Senior Program Associate, WCD

Position Summary:

As a Senior Program Associate (SPA) – Project Delivery at the Centre for Effective Governance of Indian States (CEGIS), you will drive end-to-end project execution, from conceptualisation and diagnostics to solution design, piloting, implementation, and scale-up. Working closely with Project Leads, you will anchor the analytical backbone of initiatives, ensuring data-driven decision-making in frontline service delivery, governance reforms, and public expenditure efficiency.

You will be responsible for conducting in-depth research, synthesising complex data, and translating insights into actionable recommendations through clear, compelling reports, presentations, and knowledge products. The role demands exceptional attention to detail, advanced analytical and research skills, and the ability to engage effectively with stakeholders. Collaboration is a crucial aspect of this role, where you will be required to coordinate across teams to ensure alignment, enhance operational efficiency, and deliver measurable impact.

Roles and Responsibilities:

Data Analysis and Insight Generation:

- Collect, validate, and analyse quantitative and qualitative data (using advanced tools such as STATA, R, excel) to diagnose problems, generate insights and track progress
- Identify data gaps, address quality issues, and present findings for decision-making.

Solution Design and Implementation:

- Support the design and rollout of competency-based L&D interventions, including competency identification, training needs assessments, and development of learning pathways for key government positions.
- Conduct independent research and root cause analyses to inform other reform pathways.
- Recommend enhancements to strategies, project approach, frameworks and targeted solutions based on the government context.

Stakeholder Engagement and Communication:

- Build relationships with key government partners and internal teams to assess needs and ensure alignment on program design and implementation.
- Maintain a regular communication cadence with external stakeholders, prepare discussion notes, and ensure timely sharing of project updates, reports and deliverables.
- Ensure cross-functional collaboration with internal teams to gather inputs, avoid duplication, and maintain consistency across tools and communication artefacts

Project Management:

- Assist in altering project goals and outcomes based on stakeholder feedback and project progress.
- Develop and manage work plans, ensuring timely delivery of outputs.
- Identify risks, roadblocks, and strategies for the project for stakeholder buy-in.
- Produce high-quality reports and analyses for internal and external dissemination.

Documentation and Knowledge Creation & Facilitation:`

- Document and disseminate domain specific information that enables project success.
- Create original knowledge pieces like blogs, concept notes, work flows etc.
- Maintain Project based knowledge repository and contribute to other Knowledge management processes.

Education & Experience:

- 3-6 years of experience with organisations working in related fields of work i.e., research agencies, policy think-tanks, government or private sector organisations working on government advisory or consulting, preferably with a Masters degree or equivalent in public policy, social science, Human Resources or related fields from a reputable institution.
- Fluency in English and Kannada is required.

Required Competencies:

Functional Competencies

- Solution Design: Applies user-centric insights to design, test, and improve solutions
- Research and Data Analytics: Proficient in data analytics, conducting research and generating actionable insights, skilled in statistical tools like STATA, R and/or Excel,
- Project Management: Skilled in planning, task prioritisation and consistently meeting deadlines.
- Writing and Documentation: Creates high-quality reports, concept notes and presentations to convey complex ideas with clarity and structure.

Professional and Leadership Competencies

- Relationship Building: Builds trust with stakeholders and fosters collaboration and alignment through clear, consistent engagement.
- Collaborative Problem Solving: Demonstrates problem-solving skills coupled with creative thinking and risk-taking aptitude
- Ownership: Exhibits self-motivation and proactivity in managing multiple tasks, timelines, and responsibilities, ensuring accountability for high-quality results.
- Learning Orientation: Seeks feedback, reflects on gaps, and continuously works to improve effectiveness.

Remuneration:

Remuneration will be competitive with Indian philanthropy and social sector pay scales and will depend on the candidates experience levels.

Pre-reads:

- Concept note on CEGIS 
- A glimpse into life at CEGIS - CEGIS Retreat 2024 
- CEGIS Snapshot 2023-24
 
- Podcast episodes with Prof. Karthik Muralidharan one each on education and healthcare in India 
- You are also encouraged to read more of Prof. Karthik Muralidharan's work here and through his book Accelerating India's Development: A State-Led Roadmap for India's Development

About CEGIS Foundation

Centre for Effective Governance of Indian States (CEGIS pronounced See-Jis) aims to improve lives by helping Indian state governments deliver better development outcomes. The four key characteristics of any high-performing organisation are (a) measuring outcomes through reliable, high quality data that enables goal setting and monitoring progress towards these goals; (b) strategic use of personnel competency based hiring and training, skilling, and performance appraisals to determine job assignments, pay, and promotions to achieve the goals above; (c) strategic budgeting where resource allocation is based on evidence and cost-effectiveness; (d) and creating efficient systems to leverage external actors (including for-profit and nonprofit organisations). The Indian State needs to perform better on all four fronts above, by enhancing its capacity. CEGIS partners with states to improve this capacity by focusing on these four pillars of the State.

Informed by cutting-edge research and evidence as well as a practical orientation toward implementable ideas, CEGIS works with multiple State Governments and a few Government of India entities across nutrition, health and education sectors to enable a transformative improvement in their functioning. This vision and Theory of Change (ToC) is an outcome of extensive research done by Prof. Karthik Muralidharan (CEGIS Co-Founder and Scientific Director) and strategic philanthropic support provided by Mr. Ashish Dhawan (CEGIS Co-Founder).

Prof. Karthik Muralidharan is the Tata Chancellors Professor of Economics at the University of California, San Diego. Over the past two decades, he has led extensive research projects in India across education, health, and social welfare. His book, Accelerating India's Development: A State-Led Roadmap for Effective Governance, systematically analyses India's governance challenges and provides actionable, evidence-based strategies, emphasising state-level reforms as critical for India's advancement.

Ashish Dhawan is a leading Indian philanthropist and the Founder-CEO of The Convergence Foundation (TCF). He is also the Founding Chairperson of Ashoka University and the Central Square Foundation, and is a governing board member of the Gates Foundation. Before his second career as a philanthropist, Ashish was among India's most successful private equity investors.

Funding Partners

TCF-https://theconvergencefoundation.org

NATCO- https://www.natcopharma.co.in/

Veddis Foundation- https://veddis.org/

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation- https://www.gatesfoundation.org/

Michael & Susan Dell Foundation- https://www.dell.org/

CEGIS is an equal employment opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against based on race, colour, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, disability, age, genetic information, veteran status, ancestry, or national or ethnic origin.