Job Opportunity for Senior Manager, District Project management Unit at Madhi Foundation in Chennai

Madhi Foundation was established in 2016 as a non-profit organization committed to the cause of bridging the equity gap in education for children across India. The Foundation draws its inspiration from the Tamil proverb, “Destiny can be conquered with intellect (Madhi)”. Madhi Foundation specifically works to solve the foundational learning crisis in India. Our vision, “Foundational Learning First, so every child is set up for success”, guides our every action and gives our work the purpose and direction it needs.

What we do

Madhi works closely with the Tamil Nadu School Education Department to conceptualise and implement large scale quality improvement programmes in Tamil Nadu’s government schools. Over the course of the next 5 years Madhi will strengthen its existing programmes in the state (as well as undertake new programmes) with the singular aim of ensuring transformative improvement in the quality of school education in Tamil Nadu. Madhi’s programmes in Tamil Nadu are consolidated under a single umbrella called Project: TN Soars, comprising 3 critical projects: 1. Ennum Ezhuthum (The Tamil Nadu state Foundational Learning Mission), 2. TechForEdSystems and 3. Tamil Nadu STEAM Model Schools.

Ennum Ezhuthum: We are currently also working as the ‘Chief Management Partner’ for Tamil Nadu’s official Foundational Learning Mission, The ‘Ennum Ezhuthum Mission’ – a Rs. 500 Cr Mission of national and regional importance aimed at universalising foundational learning for all children in Tamil Nadu’s 37,000 government schools.

TechforEdSystems: Madhi is working towards revolutionizing the state’s education governance systems through TechforEdSystems – an end-to-end monitoring solution including sophisticated applications and processes developed by Madhi, which enables the system to effectively integrate technology and data into its governance and decision making systems.

Tamil Nadu STEAM Model Schools: To ensure holistic growth of children from underserved communities and to empower them with the skills to work toward their dreams, the Department of School Education has embarked on an ambitious project of setting up ‘Tamil Nadu Model Schools’ that will serve children from the most marginalized backgrounds and equip them with skills and knowledge such that their disadvantages get mitigated and no longer impede their success in academics, work and life. Madhi has joined the Department to assist in the setting up of these 38 Model Schools, each exemplifying the principles of equity and inclusion in letter and spirit, enabling every student, irrespective of their background, to receive equal opportunities to aspire and achieve their goals.

The job vacancy detailed here pertains to the state reform projects undertaken by Madhi in partnership with the Government of Tamil Nadu.

Your team (TNSOARS-1)

The TNSOARS -1 team comprises five sub-verticals: Teaching Learning Materials (TLMs), Training, Tracking, Targeted Communication and Tutoring at home. All the sub-verticals work together seamlessly and support the implementation of the state reform projects that Madhi undertakes in partnership with the Government of Tamil Nadu.

About the role:

The Senior Manager will play a key role in delivering on Madhi’s mandate with the government. They  will be expected to anchor the Project Management of a team of regional managers and district project management teams to drive the outcomes of the projects undertaken by Madhi by integrating the sub-verticals to function seamlessly and deliver on the objectives. The TNSOARS-1 team consists of diverse & dynamic professionals like instructional designers, master trainers, field experts, data analysts, and product developers. The Senior Manager will be responsible for bringing the programmatic vision for the project by setting up project management systems and constantly aligning the team’s activities in line with the short, medium, and long-term project goals.

The challenges you will help solve in this role

⬤ Addressing the unique challenges that the public education space faces.

⬤ The average age of the team at Madhi is 28 years old. This means we are a team of highly-driven, ambitious and committed individuals (mostly millennials!) whose aspirations and motivations are not limited just to money or a promotion.

⬤ We are an outcome-driven organisation and we do not obsess over clocking in and clocking out. As the Senior Manager, you will be responsible to identify ways in which we can hold ourselves accountable to a high bar of excellence with a singular focus on outcomes by setting up systems that let us keep our eye on the ball at all times

⬤ We are a people first organisation which means we do whatever it takes to make Madhi a safe and comfortable and enjoyable place for the team to work at. We are also a small, growing team which means everyone does everything, many a time. As the Senior Manager, you will be expected to operate without inhibitions, doing whatever it takes to make Madhi a great place to work at. On some days this may look like ensuring the roof is not leaking and on others this may look like you sitting in on a discussion resolving conflict among team members.

⬤ Building a robust project management team, as a Senior Manager, you will be leading district teams who will have varied degrees of challenges. You are expected to guide them, mentor them and set them up for success.

The Job Description

Below is an indicative set of responsibilities you will be required to lead as part of your role. We believe that a job description is best created collaboratively where the individual joining the team and the senior leadership team together define the role in greater detail so it reflects your aspirations and ambitions as much as it does the organisation’s needs. A detailed description will be jointly created once the selection process has been completed and you have accepted our offer of employment.

In this role, some of your responsibilities will include

● Set and achieve goals along with sub-vertical heads and senior management, towards vision setting process and ensuring all objectives of the programme are met successfully

● Build strong relationships at the state and district levels to ensure efficient coordination for any activity that may come our way

● Ensure all team management structures are followed diligently and personalised support is provided whenever required

● Design a comprehensive project management process and implement project management protocols to ensure on-time delivery of the goals of the projects you will be managing

● Set up processes and build support infrastructure to enable the team to produce high-quality output adhering to Madhi standards

● Represent Madhi in state-level committee meetings with Samagra Shiksha, SCERT, and other departments

● Facilitate cross-functional conversations with state-level stakeholders and ensure that the mission strategy is aligned with in decision making processes

● Ensure periodic connect with key stakeholders (internal & external) and diagnose and provide effective solutions for seamless collaboration

● Create periodic reports to different stakeholders to inform regarding the project milestones and deliverables

● Manage a team of 160 comprising of individuals with diverse backgrounds and skills and unlock their potential to achieve the same

You will thrive in this role if you:

● Have lead people management at a nonprofit or a start-up

● Posses a growth mindset and are comfortable seeking solutions for problems that you may not immediately have an understanding of

● Have prior experience in developing targeted Learning & Development experiences for diverse teams

● Enjoy traveling to different parts of the state and interacting with diverse stakeholders

● Possess demonstrable leadership skills and a resilient entrepreneurial mindset

● Have outstanding formal written communication skills in English

● Have impeccable planning and task tracking skills

Prerequisites include:

● At least 6-10 years of relevant work experience in people management roles with a minimum of 4 years in a managerial position

● Experience of having directly managed a team of at least 3-5 mid-level managers

● Experience in the education/development sector would be an added advantage

● A degree in a relevant field of study from a reputed institution

● Excellent knowledge of MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint and all Google Suite applications

● At least spoken knowledge of Tamil language

This role will report to: Associate Director, TNSOARS – 1

Location: Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Please note: You will be expected to bring your own laptop with updated software (MS Office 2016)

Remuneration: <Rs 11 – 13 lakh per annum>