Senior Project Lead, FL - AS (SPMU)

Job Title: Senior Project Lead – Assam

Type: Full-time

Organisation: Central Square Foundation (CSF)

Team: Assam State Team (cross-functional; currently spanning Foundational Learning and School Governance)

Location: Guwahati, Assam

About Central Square Foundation (CSF)

Founded in 2012, Central Square Foundation is a non-profit philanthropic foundation working with the vision of ensuring quality school education for all children in India. CSF has a mission focused on ensuring high-quality foundational learning for all children in India. To achieve this, CSF works closely with state governments to improve foundational learning outcomes for children. To know more about us and our work, visit www.centralsquarefoundation.org.

About Central Square Foundation (CSF)

CSF works in partnership with state governments to strengthen education systems through evidence-led, system-level reforms. In Assam, CSF supports government efforts to strengthen foundational learning through Mission NIPUN Axom and works on school governance initiatives, including reforms intended to strengthen accountability for school quality and learning outcomes.

About the Role

The State Lead will anchor CSF’s engagement with the Government of Assam and lead the state portfolio across Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN), School Governance and other education priorities as they evolve. The role requires strategic judgement, strong relationships with senior government and bureaucratic leadership, and the ability to build alignment around CSF’s priorities and translate them into effective implementation. The State Lead will also foster collaboration across CSF’s cross-functional teams.

Key Responsibilities

1) Government Engagement & Partnerships

• Build trusted relationships with senior government and departmental leaders; represent CSF in high-level reviews and consultations; and build government ownership and alignment around agreed priorities.
• Maintain regular engagement with government counterparts and ecosystem partners to resolve bottlenecks, coordinate support and sustain progress.
  

2) Strategy & Project Leadership

• Co-create state strategies and workplans with government counterparts and CSF leadership across FLN, School Governance and other agreed areas.
• Identify system-level bottlenecks, risks and opportunities; translate priorities into clear workplans, milestones and review mechanisms.
• Bring cross-state, cross-sector and evidence-based learnings to strengthen programme design, government engagement and delivery.

3) Implementation & Systems Strengthening

• Provide strategic oversight of agreed FLN workstreams, which may include teacher development, mentoring and academic support, teaching-learning materials, assessments and monitoring.
• Support agreed School Governance initiatives, including relevant policy and institutional reforms, school-quality standards, accountability and assessment/reporting.
• Work with relevant government bodies, including SCERT, Samagra Shiksha and other departments as appropriate, to strengthen implementation and institutionalisation of reforms.

4) Data, Reviews & Decision Support

• Use programme data, field insights and stakeholder feedback to review progress, identify risks and inform course corrections.
• Strengthen dashboards, monitoring systems, feedback loops and review mechanisms; communicate progress, risks and key decisions to government and CSF leadership.

5) Team Leadership & Cross-functional Coordination

• Lead and develop the cross-functional state team, setting clear priorities, allocating responsibilities and supporting performance and professional development.
• Build a one-team culture across FLN, School Governance and other relevant CSF teams, ensuring coordinated engagement with government and partners and a shared focus on state-level outcomes.

Desired Qualifications & Experience

• Postgraduate qualification in development studies, public policy, management, education, rural development or a related field.
• 8–12 years of relevant experience in programme leadership, government engagement, public systems strengthening, policy, advocacy or social-sector implementation.
• Demonstrated ability to engage government systems, ideally at state level and with senior bureaucratic or departmental leadership, and to move from strategic alignment to implementation.
• Experience managing teams and multi-stakeholder programmes, including cross-functional coordination.
• Education experience, particularly in FLN, school improvement, School Governance, assessment or education-system reform, is an advantage. Candidates from other development sectors with strong transferable experience are welcome.
• Experience working in Assam or the Northeast is an advantage, not a requirement; candidates with relevant experience in other geographies are encouraged to apply.
• Strong understanding of public systems, comfort with ambiguity and willingness to travel within Assam as required.

Why This Role Matters

This role offers an opportunity to work closely with the Government of Assam to strengthen systems that impact millions of children, while bringing cross-sector learning and implementation experience into one of India’s most important public system reform contexts.

Compensation: Remuneration will be competitive with Indian philanthropy pay scales and commensurate with the candidate’s experience and qualifications.

Apply: Interested candidates can apply by clicking on the link in the post.