and supports bold leaders tacklingIndia’s complex problems ranging from unemployment to air pollution, from poor education outcomes to low participation of women in the labour force. Our portfolio organisations are in for the long haul and adopt a systemic reform approach to address at scale the challenges that impede India’s economic progress.

TCF provides early-stage funding and strategic and operational support to our portfolio of 13 organisations (and growing!) to ensure a sharp focus on creating impact and building institutions. We have developed Centres of Excellence across critical areas that enable organisational growth and accelerate the scale of impact. These include developing deep connections with the broader ecosystem (including the government, donors, and other influencers), recruiting best-in-class talent, building a strong brand and network of champions, initiating cross-learning between organisations, and building fundraising capacity.

We aim to build outstanding institutions that will create catalytic impact at scale in the sectors they operate in. We are looking for smart, entrepreneurial, and mission driven people to join us on this journey.

Our Current Portfolio

• Central Square Foundation (est. 2012)
• Air Pollution Action Group (est. 2019)
• India Leaders for Social Sector (est. 2017)
• Centre for Effective Governance of Indian States (est. 2019)
• ACT EdTech Ambition Fund (est. 2020)
• Accelerate Indian Philanthropy (est. 2021)
• Foundation for Advancing Science and Technology (est. 2021)
• The Udaiti Foundation
• Foundation for Economic Development (est. 2022)
• ChangeINKK (est. 2022)
• Sports and Society Accelerator (est.2022)
• The Infravision Foundation (est. 2022)
• Centre for Research In Schemes and Policies (est.2022)

Position Summary

The Head of Strategic Communications is a key role that spans across all portfolio organisations and involves both operational and advisory support to senior leaders. The role involves working closely with leaders at TCF and across the portfolio to develop and operationalize the org’s communications strategy, build salience around the issue/cause, and instil the importance of the topic among key stakeholders. The Head of Strat Comms will work closely with all the portfolio organisations to enable them to leverate comms to unlock the demand side and build salience of key issues among target groups of stakeholders. We believe this is one of the most important levers for change that organisations have, and all orgs can incorporate this into their primary workstream.

In addition, the Head of Strat Comms will ensure the organisations have all foundational comms assets in place for the organisation, including things like org narrative, website, presentations, employer branding, etc.

The Head of Strategic Communications will report to the CEO of The Convergence Foundation and will work with multiple stakeholders including TCF’s board and advisors/mentors.

Key Responsibilities

The core focus of this role is to work with leadership teams across portfolio organisations to design and execute strategic communication plans start to end. Key responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Working across TCF portfolio organisations to leverage strategic communications to unlock the demand side and build salience of their target issues.
• Baseline issue salience across different sectors; develop campaigns/strategies to increase over time
• Media roundtable
• Industry roundtable
• Marquee event (product – state of the sector)
• Communication campaign to raise profile of the issue
• Stakeholder/influencer mapping to determine the best way to affect change
• Working closely with leaders at TCF and across the portfolio to develop their communication strategy and operationalise the same (Brand guidelines, Logo, Website, introductory presentation, introductory profile of the organisation, social media (twitter and LinkedIn), basic employer branding, quarterly newsletter and annual report/product (PPT format), curated database (people of interest, funders, key government functionaries))
• Periodically conduct diagnostics of different portfolio organisations on a) their brand and positioning, b) how well are they able to create salience on the issue
• Mentor communication teams in different portfolio organisations, and lead the recruitment of the communication lead in portfolio organisations
• Maintain key media relationships relevant across TCF portfolio
• Maintain database of vendors for specific deliverables
• Identify and showcase best practices/case studies across the TCF portfolio and beyondAnchor key advisors for the Strategy Communications Centre of Excellence at TCF
• Conduct workshops for learning, document internal success stories

Required Qualifications, Skills and Abilities

• 15+ years of experience with a masters degree in marketing, communications or related fields from a reputed institution
• Exceptional writing, editing, and creative management skills, and mastery of key principles for communicating academic research, with accuracy, in ways that non-technical audiences can understand
• Strategic thinker and committed leader who can design effective processes to communicate research insights in a manner that increases its prominence among public, practitioners, and policymakers
• Ability to develop high-level relationships with partners, including press, donors, and academic researchers
• Project management skills, including attention to operational and creative details, and ability to manage multiple projects efficiently
• Expertise in overseeing content production, including design, video, social media podcasts, and newsletters
• Track record of building the capacity of colleagues through workshops and one-to-one support
• Personal attributes of curiosity and a love for learning, self-awareness, and humility

Personal Characteristics and Desired Qualities

• Entrepreneurial spirit and outcome orientation is critical for this role
• Flexibility and collaboration skills, particularly working with diverse stakeohders
• Multitasking and time-management skills, with the ability to prioritize tasks
• Able to contribute positively as part of a team, helping out with various tasks as required
• Multiple leadership Stakeholder Management Compensation
• Remuneration will be competitive with Indian philanthropy pay scales and will depend upon the candidate’s experience.

Location

New Delhi, India