Senior Program Manager

Ecosystem Capacity
Building (ECB)

Reporting
to: AVP / Head – Ecosystem Capacity Building
Location: Bengaluru, with travel across India
Employment: Full-time
Role focus: Program leadership, institutional capacity building and
ecosystem partnerships

Who We Are

NSRCEL is the startup hub and
incubation centre of IIM Bangalore. It supports entrepreneurs and
entrepreneurship-support institutions through incubation, learning, research,
partnerships and ecosystem-building initiatives.

NSRCEL works with founders,
incubators, governments, academic institutions, corporates and funders to
strengthen India’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and enable inclusive and
sustainable innovation.

About Ecosystem
Capacity Building

Ecosystem
Capacity Building (ECB) is NSRCEL’s institution-building and
ecosystem-development vertical.

ECB
works with incubators and other Entrepreneur Support Organisations (ESO) to
strengthen their:

· Strategy and institutional
positioning

· Governance and leadership

· People and organisational
capabilities

· Incubation programs and
venture-support systems

· Operating processes

· Ecosystem partnerships

· Monitoring and evaluation
systems

· Financial and institutional
sustainability

ECB’s
portfolio includes institutional advisory, incubation-manager development,
research and knowledge products, and multi-stakeholder capacity-building
initiatives.

About iCube

Incubating Incubators
Initiative (iCube) is ECB’s flagship institutional capacity-building program.

It supports emerging and
growth-stage incubators, particularly those serving underserved regions and
sectors, to become stronger, more effective and sustainable organisations.

Through diagnostics,
co-design, implementation support, mentoring and evaluation, iCube helps
partner incubators:

· Define incubation thesis and
strategic positioning; strengthen governance and institutional leadership

· Design and implement incubation
and venture-support programs, along with effective organisational and operating
models

· Build capable incubation teams
and strengthen corporate, government, investor, and ecosystem partnerships

· Establish monitoring and
performance systems and improve long-term financial and institutional
sustainability

The program brings together
NSRCEL’s institutional frameworks and products, including ECKNA™, the NSRCEL
Academy, Funding Desk, learning curricula, readiness diagnostics, monitoring
tools and access to a national network of practitioners, mentors and partners.

The Opportunity

The Senior Program
Manager will lead iCube end to end and play a central role in scaling ECB’s
institutional capacity-building portfolio.

The role combines:

· Program leadership

· Institutional strategy and
advisory

· Partner and funder management

· Team leadership

· Financial and operational
stewardship

· Monitoring, evaluation and
learning

· Knowledge creation

· Ecosystem development

The Senior Program
Manager will translate institutional needs into practical improvement plans,
ensure high-quality delivery across multiple partner incubators, and build the
systems, partnerships and evidence required to establish iCube as a leading national




platform for incubator capability development.

Key Responsibilities

1. Lead
iCube End to End

· Own the full iCube lifecycle:
partner identification, scoping, contracting, onboarding, diagnostics,
co-design, implementation, mentoring, review and closure.

· Translate ECB strategy into
annual plans, account roadmaps, budgets and measurable outcomes.

· Ensure consistent, high-quality
delivery across multiple incubator engagements.

· Coordinate internal teams,
external experts and implementation partners.

· Manage risks, dependencies and
decision-making processes.

· Ensure engagements lead to
measurable institutional capability improvements.

2. Drive Institutional Diagnostics and Transformation

· Lead institutional diagnostics
across strategy, governance, operations, programs, people, ecosystem linkages
and sustainability.

· Assess institutional maturity
and readiness of partner incubators.

· Support development of
incubation thesis, business model, governance systems, operating model, program
architecture and M&E; frameworks.

· Convert diagnostics into
structured, time-bound improvement plans with clear KPIs and ownership.

· Provide hands-on advisory to
incubator leadership teams.

· Track progress against
capability-building milestones.

3. Manage Partner and Funder Relationships

· Serve as primary relationship
owner for incubators, funders, government and ecosystem partners.

· Build trusted relationships
with senior stakeholders.

· Establish governance mechanisms
(steering committees, reviews, check-ins, reporting forums).

· Deliver high-quality proposals,
reports and updates.

· Ensure timely fulfilment of
commitments and reporting requirements.

· Identify renewal and expansion
opportunities.

4. Lead Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning

· Define success metrics,
baselines and evidence frameworks.

· Track program and institutional
performance across outputs, outcomes and impact.

· Maintain dashboards, trackers
and program data systems.

· Conduct structured reviews and
course corrections.

· Synthesize learnings across
engagements to improve iCube methodology.

· Develop case studies,
frameworks and knowledge outputs for the ecosystem.

5.
Lead and Develop a Small Team

· Lead a small team of program
managers and Assistant managers

· Set clear roles, priorities and
performance expectations.

· Provide day-to-day guidance on
delivery, stakeholder management and problem-solving.

· Allocate work across accounts
and ensure balanced workload distribution.

· Coach team members and support
their professional development.

· Build a culture of ownership,
rigour, collaboration and continuous learning.

· Identify and onboard external
experts and partners as needed.

6. Financial, Operational and Compliance Discipline

· Own budgets, forecasts and
financial utilisation.

· Ensure timely and compliant




fund utilisation and reporting.

· Maintain audit-ready
documentation across all engagements.

· Track contracts, deliverables,
decisions and program records.

· Ensure compliance with NSRCEL,
IIMB and funder requirements.

· Strengthen scalable systems,
templates and processes.

7. Build and Scale the ECB Portfolio

· Contribute to iCube’s 3-year
scale strategy.

· Shape operating model, talent
model, partnerships and revenue approach.

· Identify demand across sectors
and geographies.

· Support business development
and partner conversion.

· Integrate ECB tools and
products into engagements (ECKNA™, Academy, Funding Desk, diagnostics, M&E;
tools).

· Represent NSRCEL in ecosystem
forums and convenings.

Expected Outcomes

The Senior Program
Manager will ensure that:

· iCube engagements are delivered
on time, within budget and at high quality.

· Partner incubators show
measurable improvements in capability and performance.

· Institutional improvement plans
are implemented effectively.

· Funders receive timely,
credible and evidence-based reporting.

· A capable small team and expert
network supports program delivery.

· Repeatable systems enable
scalable program execution.

· iCube strengthens NSRCEL’s
position as a national leader in incubator capacity building.

Requirements

Qualifications and
Experience

· Postgraduate degree in
management, public policy, development studies, social sciences,
entrepreneurship or related field.

· 10–12 years of relevant
experience.

· Experience in program
management, consulting, incubation, ecosystem development or institutional
capacity building.

· Proven ability to manage
complex, multi-stakeholder programs end to end.

· Experience working with
incubators, accelerators, ESOs, government or development-sector organisations.

· Strong skills in
problem-solving, program design, facilitation, M&E; and stakeholder
management.

· Experience leading small teams
and coordinating external experts.

· Strong financial, operational
and documentation discipline.

· Excellent communication and
presentation skills.

· Willingness to travel across
India.

Preferred Experience

· Experience building or scaling
an incubator, ESO or institutional program.

· Leadership experience in social
enterprises, government programs, foundations, universities or ecosystem
organisations.

· Familiarity with institutional
frameworks, M&E; systems and organisational design.

· Experience designing operating
models, governance structures or sustainability plans.

· Solid ecosystem network across
entrepreneurship, CSR, government or academia.

· Experience working in
underserved or public-sector incubation contexts.

Ideal Profile

You are a structured and
adaptive operator who can grow a Business Unit and move from strategy to
execution with ease.

You bring
consulting-level rigour, strong ownership and the ability to lead small teams
while managing multiple stakeholders. You are comfortable working in ambiguity,
building systems from scratch and ensuring delivery excellence in complex
environments.

You are motivated by
strengthening institutions that enable entrepreneurs to succeed and scale.

📌 Senior Program Manager- Ecosystem Capacity Building (Bengaluru)
🏢 Nameless
📍 Bengaluru