Job Opportunity for Senior Manager, Government Relations at Teach for India in Multiple Locations

Working at Teach For India

Locations : Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Ahmedabad

Teach For India is on a journey to reach an India free of poverty and filled with love by ending educational inequity in our country. Twelve years into our journey we are a movement of 3800 Alumni working at all levels of the education system, who are reaching 1 in 10 children across the country. These Alumni have graduated from our two-year Fellowship Program where they taught in under-resourced classrooms to put 32,000 low-income children on a different life path. Today, we have 970 Fellows and are the largest pipeline of driven, skilled talent into the educational ecosystem in India.

In 2022, we embark on Phase 4, our fourth strategic phase. We have a bold and ambitious ten-year journey ahead of us that aims to grow 50,000 leaders, who will work collectively, and with love, to transform the lives of 1 in 10 low-income children in our regions, through an education that unleashes the potential of self, others and India. In this decade, five key priorities will lead us to this vision.

• Strengthen our core Fellowship to build strong teacher leaders who provide an excellent and equitable education to our children and continue to do so beyond the Fellowship
• Scale our impact by strategically introducing additional Fellowships as alternative pathways for leadership development
• Match the Alumni of our programs at an intersection of their interests and the needs of the system and our children
• Advocate for key issues that impact educational equity, and engage 3.5% of the population in the movement for educational equity
• Act collectively with our Alumni to learn about and address key issues in our regions.

Our work will only be completed when we have built a movement of leaders that is large enough to ensure that every child in India attains an excellent education.

We pride ourselves as being a passionate, idealistic, mission-driven team of individuals. We’re committed to learning and excellence in our roles, and to being deeply rooted in our core values.

What Teach For India Can Offer You

• The opportunity to be part of one of the most established and visionary movements in the education sector in India which is at a pivotal point in terms of expanding its scale and outreach across the nation and working with changemakers across the country.
• A challenging yet flexible workplace in which every individual employee’s Staff journey is tracked for excellence and leadership development.
• A work environment in which employees’ holistic well-being is a core priority, enabling people to be their best selves.
• Access to connections and resources from the global Teach For All network that includes partner organizations spanning 50+ countries across 6 continents.
• Remuneration that is competitive within the top quartile of the Indian NGO pay scales, and a benefits package that includes extensive medical insurance and maternity coverage for both parents.

Position Summary

Reporting to: Director, Government Relations

Directly Managing: Short term consultants

The Senior Manager of Government Relations will co-lead a nimble team to implement the vertical strategy by leading collaborative projects and forming partnerships – both internally and externally. S/he will play a key role in supporting our regions to build the infrastructure needed for strong relationships and partnerships with governments. S/he will also help to build a strong foundation for the newly created vertical and will be responsible for executing the following activities:

As a Strategic Thinker and Implementer [50%]

• Contribute to decision making and long-term strategy development for the vertical
• Act as a thought partner to the vertical head i.e. help refresh vertical strategy, create annual goals, and brainstorm new initiatives for the vertical, our regions, and TFI
• Advice and support each regional team to ensure that they are working towards a common goal and achieving their annual goals/outcomes 
• Take complete ownership of designing and executing 2-3 national-level projects
• Help vertical head launch pilots across our regions through field support and/or managing field consultants
• Co-lead key operational areas for the vertical including, but not limited to, fundraising, budget management, impact reporting, etc

As a Relationship Manager [25%]

Internal

• Drive internal alignment and support for TFI’s advocacy efforts
• Act as a thought partner to Country Directors; provide inputs to regional roadmaps and co-design operational plans for each pilot
• Ensure TFI’s Leadership Team is aware of programatic progress and roadblocks at periodic intervals; seek guidance to solve touch challenges
• Collaborate with other verticals (e.g. KER, Alumni Impact, Firki, Training & Impact) to align on cross-vertical initiatives and share stakeholder sensitivities
• Lead internal calls for the vertical; ensure team members have a platform to exchange ideas and learn from one another

External

• Establish and own relationships with government officials at all levels
• Identify and cultivate high-potential collaborative projects with local and national government bodies
• Understand regional requirements and support individual government stakeholders in designing effective initiatives to address challenges
• Advocate for issues important to TFI (e.g. student partnership) and provide consistent messaging to external stakeholders across all regions
• Ensure GR Managers have regular touchpoints with regional decision makers; co-create agenda and co-lead senior government meetings

As a Team Leader [25%]

• Provide guidance to individual team members of the vertical on both professional and personal development
• Help set annual professional goals and provide tactical feedback to team members, when necessary
• Promote openness, transparency, and a safe space to voice dissenting views on topics
• Lead feedback sessions, reflections, team stepbacks, and check-ins with team members to get a pulse on the team health

As a People Manager

• Building a robust pipeline of talent to lead the organization
• Managing and coaching the team members to ambitious outcomes
• Driving engagement, growth, and retention of team members
• Engineering and overseeing a monitoring and evaluation system, coupled with strategic direction, to guide our abilities to continuously improve

As a Senior Manager at Teach For India

• Contributing to the team goals and priorities beyond individual goals and priorities
• Driving internal alignment and support for Teach For India’s core Programs
• Serving as an ambassador of Teach For India and an advocate for our work and for educational equity in our country through both internal and external communication after commiting time in our classrooms to understand our work more deeply
• Supporting with key organizational areas such as Recruitment, Selection, Fundraising, Volunteering, Movement Building 

Minimum Qualifications, Experiences and Expectations

• Graduate/Postgraduate in any field
• 5-8+ years of relevant work experience in external-facing roles (e.g. public relations, government relations, management consulting, business development)
• Experience in managing, executing, and taking complete ownership of multiple projects at the same time
• Ability to work independently and make strategic decisions in a fast-paced environment 
• Ability to quickly build relationships and influence others without authority
• Ability to motivate a team and develop individuals over time
• Strong verbal and written communication skills
• Strong problem solving, critical thinking, and decision-making skills to solve complex programmatic and people-related challenges

Preferred Qualifications, Experiences and Expectations

• Previous experience working in the development/education sector
• Experience leading strategic discussions with senior management and/or senior government officials
• Experience creating annual strategic plans for a vertical/business unit
• Experience in building and managing high functioning teams to targeted outcomes
• Willingness to travel frequently to Teach For India sites