Job Opportunity for Senior Programme Manager at STIR Education in Chennai

ABOUT STIR EDUCATION

We are an international NGO that is addressing the moral and economic imperative that every child, everywhere, should have a teacher who cultivates the joy of lifelong learning. At a practical level, that means we support governments to reignite intrinsic motivation in teachers and local officials, through teacher networks. Our vision is a world where teachers love teaching and children love learning. In our sixth full year of operations, we are working with 200,000 teachers and 6 million children across 70 districts in India and Uganda.

OUR MODEL

We achieve this through a five-year learning partnership with an education system, where we align all levels of the education system (officials, teachers and children) around the goal of increasing intrinsic motivation.

Practically, this means that teachers undergo monthly network meetings with about 20 to 30 local peers. Through these meetings they’re supported to develop their practice in areas ranging from effective questioning to creating warm but orderly classroom routines – all designed to create a more effective relationship between the teacher and child. In doing so they develop a sense of autonomy (the sense they can change things), mastery (sense of getting better as a professionals) and purpose (reconnecting emotionally with their peers and students) – the key drivers of intrinsic motivation.

District officials undergo a training and coaching programme that motivates and supports them to prioritise, run and monitor the teacher networks and a close partnership with the state or national government enables the government to align this intrinsic motivation approach within their priorities, structures and systems.

The approach is run by the government from day one and after about five years of partnering with an education system we hope to have embedded a culture of improvement at all levels for the system to continue to strengthen itself. We typically allocate one member of our own staff per district to train, energise and coach the district officials running the approach, and a small team at the national or state level.

OUR VALUES

How we approach our work is as important as what we do and our core values guide the way:

Humility – We don’t have all the answers upfront.

Ownership – We empower each other with high expectations & support.

Openness – We will listen, learn and improve, and lead through obstacles.

Purpose – We’re united by a shared vision we’ll build & achieve together.

THE OPPORTUNITY – SENIOR PROGRAMME MANAGER, TAMIL NADU

STiR is seeking to select a Senior Programme Manager for the Tamil Nadu programme, based in Chennai. The Senior Programme Manager (SPM) role presents an opportunity for the right candidate to create a lasting impact on education in Tamil Nadu.  The role will report to the Associate Head – Programme.  As an SPM, you will be responsible for leading a team of District Leads in high quality implementation of all district level plans. You will ensure a collaborative culture of excellence is built within your team and across teams in the organisation.

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Engage with and catalyse collaboration amongst key stakeholders at the state-level 

• Work collaboratively to develop a clear shared purpose and vision amongst a ‘guiding coalition’ of senior state-level government officials and organisations
• Support establishing, sustaining and strengthening of State-level government relationships, and being aware of developments, trends, challenges and opportunities through regular stakeholder engagement
• Work closely with the Associate Head in real-time contextualization of the STiR model as per state’s dynamics and structures, while keeping our vision and mission inalienable throughout
• Work closely with the Associate Head in creating a place for and representing STiR at relevant discussions, policy level meetings and collaboration opportunities
• Regularly consolidate programmatic learning and progress as status / learning / impact reports to influence and build ownership in senior-level officials
• Ensure learning from districts is used to periodically adapt state implementation plans

Lead, manage and develop your team of District Leads for effective delivery of the Programme

• Understand STiR’s overall vision and values, and identified priorities for TN and develop a team culture and environment of excellence, accountability and mutual support. Model ‘Growth Mindset’ at all times – show that improvement is possible and take responsibility for coaching and supporting the whole team in achieving its goals
• Help the team understand and translate the state vision at the district level, by apprising them of state priorities and updating and securing their buy-in on key decisions
• Support your team to build and track an excellent project plan aligned with the government and organisational priorities and ensure the implementation of the same. Set and track clear implementation deliverables and outcomes with team members.
• Provide consistent and focused line management to achieve our shared purpose of increased teacher intrinsic motivation and children’s learning. 
• Provide quality coaching support to enable District Leads in making effective programme and stakeholder management decisions.
• Regularly visit districts to be aware of ground realities and appropriately support district leads in building and sustaining senior district relationships, and act as a backup when they are unable to attend crucial meetings.
• Understand the collective and individual skill development needs of team and plan for capacity building efforts along with the Design & Programme Readiness team.

Work closely with the M&E, Design, Donor Partnerships, People, Finance & Admin teams to ensure all elements of STiR’s organizational needs are taken into account along with district-level delivery

• Consolidate actionable recommendations to supporting functions to enable smoother cross-functional collaboration for district-level delivery.
• Support in building robust processes and systems to ensure financial spending is judicious
• Strategically work to find solutions that support STiR to be financially sustainable in the state
• Use existing tools to monitor progress and inform discussions with the team for continuous data-based improvement.
• Play a key role-modelling role in development of a team culture in line with STiR’s organisational values.

REQUIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCES

• 6-8 years of experience in the education / development sector, with at least 1 year of team management experience
• Strong delivery focus, ‘can-do’ attitude, and ability to rapidly adapt based on feedback and new information and thrive in a fast-paced environment
• Strong identification with STiR values
• Fluency and excellent communication skills in Tamil and English is mandatory
• Ability to codify and share learning effectively as data-based impact reports
• Demonstrated ability to lead a high functioning team
• Ability to create a culture of high expectations and learning
• Excellent influencing, planning and project management skills
• Able to build strong relationships and connections with people of all levels of seniority
• Ability to co-create and collaborate to achieve goals
• Demonstrated ability to use multiple strategies to enable behaviour change of teachers and government officials
• Strong attention to detail and ability to see things through to a high standard

REMUNERATION & BENEFITS

A gross salary of INR 103,363/- per month (12,40,355/- per annum) will be paid for your service (subject to relevant taxes at source), along with Medical Insurance for yourself, spouse and up to two children.