Job Summary

State Capacity (Senior) Manager, India Location: Delhi, India

The Opportunity

Building the capacity of the Indian state is one of the most consequential problems in global development. Governments at every level are making decisions that affect hundreds of millions of people. The quality of those decisions depends on whether the right data, evidence, and institutional capabilities are in place. As State Capacity Lead, you will develop and hold relationships with senior leaders at influential government institutions and use them to drive reforms that actually stick. You will advise on governance reforms, improving public financial management, developing economic growth strategies, and above all, enabling governments to benefit from cutting-edge digital and AI innovations.

This role sits at the intersection of several things we think matter: governance reform, economic growth, and the use of AI in government, a space that is moving fast and where good judgment is crucial. You would be working with institutions like the Capacity Building Commission as well as planning and other departments across several key states, alongside a team that takes the analytical side of this work seriously.

This is a senior role with autonomy and agency. You would be shaping what we work on, and then driving a high-performing, motivated team towards delivering success.

Responsibilities

- The core of it is senior government relationships - being someone that senior government decision-makers want to call when they are thinking through a hard problem. That takes time to build and requires showing up consistently, understanding the institutional context,



and being honest about what the evidence does and does not support.
- Advisory work across several domains. Our state capacity engagements touch governance reform, PFM, economic growth strategy, and increasingly AI in government. You would need to be credible and informed across these areas. Not necessarily a technical expert in all of them, but someone who can engage seriously and bring in the right people when needed.
- AI and government. There is a lot of noise here, which can drown out the signal. Part of the role is helping government partners think carefully about where AI can genuinely improve how they work - in service delivery, financial management, planning - and where the institutional groundwork is not yet there.
- Practice development. You would work with IDinsight India leadership on shaping what the portfolio looks like over time - which governments we engage with, what kinds of problems we take on, where we should be building deeper expertise.
- Team leadership. You would manage a team of Associate Directors, Managers and Associates and be responsible for their professional development. The team does serious analytical work, and part of your job is creating the conditions for that to happen well.
- Project management. This involves owning and managing timelines, budgets,



and funder reporting across several projects.

Qualifications

Someone with 12-15 years of experience, a meaningful portion of which has been spent working with or inside the government. You do not need to have done every type of engagement we do, but you should have a genuine feel for how government institutions work - where decisions actually get made, what makes a reform stick, why good ideas often do not survive contact with implementation. Beyond that - strong analytical instincts, comfort with data and evidence, and the kind of presence that earns trust with senior officials. You should be someone who can hold a room with a senior secretary and also give a junior team member explicit, honest feedback on their work.

A Masters in public policy, economics, or public administration is preferred, but what matters more is the quality of your experience.

Culture

IDinsight is not a large bureaucracy. Things move, priorities shift, and you'll sometimes be asked to figure things out without a clear playbook. People who do well here tend to be intellectually curious, be comfortable with ambiguity, have a sense of humor, and be genuinely motivated by the mission. We invest seriously in professional development - mentorship, real-time feedback, and enough autonomy that growth is possible if you want it.

Nuts and Bolts

- Location: Delhi, with regular travel across India

Disclaimer: This job posting has been aggregated from external source. Role details, content, and availability are subject to change. Applicants are advised to confirm the latest information directly on the company website before applying.

📌 State Capacity Lead, India (New Delhi)
🏢 IDinsight
📍 New Delhi