ROLE
OVERVIEW

​

The CTO Office Lead (Chief of Staff) is the operational
and strategic enabler of the Chief Technology Officer. This is not an
administrative role — it is a high-trust, high-impact position that requires
the intellectual depth to engage with complex technology governance questions,
the political acumen to manage senior stakeholders, and the operational
discipline to run a multi-forum governance machine without a single failure.

The CTO Office Lead (Chief of Staff) is the operational
and strategic enabler of the Chief Technology Officer. This is not an
administrative role — it is a high-trust, high-impact position that requires
the intellectual depth to engage with complex technology governance questions,
the political acumen to manage senior stakeholders, and the operational
discipline to run a multi-forum governance machine without a single failure.

The Chief of Staff will act as the CTO's force multiplier:
ensuring the technology organization operates with rigour, visibility and
accountability across all nine departments. They will be the custodian of the
governance calendar, the architect of Board reporting, the tracker of all
decisions and actions, and the primary coordinator of cross-department
dependencies.

This role sits at the intersection of strategy and
operations — the person who ensures that the CTO's strategic priorities
translate into concrete actions, that every governance forum is productive, and
that no commitment falls through the cracks in a 58-person organisation
managing India's national skilling infrastructure.

The CTO Office Lead is
accountable for three things above all else:

§ The CTO is always
prepared. Every board meeting, every Ministry engagement, every governance
forum is preceded by a well-researched, quality-assured briefing pack. No CTO
surprises.

§ Every governance
commitment is met. The six Technology & Digital governance forums —
Technology Leadership Council, Architecture Review Board, AI Governance Board,
Data Governance Council, Change Advisory Board, and Vendor Governance Council —
run on schedule, with the right attendees, the right pre-reads, and the right
outputs captured.

§ Every decision and
action is tracked. In a 58-person organisation with nine departments and
multiple vendors, the difference between a decision made and a decision
implemented is follow-through. The Chief of Staff owns that follow-through.

CTO Enablement & Executive Support

§ Manage the CTO's
strategic calendar — prioritising engagements, preparing briefings, and
ensuring no governance obligation is missed

§ Prepare and quality assure
all Board level and Ministry level technology communications: board packs,
technology committee papers, ministerial briefings, and strategic updates

§ Conduct pre-meeting
research and synthesis converting complex technology data into explicit, decision ready
narrative for senior leadership

§ Anticipate issues before
they reach the CTO by monitoring governance health across all departments and
flagging risks early

§ Draft and quality-check
all external communications from the CTO's office including stakeholder
letters, policy responses and partnership communications

§ Support the CTO in
managing upward relationships: CEO, Board Audit Committee, Ministry officials,
and MSDE leadership

Governance Calendar & Forum
Management

§ Own and maintain the
master Technology & Digital Governance Calendar — scheduling, coordinating
and tracking all governance forums and their sub-meetings

§ Technology Leadership
Council (monthly) — prepare agenda, collate department reports, manage
pre-reads, capture decisions and actions

§ Architecture Review
Board (bi-weekly) — coordinate with Head APO on agenda, manage attendance,
circulate outputs

§ AI Governance Board
(monthly) — coordinate with HAIO on agenda, track pre-requisite use case
reviews, capture governance decisions

§ Data Governance Council
(monthly) — coordinate with HDAO on agenda and data maturity reporting

§ Change Advisory Board
(weekly) — coordinate with Change & Release Manager, circulate CAB
decisions to relevant departments

§ Vendor Governance
Council (quarterly) — prepare vendor scorecard packs, coordinate with Head PPO
and Finance

§ Ensure every forum has:
a published agenda (72hrs prior), relevant pre-reads, confirmed quorum, live
note-taking, and published minutes and actions within 48 hours

MIS Dashboards & Reporting

§ Own the Technology &
Digital MIS dashboard suite — weekly summary for CTO covering: OKR status
across all departments, delivery RAG, security posture, data quality, platform
availability,



vendor performance and financial spend

§ Coordinate data
collection from all department heads for weekly and monthly MIS chasing,
quality checking and compiling into a single consistent view

§ Prepare the quarterly Leadership
and Board Technology Report translating operational metrics into
Board-appropriate narrative with RAG status, trend analysis and key risks

§ Maintain the Technology
& Digital Scorecard against the 3-year transformation roadmap tracking
progress against annual targets and surfacing variance

§ Prepare ad hoc analysis
and briefing notes as directed by the CTO

Decision Register & Action
Tracking

§ Maintain the master
Technology & Digital Decision Register recording every significant decision
(ARB approvals, governance exceptions, vendor awards, architectural choices)
captured with rationale, date, approver and review date

§ Maintain the master
Action Register for all actions from all governance forums tracked with owner,
due date, status and escalation flag

§ Chair the weekly action
review, following up with department heads on overdue actions and escalating to
CTO where required

§ Produce a weekly
governance health summary for the CTO covering decisions made, actions overdue,
forums pending, escalations required

§ Maintain governance
documentation repository — ensuring all policies, standards, frameworks and
board papers are version-controlled and accessible

Cross-Department Coordination

§ Identify and surface
cross department dependencies, conflicts and bottlenecks that individual department
heads cannot resolve independently

§ Facilitate cross department
working sessions as directed by the CTO — preparing agendas, capturing outputs,
tracking actions

§ Manage the CTO's
involvement in cross department programmes: ensuring the right level of CTO
attention is directed to the right programmes at the right time

§ Support the Senior
Program Manager (PPO) in escalated program governance issues that require CTO
visibility

§ Coordinate the annual
Technology & Digital strategy refresh — organising the strategy offsite,
synthesising inputs, and preparing the strategy paper for CXO approval

Stakeholder Management &
Communications

§ Act as the first point
of contact for all inbound requests to the CTO's office — triaging, responding
or routing appropriately

§ Maintain the CTO's
stakeholder map — Ministry relationships, NSDC leadership, Board members, key
vendors and partners

§ Coordinate the quarterly
Ministry technology briefing — preparing deck, organising logistics, briefing
the CTO

§ Manage the CTO's
representation at external technology forums, industry events and GovTech
engagements — preparing briefs, talking points and follow-up actions

§ Support the Technology
& Digital communications programme — internal technology town halls,
all-hands preparation, staff communications from the CTO's office

Office Operations

§ Manage the CTO office
budget — tracking spend against allocation and preparing quarterly financial
reports

§ Coordinate recruitment
activity within the Technology & Digital function by liaising with HR,
managing interview scheduling, and onboarding coordination for senior hires

§ Maintain the Technology
& Digital Organisation Chart, contact directory and onboarding
documentation

§ Oversee the CTO office's
compliance obligations — ensuring all governance returns are submitted on time
(Ministry reporting, Board committee papers, audit responses)

Essential Qualifications

§ Bachelor’s degree in
engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related technical
discipline from a recognised institution

§ MBA or equivalent
postgraduate qualification from a Tier-1 institution — strongly preferred and
will be given significant weight in selection

§ 12–15 years of
progressive experience in technology program management, technology strategy,
or executive office roles within large technology organisations, government
digital bodies, or management consulting

§ Demonstrated experience
supporting a C-suite technology executive (CTO, CIO, CISO, or equivalent).

§ Proven experience
preparing Board-level technology communications, committee papers and
ministerial briefings

Essential Technical Knowledge

§ Ability to read,




understand and synthesize technology architecture documents, programme health
dashboards, cloud cost reports and security posture summaries without being a
hands-on technologist

§ Familiarity with cloud
services and provider’s at a governance level (Landing Zone, Well-Architected,
FinOps) sufficient to quality check reports and ask intelligent questions

§ Working knowledge of OKR
frameworks, programme governance (RAG reporting, RAID logs, dependency mapping)
and portfolio management

§ Proficiency in Microsoft
365 suite, Power BI or equivalent data visualization, and project management
tools (Jira, Confluence, MS Project)

Government / Public Sector Experience
—Desirable

§ Experience working
within a Government of India Ministry, PSU, autonomous body or government
digital agency

§ Familiarity with
Government of India reporting obligations, parliamentary committee processes,
Ministry of Finance/MeitY engagement protocols

§ Understanding of Digital
Public Infrastructure (DPI) concepts, NDEAR, DPDP Act 2023, and India's
national digital governance framework

§ Experience with GovTech
or digital transformation programmes

Competencies & Attributes

§ Exceptional written and
verbal communication: the ability to write with clarity, precision and
appropriate tone for multiple audiences (Board, Ministry, technical staff,
vendors)

§ Political intelligence: the ability to navigate
complex multi-stakeholder environments with sensitivity, discretion and
professionalism

§ Structured thinking: the ability to take
ambiguous, complex inputs from multiple departments and synthesize them into
coherent, decision-ready outputs

§ Absolute reliability: this role is the CTO's
operational guarantee; missed deadlines, incomplete packs or undocumented
decisions are not acceptable

§ Confidentiality and
Integrity: this
role operates with access to Board-restricted information, vendor negotiations,
personnel decisions and strategic planning; the highest standards of discretion
are non-negotiable

§ Proactivity: the Chief of Staff does
not wait to be asked; they anticipate what the CTO will need before the CTO
asks for it

§ Collaborative authority: the ability to get
things done through people who do not report to you; this role has authority by
association and must exercise it with judgement.

Requirements

Essential Qualifications

§ Bachelor’s degree in
engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related technical
discipline from a recognized institution

§ MBA or equivalent
postgraduate qualification from a Tier-1 institution — strongly preferred and
will be given significant weight in selection

§ 7-10 years of
progressive experience in technology program management, technology strategy,
or executive office roles within large technology organizations, government
digital bodies, or management consulting

§ Demonstrated experience
supporting a C-suite technology executive (CTO, CIO, CISO, or equivalent).

§ Proven experience
preparing Board-level technology communications, committee papers and
ministerial briefings

Essential Technical Knowledge

§ Ability to read,
understand and synthesise technology architecture documents, programme health
dashboards, cloud cost reports and security posture summaries without being a
hands-on technologist

§ Familiarity with cloud
services and provider’s at a governance level (Landing Zone, Well-Architected,
FinOps) sufficient to quality check reports and ask intelligent questions

§ Working knowledge of OKR
frameworks, programme governance (RAG reporting, RAID logs, dependency mapping)
and portfolio management

§ Proficiency in Microsoft
365 suite, Power BI or equivalent data visualisation, and project management
tools (Jira, Confluence, MS Project)

Government / Public Sector Experience
—Desirable

§ Experience working
within a Government of India Ministry, PSU, autonomous body or government
digital agency

§ Familiarity with
Government of India reporting obligations, parliamentary committee processes,
Ministry of Finance/MeitY engagement protocols

§ Understanding of Digital
Public Infrastructure (DPI) concepts, NDEAR, DPDP Act 2023, and India's
national digital governance framework

§ Experience with GovTech
or digital transformation programmes

Competencies & Attributes

§ Exceptional written and
verbal communication: the ability to write with clarity, precision and
appropriate tone for multiple audiences (Board, Ministry, technical staff,
vendors)

§ Political intelligence: the ability to navigate
complex multi-stakeholder environments with sensitivity, discretion and
professionalism

📌 Manager - CTO Office (New Delhi)
🏢 Recognized
📍 New Delhi