Location: Bangalore Reporting To: Associate Director(s) / relevant program leadership Team: Program operations team Role Purpose The Senior Program Manager (SPM) leads the planning and implementation of a mentoring programme that helps young women from low-income backgrounds navigate the transition from college to work. Delivered primarily across Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Telangana through the Mentor To Go platform, the programme combines a Foundation Mentoring tier for pre-final year students, with a Placement Mentoring tier that takes final-year students through to certified placement readiness. This role is distinctive in its gender-focused program and its explicit transition-to-work outcomes.

The SPM is the primary point of accountability for planning, program delivery quality & outcomes, donor reporting and engagement (including corporate volunteering), and team management. Core Areas of ResponsibilityProgramme Planning & Operational Oversight - Own program-level operational planning — annual, quarterly, and monthly gantts — across the Foundation (pre-final year) and Placement (final year) mentoring tiers.

- Translate programme goals into structured operational approaches across the full mentoring lifecycle: outreach, onboarding, mandatory self-learning (including online safety and AI literacy), screening, matching, mentoring delivery, and closure.
- Maintain operational clarity through prioritisation and sequencing of activities across tiers Mentee Outreach, Onboarding & Mentoring Quality - Oversee mentee mobilisation through college town halls, screening workshops, income verification and 1:1 interviews
- Ensure mentees complete mandatory online-safety and AI-awareness modules before matching
- Maintain the Mentor To Go quality standard across roughly 800 - 900 mentees — structured orientations, regular pair-manager check-ins, relationship-quality surveys mid-cycle, and structured closure.





Corporate Mentor

Mobilisation & Partner Engagement - Lead mobilisation, screening, verification, safeguarding checks, and structured training of volunteer mentors drawn from corporate and professional networks, including a committed mentor cohort from the supporting corporate partner.

- Serve as the primary relationship owner for the corporate partner — coordinating mentor pipelines, volunteering engagement, and structured, trust-based communication.
- Own donor reporting end-to-end: accurate, credible, and timely narrative and data reporting against committed targets and timelines, and serve as the primary point of accountability for the partnership.

Placement

Readiness, Employer Mapping & Transition Support - Direct the placement-support component for final-year cohorts: employer and sector mapping with attention to local and regional labour markets, opportunity discovery, and surfacing of internships and entry-level roles.

- Oversee placement-readiness certification — verified career plans, resumes and LinkedIn profiles, mock interviews scored against rubrics, job-search behaviours (connections, applications, interviews), and AI/digital-safety course completion.
- Guide responsible, effective use of AI-enabled tools for job search People Management & Team Development - Lead and manage the program operations team (typically 6 members)
- Drive goal-setting, performance planning, coaching, and feedback; support recruitment, onboarding, and capability development.
- Foster accountability,



ownership, and engagement aligned with Mentor Together's culture and values. Analytics, MEL & Reporting - Lead internal & external programme reporting
- Ensure data integrity, anonymisation/PII discipline, and thoughtful interpretation of metrics; review weekly dashboards and trackers to enable timely course correction.
- Anticipate delivery risks — onboarding delays, mentor or mentee drop-off, labour-market conditions — and implement mitigations proactively. Financial, Safeguarding & Operational Discipline - Uphold financial discipline through review and approval of expenses aligned with SOPs and budgets; guide compliant, efficient expense and claim processes.
- Ensure safeguarding rigour throughout — code of conduct, and clear escalation protocols. Experience, Skills & Competencies - 8–10 years of professional experience, with substantial program management or program leadership exposure.
- Demonstrated experience with youth-focused programmes in employability, skilling, or education-linked contexts;

experience with gender-focused programming and / or placement and employer engagement is a solid advantage.

- Proven ability to manage corporate / donor partnerships, including volunteer mobilisation and donor reporting.
- Strong analytical, planning, and problem-solving abilities; high comfort with operational tools and software (Excel, tracking systems, project-planning tools, dashboards).
- Exceptional attention to detail and execution discipline; strong oral and written communication skills.
- Sound judgment, an ownership mindset, sensitivity to safeguarding, and operational reliability in fast-paced, evolving environments.

Selection

Process - Submission of CV

- Any pre-work / assignment activity (where applicable)
- Interviews
- Reference checks
- Offer intimation

📌 Senior Program Manager - Mentoring Programme for Young Women in Colleges (Bengaluru)
🏢 Mentor Together
📍 Bengaluru