Position Summary

As the Senior Program Manager (Nutrition) in Maharashtra, you will lead and drive the CEGIS engagement in the nutrition sector in Maharashtra. You will anchor the relationship with the WCD department and handle stakeholder engagement across the partnership ecosystem in the nutrition sector in the state. You will work closely with the vertical and sector leads to design and implement governance reforms across data, finance and HR in the nutrition sector.

You will be ultimately responsible for the nutrition workstream and team in the state, and eventual success of CEGIS-driven reforms in the WCD department in the state.

This role will report to the Nutrition Lead. It will also require close collaboration with the state lead for government and partner relationships in Maharashtra, and the vertical leads for design and implementation of solutions.

Roles & Responsibilities

Drive the governance reform initiative in the nutrition sector with focus on solution design, MEL and knowledge management

- Provide overall leadership to the nutrition team in Maharashtra.
- Contextualise CEGIS nutrition strategy to Maharashtra by co-designing governance interventions with the vertical leads, bringing deep state context and technical sectoral expertise.
- Execute, monitor and evaluate the interventions, design scaling strategies for successful interventions and embed solutions in government processes and state capacity building.
- Define outcome pathways, intermediate metrics, monitoring and evaluation strategies for the engagement in Maharashtra; implement this with support from the MEL team.
- Ensure knowledge management, clear reporting and documentation, and institutionalise learning in the Maharashtra nutrition projects.

Develop and maintain relationships with key government officials





- Pitch CEGIS offerings and solutions in line with the nutrition strategy to state or district-level government stakeholders
- Build and maintain relationships with relevant state officials across different levels, creating opportunities for team members to interact collaboratively with stakeholders and steer the engagement.

Manage partnerships, ecosystem engagement and funding narratives

- Identify, institutionalise and manage partnerships, being the point of contact for communication with various stakeholders in the nutrition and ECD ecosystem in Maharashtra.
- Position CEGIS as an key player in the state nutrition/ECD sector, building and regularly convening a coalition of partners working on these topics.
- Participate in external events, workshops and conferences to advocate for CEGIS mission and establish mechanisms of cross-learning both internally and externally.
- Support the nutrition lead in donor reporting and fundraising.

Required Qualifications, Skills and Abilities Educational Qualifications and Professional Experience

- Master's degree or equivalent in relevant fields - economics, public policy, public health, development studies or related quantitative or social science discipline.
- 8 to 14 years of work experience with managerial responsibilities, demonstrating excellent project delivery skills.
- Experience of working with government systems and bureaucrats at the district or state level, especially on topics related to nutrition, is highly desirable.

Domain,



functional and behavioural competencies

- Knowledge of the early childhood development sector, along with an understanding of the ICDS system.
- Strong interest in improving the functioning of the government combined with interest/experience in using research and evidence to improve policy
- Excellent problem-solving and strategic thinking skills, ability to analyse complex quantitative and qualitative data, craft possible solutions and recommend actions
- Excellent writing and communication skills (ability to communicate complex ideas in a meaningful way and across different audiences) in both English and local language (preferred)
- Demonstrated relationship-building ability and management of high-level relationships with partner organizations, ideally based on experience of working with Indian state governments
- Ability to set goals and metrics for a team, and manage the team towards delivering those goals
- Strong planning and organizational skills, and an ability to be able to set priorities, plan timelines and meet deadlines.
- Operating style suited to working independently and in a small-organization setting, where teamwork and resourcefulness are highly valued.
- Ability to work under pressure, handle competing priorities, maintain attention to detail, and deliver high-quality outputs.
- Ability to think creatively, willingness to take risks to experiment with new ideas, and ability to turn ideas into action.
- High ability to collaborate and actively listen to others, understanding and valuing others view.

Role Logistics The role is based out of Maharashtra. Frequent travel within the state and some travel to other states will be required. Fluency in regional languages is desirable, though not necessary.

📌 Senior Program Manager (Maharashtra)
🏢 Centre for Effective Governance of Indian States (CEGIS)
📍 Maharashtra