Associate Program Manager - Womens Economic Empowerment (WEE)

Ground Zero; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 1,500,000 - 2,300,000; Full time

Job summary

Ground Zero in Bengaluru is seeking an Associate Program Manager for Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) to design, execute, and improve WEE initiatives. This role blends strategy and hands-on execution, coordinating across diverse stakeholders to advance women entrepreneurs and producers.

The ideal candidate will have strong program management experience, a proven ability to drive multi-stakeholder initiatives, and a gender-sensitive approach to economic participation and market access.

Qualifications

• Education in development studies, economics, business or social sciences with relevance to gender.
• 6-8 years of professional experience in program management and related areas.
• Domain focus on womens economic empowerment, entrepreneurship, livelihoods or market access.
• Experience with diverse stakeholders including NGOs, government, private sector and funders.
• Strong ability to manage multiple workstreams and drive from planning to execution.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement WEE programs that improve market access and income for women.
• Translate strategy into clear workplans, budgets, milestones, and responsibilities.
• Coordinate with partners, government bodies, funders and ecosystem actors.
• Track progress, analyze data, and adjust programs to maximize outcomes.
• Develop proposals, concept notes and donor updates as needed.

Skills

Program management

Stakeholder management

Analytical skills

Communication skills

Willingness to travel

Education

Bachelor's degree in Development Studies, Economics, Business Administration, Social Sciences, Public Policy, Gender Studies or related field

Tools

Excel

PowerPoint

Job description

Job Summary

Role: Associate Program Manager - Womens Economic Empowerment (WEE), Bangalore.

The Associate Program Manager will play a critical role in the design, execution, and continuous improvement of our Womens Economic Empowerment initiatives. This is a hands-on program management role for someone who can move comfortably between strategy and execution: understanding the larger problem, translating it into actionable workplans, coordinating multiple stakeholders, tracking outcomes, solving problems on the ground, and bringing insights back into program design. The role will have a particular focus on womens market access, enterprise growth, livelihoods and entrepreneurship, ecosystem strengthening, and scalable solutions. The ideal candidate brings strong program management skills along with a genuine understanding of the realities faced by women entrepreneurs and producers. They should be comfortable working across grassroots organizations, private sector partners, government stakeholders, funders, and ecosystem actors.

Key Responsibilities

Program Design, Management Execution (40%)

• Support the design and implementation of WEE programs that enable women to access markets, increase incomes, strengthen enterprises, and participate more meaningfully in the economy.
• Translate program strategy into clear workplans, milestones, budgets, responsibilities, and delivery plans.
• Drive day-to-day execution across multiple workstreams, ensuring activities remain aligned to intended outcomes.
• Coordinate with implementation partners, consultants, government stakeholders, businesses, funders, and other ecosystem actors.
• Manage program reviews, workshops, field engagements, partner meetings, and other critical program processes.
• Identify implementation bottlenecks early and work with relevant stakeholders to resolve them.
• Support the development of proposals, concept notes, donor updates, presentations, and other program materials.
• Contribute to program strategy by bringing insights from implementation, partners, and women entrepreneurs/producers.
• Ensure that programs remain outcome-focused rather than activity-focused, with a clear line of sight between interventions and womens economic outcomes.

Womens Economic Empowerment Market Systems (20%)

• Develop a strong understanding of the barriers women face in accessing markets, finance, technology, networks, information, assets, and business opportunities.
• Support initiatives that improve womens access to formal and informal markets, buyers, supply chains, platforms, and business networks.
• Work with partners to strengthen the capabilities of women entrepreneurs, producer collectives, SHGs, FPOs, and other women-led institutions.
• Understand and contribute to solutions across the enterprise and market ecosystem, rather than focusing only on individual beneficiaries.
• Identify opportunities where the private sector, government, financial institutions, digital platforms, and ecosystem organizations can play a stronger role in enabling womens economic participation.
• Support the development and testing of approaches that can be replicated or scaled across geographies and contexts.
• Bring a gender lens to program design and implementation, including understanding issues of agency, decision-making, unpaid care, mobility, access to assets, and social norms where relevant to economic participation.

Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning Impact (15%)

• Develop and maintain systems to track program progress, outputs, outcomes, and key milestones.
• Support the design of appropriate indicators to measure changes in womens income, enterprise performance, market access, financial access, employment, decision-making, and economic agency, as relevant to each intervention.
• Analyze program data and partner reports to identify trends, gaps, and areas requiring course correction.
• Support regular program reviews and use evidence to improve implementation and decision-making.
• Document learnings, success factors, challenges, and emerging insights from the field.
• Develop impact stories, case studies, dashboards, and learning products that demonstrate both what changed and why it changed.

Partnerships Ecosystem Engagement (15%)

• Build trusted working relationships with women entrepreneurs, collectives, implementation partners, NGOs, government stakeholders, private sector organizations, financial institutions, and other ecosystem actors.
• Support partner identification, onboarding, coordination, and performance management.
• Facilitate effective collaboration across stakeholders with different priorities and ways of working.
• Identify opportunities for partnerships that can unlock markets, capital, capabilities, technology, networks, and scale for women.
• Represent the program in relevant meetings, workshops, consultations, and ecosystem forums.
• Develop a strong understanding of the broader WEE ecosystem and proactively bring relevant actors, ideas, and opportunities into the program.

Research, Insights Knowledge Management (5%)

• Conduct research on emerging trends, evidence, innovations, and models in womens economic empowerment, entrepreneurship, livelihoods, market access, and inclusive growth.
• Synthesize research and field insights into clear recommendations for program design and strategy.
• Develop knowledge products such as case studies, insight notes, presentations, and reports.
• Maintain high-quality program documentation and knowledge repositories.
• Contribute to building institutional knowledge on what works to enable womens economic participation at scale.

Financial Operational Management (5%)

• Support program budget planning, tracking, and fund utilization.
• Monitor partner budgets and expenditure against agreed plans.
• Coordinate with finance and operations teams on invoices, contracts, payments, and documentation.
• Ensure program activities are delivered with appropriate operational and financial discipline.
• Maintain accurate and timely program records.

What We Are Looking For

Qualifications

• Education: Bachelors degree in any relevant discipline such as Development Studies, Economics, Business Administration, Social Sciences, Public Policy, Gender Studies, or a related field. (A postgraduate degree in a relevant field will be an advantage, but is not mandatory).
• Experience: 6-8 years of relevant professional experience in program management, implementation, entrepreneurship, livelihoods, market access, financial inclusion, womens economic empowerment, or related areas.
• Domain Focus: Demonstrated experience in womens economic empowerment, womens entrepreneurship, livelihoods, market access, enterprise development, or inclusive growth is strongly preferred.
• Stakeholder Exposure: Experience working with women entrepreneurs, SHGs, FPOs, producer collectives, NGOs, grassroots institutions, government, private sector, or ecosystem partners is highly desirable.
• Ecosystem Understanding: Strong understanding of market systems, enterprise development, value chains, financial inclusion, entrepreneurship ecosystems, or womens economic participation.
• Program Execution: Proven ability to independently manage multiple workstreams, coordinate stakeholders, and drive programs from planning through execution.
• Core Skills: Strong analytical, problem-solving, written/verbal communication, and stakeholder management skills.
• Tools Travel: High proficiency in Excel, PowerPoint, and other program management/reporting tools. Willingness to travel to project locations as required.

Core Attributes We Value

• Deep Commitment to Womens Economic Empowerment: Understanding that WEE is not simply about providing livelihoods or training, but about creating conditions that enable women to participate, earn, grow, make decisions, and exercise greater agency.
• Strong Ownership: Taking responsibility for outcomes, not just tasks; identifying problems early and driving solutions through to resolution.
• Execution with Strategic Thinking: Ability to zoom out to understand the larger system and zoom in to ensure tactical details get executed effectively.
• Systems Thinking: Looking beyond individual beneficiaries to understand how markets, institutions, finance, government, businesses, technology, social norms, and networks shape opportunities.
• Analytical Curious Mindset: Questioning why something works or fails, examining evidence, identifying patterns, and using insights for continuous improvement

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.