Program Director, The Livelihood Collective The STEP Foundation

The Convergence Foundation; India; On-site; INR 4,500,000 - 6,500,000; Full time

Job summary

The Convergence Foundation seeks a Program Director, TLC to head the PMU of The Livelihood Collective—a multi-funder collaboration transforming ITIs in India into employment engines. You will lead the strategy, playbook and tech backbone, engaging government at the highest levels and ensuring outcomes across three states and eight clusters.

You will own relationships with the Steering Committee and Advisory Board, steward multi-funder confidence, and drive delivery with partners and state teams,

Qualifications

• Around 10–15 years of experience in program leadership, skilling/education or development, with team leadership experience.
• Strong government engagement and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience managing large multi-partner programs and budgets.

Responsibilities

• Lead and oversee the TLC PMU across three states and eight clusters.
• Interface with Steering Committee and Advisory Board; report on outcomes.
• Coordinate with state teams and implementation partners to ensure delivery and outcomes.
• Manage the 10-pillar ITI transformation playbook and M&E backbone.
• Oversee budgets, funder utilization and accountability across the program.

Job description

Program Director, The Livelihood Collective

The Livelihood Collective (TLC) – ITI Transformation Roadmap

• Position: Program Director, TLC
• Reports to: TLC Steering Committee (Funders), STEP Foundation Leadership

Job Description:

We are seeking an experienced, mission-driven leader to head the Project Management Unit (PMU) of The Livelihood Collective (TLC) – a multi-funder collaborative working to transform India's Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) from qualification factories into employment engines. TLC brings together funders, government and implementation partners behind a single goal: better employment outcomes for every ITI graduate. TLC will prove and codify a 10-pillar transformation playbook across 8 clusters and ~120 ITIs in three states – Maharashtra, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh, reaching ~1.1 lakh youth before scaling nationally.

As Program Director, you will be the single-point leader of the TLC PMU – the lean central unit that sets strategy, builds the playbook and tech backbone, engages government at the highest levels, and holds the whole program accountable for outcomes. You will own the relationship with the Steering Committee and Advisory Board, steward the confidence of a multi-funder collaborative, and drive delivery across state teams and lead implementation partners (Medha, LAHI, Tata STRIVE and others). This is a rare opportunity to build a national skilling model from the ground up and to convert a codified model into system-level, sustainable change.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead and build the TLC PMU – set direction, structure the team, and hold overall accountability for program design, delivery and outcomes across all three states and eight clusters
• Serve as TLC's primary interface with the Steering Committee and Advisory Board – shaping strategy, reporting on outcomes, and stewarding the confidence of a multi-funder collaborative
• Work alongside senior TCF and STEP leadership to engage with senior government stakeholders at central and state level – securing policy alignment, institutional buy-in and the access that clusters need to deliver, aligned with PM-SETU and MSDE priorities.
• Provide domain leadership on ITI transformation and the 10-pillar playbook – bringing skilling and workforce-development expertise to design choices and the continuous refinement of the model across both phases
• Oversee lead implementation partners and state teams – setting outcome expectations, resolving escalations, and ensuring single-point accountability per cluster
• Direct the tech-enabled M&E backbone and outcome governance – ensuring the north-star EET (Education, Employment or Training) metric and cascaded accountability from PMU to ITI drive every decision
• Own program financial oversight, budgets and funder utilisation across an ~₹80 crore program
• Represent TLC externally – building the collaborative's brand, partnerships and credibility across government, industry, philanthropy and the wider skilling ecosystem

Ideal Candidate Profile:

• Around 10-15 years of experience across program leadership, skilling / education / development, government engagement or management consulting – including significant time leading teams and large programs
• Working knowledge of India's skilling and workforce-development landscape (ITIs, apprenticeships, employability, and the NSQF / MSDE ecosystem is a strong plus)
• Proven ability to build and lead high-performing teams and to manage delivery through partners at scale
• Strong program-management and outcome orientation, comfortable with data, M&E and financial oversight
• Excellent senior stakeholder management – able to command the confidence of funders, government leaders and sector experts alike
• Entrepreneurial, first-principles operator comfortable building an institution from zero to one
• Willingness to travel across program states as needed
• Deep commitment to creating employment and livelihood impact at scale