Assistant Manager

Job Title: Assistant Manager/Senior Officer (Monitoring) in Central Project Management Unit (CPMU)

Location: Pune

Travel: As per the project need

Position Overview:

This position is responsible for centrally driving strategic monitoring for the Catalyst program of Lend A Hand India (Catalyst program is spread in 20+ States of India where our State PMU teams provide strategic support to State Governments on Skill Education). This position will be responsible to ensure through central strategic monitoring, goals of the State programs are met and their qualities are improved through continuous & strategic monitoring.

Key Responsibilities:

• Centrally Driving outcome of Catalyst (Govt Program) in 20+ States: For Catalyst program; driving end to end monitoring for strategic areas in co-ordination with 20+ State PMUs
• For Catalyst Program: Designing Monitoring framework: Indicators, Data collection Tool, Dashboards etc development to ensure end to end central monitoring of 20+ states on key strategic areas as per org priority
• Co-ordination with State PMUs to drive outcome of Catalyst Program: Driving weekly monitoring review calls; coming up with right action steps to ensure program quality improvement targets set for 20+ States are met by the end of the academic year
• Updated Central Data Repository & Insights: Ensure for identified strategic area of Catalyst Programs, updated data & insights from 20+ States is available with CPMU team on monthly basis; developing Indicator & tracker for this; collecting data & post analysis sharing insights with Org management
• Strong Understanding of 20+ State Program Work: Develop strong understanding of 20+ State Program work & close co-ordination with our 20+ State PMU teams to drive monitoring for these states centrally
• Drive org level project monitoring in 20+ States and ensuring goals of the State programs are met and their qualities are improved through continuous & strategic monitoring
• Work with CPMU & MEL Head to manage monitoring work: Work closely with CPMU & MEL Head (CPMU-Central PMU & MEL-Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning) to work on strategic priority of the org in the monitoring space.
• Looking strategically at various State Program of the organization (State PMU work) and streamlining key areas that need to be monitored regularly by CPMU-MEL team, developing those monitoring frameworks and managing those continuous monitoring.
• Work closely with cross function teams of the org (Tech, MEL, State PMUs, Internship, Training etc) and develop long term robust monitoring mechanism for the org (data collection-analysis-visualization-decision making)
• Organize and lead/facilitate meetings and events with multiple senior stakeholders
• Liaison with Lend A Hand India External partners to facilitate consultation, collaboration in MEL space as required
• Flexibility to travel within and across states
• Take up any other work & opportunity as part of CPMU-MEL team under the guidance of Manager-CPMU & Head-CPMU-MEL team of Lend A Hand India

About Lend A Hand India : Lend A Hand India (LAHI) is a leading multi-state Think Tank/NGO working in the skill education sector for the last 18 years with partnership with 20+ States/UTs across India. At its core, Lend A Hand India strives to facilitate the school to work transition of 14-18 years old school children. Its project management teams provide Systems change support to the State Samagra Shiksha offices across India, in alignment with the Co-Impact (a donor collaborative of Gates/Rockefeller/Skoll/Nilekanis etc) vision and mission of sustainable change and development. Currently, 16,000+ schools and 15 lakh + students are a part of this program with around 200 team members working Pan-India. Majority of our work is in partnership with the State governments by helping the state governments to scale up Skill education in the state under Samagra Shiksha scheme of Ministry of Education & with Central Govt & National Skilling & Education bodies to come out with better policy/guidelines for Skill education ecosystem to ensure easier adoption by State Govts.

Our Mission

Equip School Students to Maximise Their Potential Through Skill Education

Our Approach

• Direct implementation in schools
• Partnership with central-state governments to define, and scale policy
• Building of Centres of Excellence that act as lighthouses for innovation
• Resource organisation for the skilling ecosystem

Our Knowledge in Action

Through the design & execution of innovative models from training centres, innovation hubs to mobile outreach initiatives, LAHI's innovative knowledge resource drives both grassroots learning and systemic transformation across India. With 250+ LAHI staff embedded in state education systems across 20+ states, we provide technical and project management support, enabling governments to translate policy into action.

Our Reach

LAHI's current scale of work includes -

• 20+ States and UTs
• 15000+ Schools
• 15 Lakh+ Students
• 250+ Team Members

What Truly Sets a Career at Lend A Hand India Apart –

• Work as a Systems Architect, not just an Implementer: You help build and refine the system itself, influencing policy and creating lasting change.
• Experience the thrill of scale with depth: See your ideas and efforts replicated across thousands of schools, impacting millions of students in a measurable way.
• Master Complex Collaboration: Gain unparalleled experience navigating and synergizing the worlds of government, corporate CSR, and community.
• Career with a Tangible Legacy: Your work directly creates skilled professionals, confident entrepreneurs, and a stronger national economy.
• Investment in you: We offer competitive compensation, comprehensive support & robust benefits and a culture that actively champions your professional development and holistic well-being.

Minimum Experience:

• Overall experience of 5-8+ years in MEL role (Monitoring Evaluation & Learning) in Education, Skill Development, related field
• Experience of working on Govt. Program (education program preferable)
• Experience of driving Monitoring outcome end to end for large programs (e.g 1000+ schools, 1lakh+ students): Indicator Development, Data Collection; Data Analysis & outcome finding presentation
• Strong understanding of India's School Education system & experience of working with them
• Proficient in MEL tools: Excel, Google Spreadsheet, Kobo, Power BI dashboards, Google studio
• People Management: Proficient in working with cross functional teams & multiple stakeholders
• Relevant Fellowship experience: Gandhi/TFI/MGNF etc desirable
• Experience of working with Bureaucrats and Govt. Institutions at State /Central level (desirable)
• Proficient in communicating ideas, strategy to State & National level Senior Govt. officers, Senior external partners & middle management internal teams
• Strong monitoring & evaluation, people management, program management skill
• Excellent written & verbal communication skills in English & Hind

Educational Background:

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Education, Social Sciences, Development Studies, Management, Public Policy, Economics, Statistics, Data Analytics, or a relevant field.

· Skills & Competencies:

• Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (MEL)
• Program Monitoring & Management
• Data Analysis & Insights
• Monitoring Framework Development
• Government Program Management

Personal Attributes

• Strategic & Analytical Mindset
• Data-Driven & Detail-Oriented
• Ownership & Accountability
• Proactive & Self-Driven
• Collaborative Team Player