Director Programmes

Strategic Alliance Management Services Pvt Ltd.; New Delhi; On-site; INR 4,000,000 - 7,000,000; Full time

Job summary

WaterAid India (Jal Seva Charitable Foundation) seeks a Director Programmes (DP) to lead strategic and operational management of all programme-related initiatives. Reporting to the SMT, the DP will drive implementation, ensure quality, foster partnerships, and align with WaterAid India’s mission to improve WASH outcomes.

Based in New Delhi, the role involves working with government bodies at Union, State and District levels to scale technical support, strengthen capacity, and institutionalise

Qualifications

• Post-graduate degree in public policy, public health, law, urban planning, rural development, management, environmental engineering/management or social sciences.
• Proven leadership of programmes/operations at scale.
• Ability to build collaborative partnerships and alliances.

Responsibilities

• Lead programme implementation across all locations where WAI operates.
• Ensure community-centered delivery with high standards and cost-effectiveness.
• Identify gaps and opportunities in policy and service delivery to drive impact.
• Plan budgets, monitor performance, and review expenditures.
• Collaborate with Government and SMT for strategic direction and governance.

Job description

Download SAMS Role Deconstruct to interpret what the job really involves and assess your fit.

2. ORGANISATIONAL BACKGROUND

Jal Seva Charitable Foundation (JSCF) is registered in India as a not-for-profit company under Chapter 8 of the Companies Act, 2013. JSCF is an associate member of the WaterAid federation and uses the brand name ‘WaterAid’ in India.

WaterAid India (WAI) seeks to improve the quality of life of 5,000,000 households with a special emphasis on the vulnerable by 2029 through the provision of climate-resilient and sustainable WASH services. This will be achieved through demonstration, institution strengthening, and the effective utilization of public resources. WAI works in rural and urban areas, striving to deepen its presence in the states where it operates and expand its efforts to small towns. Thanks to its amazing supporters, WAI has reached millions of people with three essentials: clean water, decent toilets, and good hygiene, helping communities unlock their potential, break free from the cycle of poverty, and transform lives for good.

Operational in 10 states across the country, WAI’s programme focus for the next five years is on ensuring access to safe and assured drinking water for households, as well as safely managed sanitation at both the household and habitation levels. WAI aims to ensure that anganwadis, schools, and healthcare facilities are equipped with adequate and appropriate water, sanitation, and hygiene infrastructure. The organisation seeks to develop integrated water and sanitation solutions in small towns. Across all these efforts, ensuring the climate resilience of infrastructure and systems remains a critical priority. WAI plans to achieve this through demonstration and by providing technical and knowledge support to governments at all levels, facilitating large-scale adoption. Implementation is carried out primarily through WAI’s own field teams.

Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, the Director Programmes (DP) will provide strategic and operational leadership for all programme-related initiatives of WAI, ensuring impactful delivery, collaboration with stakeholders, and alignment with the organisation’s mission and values. As a key member of the Senior Management Team, the DP will drive programme implementation, ensure quality assurance, foster partnerships, and represent the organisation across various platforms.

Key Job Responsibilities

• (1) Lead programme implementation across all the locations that WAI works in. Adopt a consensual and collaborative approach for programme delivery that empowers those primarily responsible for facilitating change and impact;
• (2) Ensure that programmes keep the community at their centre while maintaining the highest standards, cost-effectiveness and appropriateness;
• (3) Facilitate the identification and creation of standardised processes and systems that can facilitate delivery of impact to meet the organisation’s strategic ambition;
• (4) Planning, creation of budgets, continuous review of performance against plans, and review of expenditures against budgets will be an integral part of programme implementation;
• (5) Identify the key gaps and opportunities in the external public policy and service delivery environments where WAI’s programmatic interventions can bring about high impact and progressive change.

Quality Assurance

• (1) Ensure delivery on time, cost-effectively and with assurance of the requisite quality. Monitor the qualitative and quantitative outcomes and impact of the programme in collaboration with the Programme Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning team, to ensure successful implementation in line with the plan.
• (2) Lead the integration of strategic themes, cross-cutting issues, and implementation of global programme frameworks, policies, and standards throughout the organisation, and ensure that all programmes (at state or regional levels) are aligned with these.

Working with Governments

Enable WAI’s pathway to scale by strengthening the provision of technical support to government at the Union, State and District levels. This will include supporting capacity building on technical aspects, as well as facilitating the design and implementation of water, sanitation and hygiene solutions that are appropriate for disadvantaged communities and responsive to the environment. The DP will ensure effective collaboration between the Programme team and the Policy and Technical Support team to advance this agenda.

WAI as a Learning Organisation

Foster and promote a culture of innovation, experimentation, reflection, and learning, ensuring that WAI continues to remain a frontrunner in the water, sanitation and hygiene space. The DP will help institutionalise practices that enable teams to draw upon evidence, field experience, and programme learnings to continuously strengthen programme quality and impact.

Nurturing Leadership

Coach, guide, and mentor staff under direct supervision so that they are effective as leaders and senior managers, and the culture of nurturing percolates to all levels in the team. Encourage and promote empowering and collaborative leadership, effective management, and a culture of openness and accountability in line with WAI’s values.

Member of the Senior Management Team (SMT)

Be an active member of the SMT and contribute to strategic direction, organisational decision-making, and other management-related issues.

Foster Partnerships

Work closely with the Resource Mobilisation team to help establish and maintain partnerships with a diverse set of individuals and institutions to help achieve the organisation’s strategic ambition.

Sectoral Representation

Represent WAI in national civil society organisation, donor, and government forums related to water, sanitation and hygiene so as to influence thinking of other stakeholders on effective delivery and build WAI’s reputation as a sector leader.

4. QUALIFICATIONS, EXPERIENCE AND COMPETENCIES

Qualification

Applicants must have a post-graduate degree in public policy, public health, law, urban planning, rural development, management, environmental engineering/management or social sciences.

Experience

• (1) Minimum 15 years of overall experience, with 5–10 years in senior management roles and at least five years in a community-level implementation role.
• (2) An understanding of the water, sanitation and hygiene sector in India, key sector stakeholders and networks shall be preferred.

Skills and Competencies

• (1) Proven experience of leading programmes/operations that lead to impact at scale and transformational change;
• (2) Demonstrated ability to build collaborative partnerships and alliances for programme delivery;
• (3) Demonstrated expertise of leading, managing, and motivating others, and building high performing teams;
• (4) Excellent interpersonal and written communication skills;
• (5) Experience of raising and managing income.

5.COMPENSATION OFFERED

Gross compensation budgeted for the position is attractive. The offer made to the selected candidate shall be commensurate with qualifications, experience, and salary history.

7. REFERENCE: DP-WAI

DP-WAI

8. CONTACT INFORMATION

Team SAMS
Strategic Alliance Management Services P Ltd.
1/1B, Choudhary Hetram House, Bharat Nagar
New Friends Colony, New Delhi 110 025
Phone Nos.: 011- 4081 9900; 4165 3612

WaterAid India (Jal Seva Charitable Foundation) is committed to preventing any type of unwanted behavior at work including sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, lack of integrity and financial misconduct; and committed to promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults. WaterAid India expects all staff, volunteers, vendors and anyone representing WaterAid to share this commitment through our code of conduct and the Safeguarding policy.