Job Opportunity for Program Manager at Fortify Health in Indore

About Fortify Health

Fortify Health is an NGO with a team of dedicated entrepreneurs working to improve nutritional status at population scale through fortification, a recognised, effective public health intervention. We work to  tackle anaemia and birth defects by supporting fortification of wheat flour with iron, vitamin B12, and folic acid. We support millers willing to adopt fortification by making it cost-neutral to them, and we work with state governments to expand fortification in social safety net programs and on the open market. Complementing our entrepreneurial model, we provide nutrition training, career development opportunities and a wide range of resources to guide the team. 

Fortify Health’s model addresses micronutrient deficiencies through work with industry partners, NGOs and state governments. Maintaining collaborative relationships with our miller partners is essential, and ensuring smooth implementation of fortification in mills, is essential to successfully achieving Fortify Health’s important goals. The Program Manager based in Indore will oversee the program team’s work in Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal to manage a range of partnerships with mills during and after implementation.

Position overview

The Program Manager will be based in Indore, and will have a base of knowledge about the milling industry and milling technology, to facilitate fortification successfully in mills. They will be responsible for ensuring that their team onboards, launches and extends fortification in open market partner mills according to Fortify Health’s scale up goals.  They will collaborate with the Monitoring and Evaluation team, Regulatory Affairs Team and Operations teams at Fortify Health to ensure fortification operations in mills are based on evidence and implemented smoothly.

The Program Manager will lead open market scale-up work in Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal. They will guide their team in identifying new mills and retailers, onboarding them and maintaining strong relationships with them in these geographies. They will be responsible for managing the work of Program Officers and Junior Program Officers in Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal. They will help us in identifying challenges millers/retailers face in adopting atta fortification and devise solutions to ensure higher coverage and quality of fortified atta. 

The Program Manager has the exciting opportunity to manage and support the scale up of a rapidly growing team.  They will initially report to Fortify Health’s Director of Growth.

Responsibilities and activities

• Lead and manage work of the Program team in Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal effectively
• Hire, onboard and mentor all Program Officers and Junior Program Officers in Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal
• Work with the Director of Growth to develop a strategy to saturate commercially produced open market atta with fortification according to Fortify Health’s targets 
• Guide the team in any RnD work that is required in our potential partner mills or partner mills. This includes but is not limited to equipment testing and premix trials.
• Co-lead program infrastructure scale up, such as equipment vendor selection, technical and non-technical SOP creation and training etc. for Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal
• Maintain relations with CFTRI and ensure technical transfer of CFTRI is being done in selected partner mills in Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal
• Ensure quarterly targets for Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal are set and met on time
• Train and guide  Program Officers and Junior Program Officers in Madhya Pradesh to onboard, rollout and extend fortification in partner mills
• Support Program Officers and Junior Program Officers with technical, managerial and communication-related troubleshooting
• Ensure work is well documented and SOPs are followed by their team
• Work with Monitoring and Evaluation team and Regulatory Affairs team to ensure that their findings are used to improve operations
• Actively participate in team calls and meetings

Requirements

• Minimum 5 years of experience / background in the milling industry, with a good technical understanding of mill setup and machinery
• Bachelors or higher degree in related field
• Experience of managing teams in a food manufacturing set up
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, both with external partners such as mills and vendors, as well as with team members and senior management
• Collaborative, empathetic and results-oriented leadership style
• Experience working with data to make business or strategic decisions
• Proven ability to manage professional relationships and to work under pressure
• Excellent organisational skills and ability to work effectively on multiple projects
• Excellent documentation skills
• Strong creative problem-solving, teamwork and interpersonal skills
• Willingness to travel around 50% of the time (this may include within base location)
• Authorisation to work in India (Indian national, eligibility for OCI, etc.)
• Fluency in Hindi and professional working proficiency in English

Desirable attributes

• Experience working with remote team members
• Experience working independently
• Relevant experience in NGO field environment 
• Enthusiasm about our opportunity to improve people’s lives
• Fluency in Bengali

Terms of employment: Contract for two years, renewal by mutual agreement

Salary and benefits: INR 94,500 / month

Due to the nature of this role we will be reviewing applications on an ongoing basis and the role might be filled and closed before the closing date. Early applications are encouraged.