General Manager Programs – Environment

the Raintree; Thane; On-site; INR 3,500,000 - 5,500,000; Full time

Job summary

Raintree Foundation is seeking a General Manager Programs – Environment to lead cross-thematic integration of environmental and community development initiatives. You will align design, MEL, and governance with stakeholder needs and drive data-informed decisions across landscapes.

The role requires extensive field engagement, strong leadership, and ability to coordinate multiple teams to deliver impact in watershed ecology, biodiversity, clean energy, and water/sanitation initiatives.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Environmental Science or related field.
• 12–18 years of experience in environment-based programs with success in integrating multiple thematics.
• Proven donor engagement, reporting and proposal development (CSR, grants, institutional funding).
• Strong team leadership, cross-department collaboration and project management skills.
• Excellent facilitation, communication, and analytical abilities.
• Fluency in English and basic Marathi; willingness to travel.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate across thematic programs to ensure unified environmental program development.
• Provide technical guidance for coherent design and implementation of multi-thematic programs.
• Develop nature-based livelihoods and eco-tourism models linked to sustainable livelihoods.
• Engage with government departments and donors, including reporting and field visits.
• Strengthen community voice, governance structures, and participatory approaches.
• Lead monitoring and evaluation frameworks that cut across themes and ensure data adoption.
• Oversee budgets, timelines and collaboration with MEL, MarComm, Fundraising teams.
• Represent Raintree in national and international environmental forums.
• Mentor and coach program teams and drive knowledge management.

Skills

Program Management

Program Integration

Education

Master’s degree in Environmental Science

Job description

TheGeneral Manager Programs – Environment integrates and coordinates across the Raintree Foundation’s environment-based thematic programs, as well as collaborates closely with the community development-based thematic programs. This role will ensure strategic alignment, cross-thematic collaboration, and coherence across all initiatives related to Environment as well as aligning with the Community Development programs. The role aligns with Raintree’s mission of securing dignity and wellbeing of people and the planet. The Environment thematics include (but are not limited to):

Watershed Ecology

Biodiversity

Clean Energy

Water, Sanitation & Hygiene

Acting as a thematics integrator, the General Manager Programs will strengthen program impact by fostering shared learning, building synergies, driving data-informed decision-making, representing the Foundation in technical forums and ensuring community participation is embedded across all initiatives. They will be responsible for further developing excellence in Environment-related thematics by encouraging sharing of knowledge, tools, methods and best practices within the thematic specialists. They will drive the integration of environmental sustainability with community development, ensuring alignment across all thematic perspectives. They will also support performance evaluation and hiring decisions for people in the above and related thematics across distributed teams, as well as mentor and coach them.

The role will also lead the development of nature-based livelihoods, eco-tourism models and opportunities within the environmental services sector, linking conservation outcomes with environmentally sustainable economic empowerment. The role will leverage remote sensing and other data analytics to enable comprehensive, community-led environmental impact assessment and evidence-based program design.

The role will drive the integration of environmental sustainability across all programs at the design, execution and MEL stages, while strengthening disaster mitigation and adaptation approaches. It will also lead the design of conservation measures and community stewardship models, and identify how clean energy solutions can amplify and unlock social and economic opportunities across the landscape.

Key Responsibilities: 1. Program Integration & Strategic Alignment

• Coordinate across all thematic programs to ensure a unified approach to environmental program development..
• Facilitate cross-thematic program planning, implementation and review.
• Work with Program Managers to align program objectives with community needs and organizational mission.
• Ensure program integration in design, planning, delivery and monitoring.
• Integrate environmental and sustainability considerations across all programs at the design, execution and MEL stages.
• Identify and develop opportunities for nature-based livelihoods, eco-tourism models and environmentally sustainable economic empowerment linked to the landscape.
• Lead the development of disaster mitigation and adaptation approaches across relevant programs and landscapes.

2. Community Systems Strengthening

• Promote inclusive and participatory approaches that empower communities to drive and co-own environment-related interventions.
• Guide Program Teams on strengthening institutions and local governance structures through systematic capacity-building and trust-building activities.

3. Thematic Coordination and Technical Support

• Provide technical guidance to program teams to ensure coherent designing and implementation of multiple thematics based programs within the community.
• Identify opportunities for synergy between thematics promoting holistic environmental and community well-being.
• Support the integration of innovation practices and cross-learning across thematic areas. thematic
• Facilitate development and dissemination of technical resources, tools, and guidelines to strengthen thematic knowledge and practice across teams.

4. Stakeholder Engagement, Forest Dept and Donor Interface

• Build and sustain relationships with government departments, local bodies, civil society personnel, and environment-based organizations.
• Ensure government interface is embedded in environment action plans
• Co-create programs and execution strategies with relevant government departments and maintain strong working relationships with key state-level departments and stakeholders.
• Build and sustain strategic connects within relevant state government departments to enable effective program implementation, convergence and scale.
• Support donor engagement for environment-led programs, including progress reporting, presentations, and field visits.
• Lead and support global conservation grant development and fundraising opportunities across all Raintree verticals, in collaboration with the fundraising team.

5. Community Voice and Communication

• Work closely with the Grassroots Communications team to amplify environment themes, successes, stories, and feedback.
• Ensure consistent, culturally relevant messaging across environmental initiatives.
• Integrate community feedback mechanisms into all programs to guide ongoing adaptation.
• Create, sustain and build grassroots environmental movements, including civic and volunteer movements, to strengthen community stewardship and safeguard the landscape.
• Support documentation of case studies and knowledge products showcasing impact across thematic areas.
• Develop and implement intersectional Monitoring & Evaluation frameworks that cut across all thematic areas, especially environmental sustainability indicators
• Ensure adoption of data-related strategies across all levels of the organization.
• Be accountable for the consistency, accuracy, and quality of program data.
• Facilitate knowledge management, lessons learned, and dissemination of best practices.
• Build research partnerships and institutional tie-ups with universities and relevant academic/research institutions to strengthen evidence, innovation and knowledge generation.

7. Team Collaboration and Leadership

• Provide leadership, mentorship, and performance management for program teams
• Promote a culture of shared responsibility, inclusion, and continuous learning across the program team.
• Oversee project timelines, deliverables, and budgets, ensuring effective project management practices are followed.
• Collaborate with internal teams (e.g. MEL, MarComm, Fundraising) to deliver aligned outcomes.
• Demonstrate strong team leadership while fostering collaboration across thematic and functional teams to deliver integrated outcomes.
• Work closely with internal teams to build shared ownership and collaborative execution across programs and locations.
• Oversee program budgets and financial planning, ensuring strong budget management, financial discipline and alignment of resources with program priorities. Build financial efficiencies into program design and resource mobilisation, ensuring compliance for programs and donors.
• Contribute to the organization’s visibility and influence by authoring articles, case studies, and technical pieces in relevant sectoral and thematic publications.
• Collaborate with the fundraising team to develop grant, CSR, and funding proposals for environment-based initiatives.
• Provide programmatic insights to strengthen funding pitches and concept notes.

9. Representing Raintree in Various Forums

• Represent Raintree in external forums, networks, and sectoral platforms, sharing insights and learnings to enhance organizational visibility and thought leadership in the environment and community development space.
• Represent Raintree in relevant national and international forums, networks, platforms and stakeholder engagements related to conservation, climate, biodiversity, clean energy, sustainable livelihoods and environmental services.

Must have skills

Program Management Program Integration

Qualifications

Qualifications & Exeperience

• Master’s degree in Environmental Science, Natural Resource Management, Climate Studies, Ecology, Rural Development, or related fields.
• Minimum 12–18 years of experience in environment-based programs with demonstrated success in integrating multiple thematics.
• Proven experience in community-based environmental intervention, strengthening, participatory development, and government engagement.
• Experience in developing intersectional M&E frameworks and leading data strategy adoption.
• Demonstrated success in donor engagement, reporting, and proposal development (CSR, grants, institutional funding).
• Strong experience in managing diverse teams, and fostering interdepartmental collaboration are highly desired.
• Strong project management skills, particularly in handling multi-thematic programs, are highly desirable.
• Excellent facilitation, communication, and analytical skills.
• Proficiency in English (must have) and basic Marathi (must have); strong documentation and presentation skills.
• This role will involve frequent travel to program locations and field sites.
• The position demands flexibility, team collaboration, and strong field engagement.