Job Opportunity for Manager (Strategy) at The Convergence Foundation in Delhi

Position

Manager, Strategy and Portfolio Development, The Convergence Foundation

About The Convergence Foundation

Ashish Dhawan is one of India’s leading philanthropists. He founded and ran one of India’s first private equity funds, ChrysCapital, and in the last decade has helped build successful institutions (for e.g., Ashoka University) and strategic foundations (for e.g., Central Square Foundation, which works on school education reform). More recently, these include organisations that are working on building a better understanding between India and East Asia, improving the performance of the public sector, solving the air pollution crisis, and improving the pipeline of leadership and talent in the social sector.

We have set up The Convergence Foundation to do this in an institutionalised manner – identify critical voids in the social sector and build strong, long-lasting organisations to solve complex problems.

In order to ensure that our organisations reach their maximum potential, The Convergence Foundation will work closely with each of the organisations and provide strategic support in a variety of ways: developing deep connections with the broader ecosystem (including the government, donors, and others 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 20+ new foundations in the next 15 years that will create 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

• Ashoka University (est. 2010)
• Central Square Foundation (est. 2012)
• Air Pollution Action Group (est. 2019)
• Asian Century Foundation (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)
• Circle In (est. 2022)
• Foundation for Economic Development (est. 2022)
• ChangeINKK (est. 2022)
• Sports and Society Accelerator (est.2022)
• The Infravision Foundation (est. 2022)

Position Summary

We are looking to hire an exceptional Manager to drive strategy and operations for TCF, grow and develop the portfolio through operational support, and support the Founder-CEO. The Manager will work on providing intellectual and management support, aligned with each organisation’s overall missions, goals and targets.

This is a great opportunity for those who enjoy working in a start-up environment, enjoy building and scaling organisations, and care deeply about the impact sector. This role includes working with senior stakeholders and engaging with them on strategic projects that have the potential to solve key development challenges.

In the past, this has included working with the different organisations on creating actionable plans, sharpening priorities, putting key organisational processes in place, and recruiting for key positions. The role will involve doing research and scoping out new sectors, creating organisational growth and strategy plans, and ensuring organisations have the strategic support necessary to achieve their goals.

Key responsibilities

• Work with CEOs/ Managing Directors (and top leadership including Associate Directors/ Directors) across the portfolio organisations, execute against the targets, goals in line with budget.
• Support the leadership team across portfolio organisations with research and insight, recommending an appropriate approach.
• Be responsible for setting complex short and long-term strategies with far reaching impact for the entire strategy and portfolio development team.
• Design and drive the overall vision and strategy to a coherent whole.
• Oversee the creation of knowledge products across priority areas of the portfolio organisations, including engaging in secondary research, speaking with experts and synthesising data from multiple data points.
• Maintain and grow the existing influencer/ advisor network for the portfolio organisations, and initiate/participate in a wide range of interventions, not limited to one-to-one meetings, proposals, events, intermediary networks and personal networking.
• Create and manage deep engagement with top leaders, funders, experts and key government officials for continued support in line with our key work areas/ goals.
• Work cross functionally across the portfolio organisations to develop the activities and programs as needed, so as to build coalitions and collaborations with the intention to build high-performing and execution focused organisations in the development sector.

Required Qualifications, Skills and Abilities

• Undergraduate and masters degrees from top tier institutions. While there is no preference for a particular major or specialisation, we expect to see a high degree of intellectual curiosity and sophistication.
• 2 to 5 years of work experience in a consulting or challenging/ high growth environment.
• Excellent analytical, critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
• Solid planning and organisational skills with high attention to detail, accuracy, protocol and deadline.
• Excellent writing ability that is clear, concise and analytic in style.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and stakeholder-facing skills including solid presentation and facilitation skills.
• High level of flexibility and responsiveness with the ability to shift priorities quickly and as organisational demands require.

Desired Qualities

• High level of discretion in maintaining confidentiality of sensitive materials and issues.
• Ability to take initiative and develop solutions quickly and effectively.
• Ability to understand and consider organisational culture and change.
• Ability to function and interact in a professional level capacity to sustain the mission, culture and best interests of the respective organisations.
• Ability to adapt and exhibit confidence in a highly evolving, agile, and fast paced work environment.
• Ability to do research and distil important concepts in a structured, concise, yet comprehensive manner.
• Broad and strategic mindset, creative aptitude and effective use of independent judgement.
• Operating style suited to working in a small-organisation setting, where teamwork and resourcefulness are highly valued.

Compensation

Remuneration will be competitive with Indian philanthropy pay scales and will depend upon the candidate’s experience.

Location

New Delhi, India