Associate Director – Programmes in Multiple Locations | Mahila Housing Trust

aikyam; Ahmedabad District; On-site; INR 4,000,000 - 6,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Mahila Housing Trust seeks an Associate Director to lead the day-to-day operations of housing, habitat, climate resilience, and public health programmes across multiple states. The role drives strategy translation into disciplined execution and ensures strong governance, budgeting, and stakeholder engagement.

You will oversee cross-functional field teams, coordinate with MEL, fundraising, and finance, and mentor senior staff while representing MHT in engagements with government and partners.

Qualifications

• Willingness to travel ~30% across operational geographies.
• Minimum 10 years in complex, multi-site operations with senior leadership.
• Experience running large multi-stakeholder programmes; non-profit preferred.
• Proven ability to build high-performing teams across locations.
• Strong budgeting, financial management, and donor compliance.
• Excellent problem-solving, decision-making, and stakeholder skills.
• Experience with government departments is an advantage.
• Postgraduate degree in management, development studies, or public policy preferred.
• Senior leadership to expand into a flagship public health pillar.
• Direct reporting to the Director - Programs; frontline leadership exposure.
• Opportunity to shape governance and operations at a national NGO.

Responsibilities

• Oversee end-to-end implementation of programme portfolio with quality, timelines, and budget discipline.
• Provide operational leadership across state and city teams; ensure coordination with field and central teams.
• Translate strategy into clear implementation and delivery plans.
• Strengthen governance, budgeting, risk management, and internal controls.
• Coordinate with MEL, fundraising, and finance for evidence-based delivery.
• Exercise line authority over programme staff as assigned.
• Mentor senior staff and build organisational capacity.
• Represent MHT with government departments and external stakeholders.
• Identify operational risks and drive timely resolutions with leadership.
• Support internal and donor reporting on programme progress.

Skills

Programme leadership

Stakeholder engagement

Budgeting & financial governance

Donor compliance

Team building & mentorship

Multi-site operations

Governance & risk management

Government engagement

Education

Postgraduate degree in mgmt/public policy

Tools

MS Excel

MEL & donor reporting tools

Job description

Associate Director – Programmes in Multiple Locations | Mahila Housing Trust

Mahila Housing Trust (MHT) is a women-led, grassroots non-profit that has spent over three decades building bridges between informal urban communities and the public and private institutions that can improve their lives. Working through community-based women's collectives, Community Action Groups (CAGs) and Vikasinis. MHT strengthens women's leadership at the ward level and supports them in engaging directly with municipal and state governments on housing, water and sanitation, and climate resilience.

Role

MHT is seeking an experienced Associate Director to lead the day-to-day implementation and operations of its programme portfolio across housing, habitat, climate resilience, and public health. Public health is a new flagship pillar within MHT's strategy, anchored in climate-and-health work, with MHT's role being preventive and community-facing rather than clinical, supporting government systems such as Heat Health Wards, ASHAs, and Urban Primary Health Centres. This senior leadership role will translate strategy into disciplined, well-governed execution across multiple states, teams, and delivery entities.

Responsibilities

• Oversee end-to-end implementation of MHT's programme portfolio, ensuring consistent quality, timelines, and budget discipline across all workstreams
• Provide operational leadership across multiple state and city teams, ensuring effective coordination between field teams, technical leads, and central functions
• Translate organisational strategy including expansion into public health and climate-and-health programming into clear implementation and delivery plans
• Establish and strengthen systems for programme governance, budgeting, risk management, and internal controls
• Coordinate closely with MEL, fundraising, and finance functions to ensure programme delivery is evidence-based and reportable to funders
• Exercise line authority over programme teams as assigned by the Director
• Manage and mentor senior programme staff and cadre leads, building organisational capacity and succession depth
• Represent MHT in engagements with government departments and external stakeholders on operational matters
• Identify operational risks and bottlenecks early, driving timely resolution in collaboration with senior leadership
• Support preparation of internal and donor-facing reporting on programme progress

Requirements

• Willingness to travel approximately 30% of the time across MHT's operational geographies
• Minimum 10 years of experience managing complex, multi-site operations, with substantial experience in senior operational or programme leadership
• Demonstrated experience running large, multi-stakeholder programmes; non-profit, development sector, or public sector experience strongly preferred
• Strong track record of building and managing high-performing teams across multiple locations
• Sound understanding of programme budgeting, financial management, and donor compliance requirements
• Excellent problem-solving, decision-making, and stakeholder management skills
• Experience working with or alongside government departments and community-based institutions an advantage
• Postgraduate degree in management, development studies, public policy, or a similar field preferred but not mandatory
• Senior leadership role driving MHT's expansion into a new flagship public health pillar
• Direct reporting line to the Director - Programs, working closely with organisational leadership
• Opportunity to shape programme governance and operations at a nationally recognised, women-led organisation
• Exposure to multi-state, multi-stakeholder programme delivery across housing, climate resilience, and public health

Programme Operations Leadership Multi-State Team Management Budgeting & Financial Governance Stakeholder & Government Engagement Risk Management & Compliance