Senior Manager- Projects- Jharkhand

NalandaWay Foundation · India

Job title: Senior Manager- Projects

Location: Ranchi

About NalandaWay Foundation: NalandaWay Foundation is a 21-year-old, award-winning non-profit that uses the arts to empower children and adolescents from disadvantaged communities by strengthening their resilience, agency, and emotional well-being. 

Over the last two decades, we have reached 10 million children across 12 states in India — including Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Maharashtra, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi NCR, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Kerala, and Jharkhand — by creating safe learning spaces and experiences that nurture curiosity, creativity, and compassion.

Partnering with governments and local communities, we have integrated arts and well-being initiatives into government-run schools, Child Care Institutions (CCIs), urban slums, and Anganwadi Centres, ensuring our impact spans both bustling cities and remote villages.

About the Role: The Senior Manager – Projects is responsible for the successful implementation of multiple projects in Jharkhand, ensuring the achievement of agreed outcomes, meeting timelines and quality standards, are delivered in line with approved budgets and fulfilling stakeholder commitments. 

Key Responsibilities involve

1. Project Management and Delivery

• Own end-to-end delivery of assigned projects, ensuring achievement of agreed outcomes, milestones, quality standards, timelines and approved budgets; translate project strategy into clear implementation plans and accountabilities.
• Provide hands-on support to the Project Manager(s) and field team to develop detailed work plans and organise work streams effectively.
• Translate programme strategy and design into executable project priorities, while providing delivery insights and recommendations to the Director – Projects to inform programme decisions and adaptations.
• Manage multiple team functions, plan tasks, discuss progress, and address problems with team members; monitor operational performance with the manager in the field.
• Ensure implementation of project deliverables across designated Institutions in line with project guidelines and compliance requirements.
• Anticipate project risks, dependencies and emerging issues; resolve crises in a timely manner, and escalate risks with clear analysis and recommendations.
• Oversee and contribute to programme design, development, research and content creation (wherever required) and ensure timelines are adhered to.
• Develop a deep understanding of the domain and keep abreast of developments and initiatives in the social and development sector.
• Conduct regular monitoring visits to project sites to understand intervention implementation in the field and oversee events, workshops, or surveys at project locations.
• Manage and implement monitoring and evaluation mechanisms such as needs assessments, baseline and end-line surveys, and focus group discussions at project sites.
• Own project budget performance within delegated authority, including budgeting, forecasting, monitoring variances, optimising resource utilisation and ensuring appropriate procurement and vendor management.
• Contribute to any other activities/tasks assigned by the Director and participate in the work of different project teams whenever required.

Outcome & Performance Accountability

• Be accountable for agreed project outcomes, milestones, quality, budget utilisation and stakeholder commitments.
• Maintain visibility of project performance through agreed indicators and dashboards, identify variances early and take corrective action.
• Ensure project learning, evidence and field insights are translated into improvements in programme design and organisational practice.

Donor and Stakeholder Management

• Liaise with relevant government officials (Director, Secretary level) and departments at the state and district levels for programme implementation, and strengthen networks to support effective implementation.
• Build and sustain strong working relationships with government officials in key departments through regular meetings and project updates.
• Manage critical stakeholder relationships and align stakeholders around project outcomes; anticipate expectations, manage competing interests and resolve stakeholder concerns to protect project delivery.
• Build collaboration and partnerships with other organisations, employers, and NGOs, and work closely with them to learn from and build best practices.
• Donor management: Ensure timely and accurate donor reporting and due diligence, proactively communicating project progress, risks, variances and corrective actions to maintain donor confidence and accountability. Present updates and progress to donors, and manage donor scheduling during field visits.

Documentation

• Develop complex project reports and presentations for internal updates and sharing with all stakeholders. Analyse complex quantitative and qualitative data and turn around reports expeditiously.
• Maintain documentation (documents, photos, and reports) captured and updated regularly by the team across various platforms (Eg., Google Drive).
• Plan project tasks effectively in Wrike and work closely with the team to complete them.

People Management

• Lead high-performing project teams by setting clear outcomes, roles, and accountabilities; delegate effectively, coach team members, and foster ownership, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Collaborate extensively with other managers and departments/functions across NalandaWay Foundation to share ideas, knowledge, and best practices.
• Own performance and capability development of direct reports, including clear expectations, regular feedback, coaching, performance management and development planning.

Leadership Competencies & Continuous Development

• Spend significant time in the field across your projects’ areas to build a nuanced understanding.
• Exercise sound judgement and make timely, evidence-informed decisions in situations of uncertainty, balancing project outcomes, stakeholder needs, resources and organisational priorities .
• Use quantitative and qualitative analysis to prioritise resources, assess trade-offs and manage competing project demands while maintaining delivery quality and timelines .
• Be meticulous and highly detail-oriented
• Develop the ability to analyse complex quantitative and qualitative data and turn around reports expeditiously.
• Deep understanding of the domain and keeping abreast of the developments and initiatives in the Education and Development sectors.

Decision-Making & Organisational Leadership

• Exercise delegated authority to make timely decisions on project priorities, resource allocation, implementation adaptations and operational matters.
• Escalate material risks, budget variances and stakeholder issues with clear options and recommendations.
• Collaborate across functions and influence colleagues and partners beyond direct reporting lines to achieve project outcomes.
• Contribute project-level insights and learning to broader organisational planning, strategy and continuous improvement.

Qualifications and Preferred Experience:  

• Master's degree or equivalent professional qualification in a relevant discipline; strong project/programme leadership experience is preferred.
• 10 to 15 years of relevant experience in a project management or executive role, with at least two years in a leadership role, managing multiple functions
• Purpose-driven; must reflect the organization’s core values at all times
• Strong understanding of national and state education policy and programmes; adept in crisis management and people management.
• Ability to derive insights from data and ensure high quality reports/ documentation
• Take initiative, be a team player and a problem solver
• Excellent leadership, coordination, capacity building, planning and analytical skills
• Strong programme/ technical and budget management skills; Planning, reporting, and monitoring skills. Ability to think for women-centric projects in the field.
• Strong written and oral communication skills; effective in representation and liaison with external parties; strong group and workshop facilitation skills
• Female candidates are encouraged to apply, and candidates who can travel extensively across project sites (Ranchi, Jharkhand and adjacent areas).