About the job Project Manager/Senior Project Manager - Office of the CEO
Position: Senior / Project Manager (SPM/PM) I Team: Partnerships & Strategic Initiatives (PSI)
Reporting to: Senior Lead, PSI | Role: Office of the CEO
Location: Delhi | Work Experience range: 2-6 years
About the PSI team
To ensure quality school education for all children in the country, CSF establishes strong partnerships with key players within the development sector and with the centre and state governments. These include non-profits, social enterprises, donors, consultants, other enablers, etc. The Partnerships & Strategic Initiatives team envisions, designs, builds and nurtures a variety of projects in collaboration with a host of different stakeholders. A dedicated unit of the team works closely with the CEO on projects of key strategic significance at an organisational level (including fundraising, donor relationships and organisation governance) and also acts as an in-house incubator for new initiatives and issue areas.
Position Summary
The SPM / PM (PSI) will co-lead the CEOs office function to ensure that CSF works towards its mission in the most effective way possible, and has the right capabilities, resources and networks to achieve it. Major workstreams include establishing and cultivating deep strategic and funding relationships for CSF, managing key governance processes including the advisory board engagement, working on CSFs strategy, performance and effectiveness and taking on special projects as they arise from time to time. This role provides an excellent orientation of how strategic foundations operate to solve complex issues and provides a birds eye view of CSFs work across areas and priorities. It also affords a great opportunity to work closely with (and learn directly from) the CEO and other senior members of the leadership team and our advisory board.
Key Workstreams
Fundraising and Donor Management
Coordinate fundraising for CSF across projects; landscaping of potential funders, lead customised collateral creation and facilitate follow-ups as needed
Work closely with CEO and all relevant teams to ensure consistent engagement and high-quality reporting with current and potential donors
Function as the bid office for CSF, coordinating and leading submission of proposals and applications for prestigious and aligned grant opportunities
Organisation Governance
Supporting the leadership team with developing the strategic plan/framework for the organisation, and the associated operating plan. This includes refining the organisation's goals and targets, resourcing/ staffing and budget continuously
Managing key organisational processes for executing CSFs strategy (this includes strategic reviews on a monthly and quarterly basis, Investment committees, etc.). This includes coordinating leadership and board member calendars, scheduling meetings, taking concise and sharp meeting minutes, etc.
Design and anchor implementation of our advisory board engagement strategy including quarterly board meetings and other sub-committee meetings.
Work with other CSF horizontal teams towards specific goals - CSF branding and visibility with the Policy & Communications team (scope out speaking opportunities, awards, conferences, assist with key properties including annual report, website, conclave, etc.), fund optimisation and allocation to projects and variance against budget with the Finance team (create and iterate fund allocation strategy, improve financial review and reporting processes, etc.) & high priority hiring, planning and execution of employee engagement activities including offsites, data analysis and presentation of key talent trends with the HR team
Strategic Initiatives
Manage ongoing strategic projects held by the CEO office including international partnerships with other educational and strategic organisations and special engagements with external stakeholders.
Identify, plan and activate new initiatives and focus areas aligned to the organisations strategic direction. These may also include developing and managing new strategic partnerships to further CSFs vision and goals, carrying out research on allied and new domains to analyse suitability for CSF to engage in them, putting together and running initial projects in existing, allied and new areas in furtherance of CSF goals and vision, etc.
Please note that work allocation for this role may vary across different workstreams from time to time, reflecting the agile nature of the team and its evolving requirements. The descriptions provided for each workstream are indicative, and specific work responsibilities may change following team needs. Accordingly, the role is expected to accommodate updated / additional duties and responsibilities as and when necessary.
What would make you a good fit for the role:
While there is no preference for a particular major, we expect to see a high degree of intellectual curiosity and sophistication, particularly towards organisation strategy, governance and partnerships.
Extremely high analytical, synthesis and problem-solving abilities as the role requires synthesising complex information from multiple sources and developing an informed perspective. Robust data analysis skills with proficiency in common software applications such as Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, and Tableau, for effective data interpretation and visualisation, are a plus.
Good research, writing skills and communication skills with the ability to create high-quality outputs in the form of notes, decks, etc. in a short period are critical.
A high level of flexibility and responsiveness with the ability to shift priorities quickly and as per organisational demands are required.
Comfort with ambiguity and rapid change, with a proactive, self-starting approach to thinking critically and delivering results, while continuously pursuing professional development
Demonstrated ability to build trust and credibility with senior leaders and board members, supported by excellent interpersonal skills that enable effective collaboration across various levels and functions.