Program Lead - Curriculum & Pedagogy

Mantra4Change; Kamrup Metropolitan; On-site; INR 700,000 - 900,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

24 paid leaves

12 calendar holidays

Health insurance coverage

Menstrual leave

L&D fund for learning opportunities

Job summary

Mantra4Change in Guwahati, Assam, is seeking a Program Lead- Research & Design to design curriculum-based interventions and build regional capacity. You will work with government partners to pilot learning tools and scale effective practices across the Northeast states.

Strong design experience, collaboration, and familiarity with DIKSHA are essential for this role, which also involves engaging with DIETs, SCERTs, and field teams.

Qualifications

• Must have a minimum of 3 years of relevant experience.
• Must have a master's degree in education or a related field.
• Must have classroom teaching experience or equivalent close-contact experience designing learning experiences for teachers.
• Must have experience creating teacher-facing assets such as lesson plans, facilitator guides, self-learning modules, and training decks that have been used in classrooms or training settings.
• Must have proficiency in Google Suite and experience using AI tools such as Claude and ChatGPT as part of design workflows.
• Must have proficiency in English (reading, writing, and speaking); working proficiency in Hindi or another relevant state language is strongly preferred.
• Good to have familiarity with DIKSHA.
• Good to have experience with design tools (Canva, Vyond, or similar) for teacher-facing digital content).
• Good to have demonstrated experience in curriculum and content design.
• Good to have experience working with government education stakeholders, such as State/District Education Departments, DIETs, BRC/CRC, or equivalent bodies.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end design, piloting, and iteration of curriculum-based interventions aligned to NCF-SE 2023, PARAKH, and textbooks.
• Design high-quality teacher-facing assets, lesson plans, self-learning modules, facilitator handbooks, digital content.
• Develop and refine competency-based learning outcomes assessment tools.
• Set academic quality standards, review rubrics, and version-control processes.
• Pilot and evaluate solutions and provide scale-up recommendations.
• Research and develop tools to identify needs of schools and teachers.
• Engage in program design with teams and create MEL frameworks.

Skills

English proficiency

Google Suite

AI tools (Claude, ChatGPT)

DIKSHA familiarity

Canva / Vyond

Hindi or state language

Curriculum design

Education

Master's degree in education or related field

Tools

DIKSHA

Job description

Mantra4Change is a non-profit organisation working with governments to transform public education systems in India — so that millions of children can learn better, grow stronger, and thrive. We partner closely with state education departments to design and implement reforms at scale, strengthening leadership, governance, and classroom practice across public schools. Our work is grounded in the belief that lasting change happens when governments lead their own transformation.

Through long-term collaboration with institutions such as SCERTs and DIETs, Mantra4Change focuses on developing school leaders and system leaders, building collaborative school cultures, and engaging communities as partners in learning. By combining strong on-ground implementation with continuous learning, we help systems identify what works, scale it responsibly, and sustain improvement over time.

Our mission is to enable leaders at every level of the system to drive continuous improvement, creating a virtuous cycle in which strong leadership, collective ownership, and systemic reform deliver better learning and more equitable outcomes for every child.

The Program Lead- Research & Design role at Mantra4Change will contribute to research, design and advocacy efforts to solve challenges in public education systems in India. This role is most suited for those excited by designing interventions and innovations for scale and learning from research and practice.

This role offers an opportunity to design for Mantra4Change’s programs in the Northeast, particularly Nagaland and Meghalaya.

Roles and Responsibilities

Curriculum, Pedagogy & Design

• Lead end-to-end design, piloting, and iteration of curriculum-based interventions like PBL, FLN program etc, aligned to NCF-SE 2023, PARAKH, and State/NCERT textbooks.
• Design high-quality teacher-facing assets, lesson plans, self-learning modules, facilitator handbooks, micro-improvement projects, and DIKSHA/LMS-compatible digital content.
• Develop and refine competency-based/Learning Outcomes based assessment tools
• Set academic quality standards, review rubrics, and version-control processes to maintain content consistency across programs
• Pilot and evaluate the solutions to improve their quality and provide recommendations for implementing them at scale
• Research and develop tools to identify needs of schools and teachers.
• Engage in program design in collaboration with teams and create LFA, MEL framework etc

Teacher Capacity Building

• Design and deliver teacher professional development programs and training frameworks, including train-the-trainer models for government cascade structures.
• Build in classroom-observation and feedback loops to test whether training actually changes practice, and revise design based on that evidence.

Research, Evidence & Advocacy

• Conduct secondary and primary research (classroom observations, teacher interviews, field pilots) to generate insight that directly informs curriculum and training design.
• Document field evidence, case studies, etc and contribute to design briefs, working papers and other research backed products that position M4C's point of view externally with government and ecosystem partners.

Government & Ecosystem Engagement

• Support program teams on academic front by working directly with government stakeholders (DIETs, block/cluster leadership, State officials) to contextualize, pilot, and get sign-off on curriculum and training design.
• Collaborate with content vendors, external experts and partner organisations for creating reviewing deliverables against M4C's pedagogical and quality standards.

Program & Project Management

• Own end-to-end delivery of design workstreams, planning, timelines, cross-functional coordination with Program teams in the relevant states.
• Use MEL data and field feedback to adaptively course-correct design and rollout.

Experience & Competencies Required

• Must have a minimum of 3 years of relevant experience.
• Must have a master's degree in education or a related field.
• Must have classroom teaching experience or equivalent close-contact experience designing learning experiences for teachers.
• Must have experience creating teacher-facing assets such as lesson plans, facilitator guides, self-learning modules, and training decks that have been used in classrooms or training settings.
• Must have proficiency in Google Suite and experience using AI tools such as Claude and ChatGPT as part of design workflows.
• Must have proficiency in English (reading, writing, and speaking); working proficiency in Hindi or another relevant state language is strongly preferred, given the role's direct field and government engagement.
• Good to have familiarity with DIKSHA.
• Good to have experience with design tools (Canva, Vyond, or similar) for teacher-facing digital content).
• Good to have demonstrated experience in curriculum and content design.
• Good to have experience working with government education stakeholders, such as State/District Education Departments, DIETs, BRC/CRC, or equivalent bodies.

Why Mantra

• A trust-based work environment that encourages independent thinking, questioning, and building solutions
• An open and collaborative culture where teams are accessible and diverse perspectives are valued
• 24 paid leave and 12 calendar holidays
• Health insurance coverage of up to ₹5 LPA for the employee and their dependents
• One menstrual leave each month for women employees
• ₹5,000 L&D fund to pursue job-related learning opportunities

Remuneration

Annual CTC of INR 7 LPA onwards (depending on competency, experience and last drawn salary)

Location

Guwahati, Assam, with periodic travel to field sites and partner states required.