Head of Impact, Livelihood Programs

The/Nudge; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 3,000,000 - 5,500,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

L&D wallet

Internal role change opportunities

Charcha: India’s largest social sector

Job summary

The/Nudge in Bengaluru is seeking a senior leader to head the Impact, Livelihood Programs function. You will build and lead the research and evidence team, setting the strategy, and serving as the organization’s voice with government, universities, and donors on impact data.

You will drive end-to-end evidence generation, translation, and dissemination across livelihood initiatives, shaping questions that drive durable poverty reduction at scale.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience in research, evidence, or M&E leadership in international development.
• Track record of building and leading a research/evidence function.
• Senior-level government relationship ownership or embedding evidence into policy.
• Strategic ownership of an evidence agenda across multiple programs.
• External credibility in livelihoods or graduation approach space.
• People leadership at scale with management experience.
• Deep technical experience in impact evaluations.
• Advanced degree in Economics, Public Policy, Statistics, Development Studies, or related field.
• Domain fluency in Indian livelihoods and social protection architecture preferred.

Responsibilities

• Own the design and execution of impact evaluations and cost-effectiveness analyses across programs.
• Lead the research/evidence function, including budgeting, timelines and field coordination.
• Build relationships with government, academia, and donors to embed evidence in policy.
• Translate findings into policy briefs, technical papers, and donor summaries.
• Develop and disseminate a robust learning agenda to improve program design at scale.
• Oversee monitoring frameworks and ensure data quality for ongoing course-correction.

Skills

Leadership

Research leadership

Government relations

Program evaluation

M&E leadership

Education

Master's or PhD in Economics

Job description

About The/Nudge

The/Nudge is an action institute building resilient livelihoods to alleviate poverty. We work with women, farmers, tribals, and youth across rural development, agriculture, skilling, and economic inclusion, in partnership with 15+ central and state governments.

Our economic inclusion journey towards serving 25 million Indians spans 10 states and currently reaches over 1.5 million people. Through our incubator, accelerator, and grand challenges, we have supported 200+ social entrepreneurs, including Forbes 30 Under 30 honorees, Earthshot Prize winners, and nationally recognized changemakers.

Founded with the support of 130+ eminent philanthropists, 40+ corporates, and 15+ foundations, The/Nudge is working towards a poverty-free India, within our lifetime.

What are we solving for?

At The/Nudge, our livelihood programs work towards unlocking human potential through livelihood coaching and augmentation support, across three initiatives.

• Economic Inclusion Program (EIP): Serves the most excluded households who are economically and socially vulnerable, through the graduation approach - a targeted, sequenced model shown to move households out of poverty durably.
• Asha Kiran: Focuses on maximizing earnings for goat-rearing farmers through value chain interventions.
• InSight: Enabling access to clear near vision for all - helping improve productivity in livelihoods.

Position Overview

The/Nudge is looking for a Head of Impact, Livelihood Programs to build the Impact function within Programs. This is a leadership role: you will own the research and evidence strategy for the portfolio, build and lead the team that executes it, and be the organization's voice on evidence with government, academic, and donor stakeholders. You will lead the generation, translation, and dissemination of evidence on impact across our livelihood programs. You'll identify the questions that matter most for durably moving households out of poverty at scale, study and answer them to meet the rigor needed to inform design, iteration and responsible scale-up of programs with quality and impact.

You'll work closely with program leadership, the product team, and implementation teams, and represent The/Nudge externally with senior government stakeholders, global stakeholders, universities, and researchers. This role is for someone with a long track record of building and leading research or evidence functions from the ground up, who is as credible modeling cost-effectiveness as they are contributing to program design within governments — and who has already spent a career seeing evidence change how large-scale programs are run.

Strategy & Execution

• Build, lead, and grow The/Nudge's Impact function - setting its structure and hiring strategy, and coaching the team to deliver high-quality, timely work across a growing portfolio.
• Build the 1-year and 5-year strategy for Impact across Livelihood Programs, translate it into quarterly goals, and drive execution against them.
• Own end-to-end delivery of impact and research projects - scoping, budgeting, timelines, field coordination, and quality control.
• Flag risks (data quality, delays, validity threats) early and course-correct in collaboration with program leadership.

Monitoring, Research & Evidence Generation

• Own the design and execution of monitoring frameworks across programs to ensure ongoing quality and course-correction, independent of periodic studies.
• Design and drive the research and learning agenda for livelihood programs - identifying priority questions on what drives program impact and translating program data into rigorous, decision-useful evidence.
• Lead or co-lead impact evaluations, cost-effectiveness analyses, and process/learning studies across programs - including those in partnership with central and state government, ensuring methodological rigor from design through analysis.
• Continuously surface patterns, risks, and opportunities that sharpen program design and delivery at scale.

Learning, Dissemination & Evidence Uptake

• Translate findings into formats suited to different audiences - policy briefs for government, technical papers for researchers, and accessible summaries for donors and practitioners.
• Build The/Nudge's knowledge base of case studies, learning briefs, and technical notes that can be reused across programs and geographies.
• Actively push evidence into decision-making - both internally (program design) and externally (nudging government and NGO adoption at scale).

Partnerships & Relationship Management

• Build and manage relationships with academic researchers, universities, and research institutions to co-develop studies, secure technical rigor, and expand The/Nudge's research credibility.
• Serve as a key liaison with stakeholders to embed evidence into policy dialogue and support government adoption.
• Represent The/Nudge in sector forums, conferences, and donor/partner conversations on livelihoods and economic inclusion evidence.

Who are we looking for in this role?

• 15+ years of experience in research, evidence, or M&E leadership, preferably in international development, livelihoods, or poverty alleviation.
• Track record of building and leading a research / evidence function - having stood up a research, M&E, or evidence vertical within an organization.
• Senior-level government relationship ownership or a track record of embedding evidence into policy at that altitude.
• Strategic ownership of a research/evidence agenda across multiple programs or sectors - having set the priorities for what gets studied and why across a portfolio, not just executed individual studies.
• Recognized external credibility / thought leadership in the livelihoods, poverty alleviation, or graduation approach space - through published research, policy visibility, or sector standing.
• People leadership at scale - experience leading managers or a function of meaningful size, not just individual contributors.
• Deep technical experience in designing and executing impact evaluations.
• Advanced degree (Master's or PhD) in Economics, Public Policy, Statistics, Development Studies, or a related field.
• Preference for domain fluency in Indian livelihoods/social protection architecture (DAY-NRLM, SHG-VO-CLF, graduation approach).

What’s in it for you?

• Own your growth: An impact-led learning environment encourages Nudgesters to invest in their learning and capacity building needs through initiatives and policies, including L&D wallet, individual development plan and internal role change opportunities.
• Find your tribe: Our hiring philosophy emphasises intent, attitude, smarts and skills, in that order, to build a cohesive environment for Nudgesters. The organisation is committed to curating people-centric policies, enhancing how employees experience life at The/Nudge.
• Take big bets: Organisational initiatives are intended to facilitate Nudgesters with a view to the big picture, illustrated by our impact across 50000+ households, 15+ governments, 200+ social enterprises and Charcha: India’s largest social sector convening forum.
• Make it happen: A product-based approach in an action-biased environment empowers Nudgesters to implement audacious plans. Driven to fail fast, we endeavour to optimise resources in favour of programs that align with our scale ambition.

We aspire to be an inclusive and diverse organization and encourage qualified individuals irrespective of their religion, caste, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, ethnicity, age, or any other dimension of identity.