Project Lead

Smile Foundation; Delhi; On-site; INR 1,400,000 - 2,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Smile Foundation is seeking a Project Lead - Health to oversee community health initiatives from the Head Office in New Delhi. The role requires coordinating with government, donors, NGOs and field staff to ensure high-quality health programs with effective use of resources.

The ideal candidate will bring 5–10 years of relevant experience in program leadership, health project management and M&E, with ability to travel up to 20–30% and manage large teams across districts.

Qualifications

• Minimum 3-4 years of working experience in UN agencies (UNICEF, WHO)/Bilateral agencies on leadership positions in Health Projects.
• Experience of implementing large size integrated community health projects including Mobile Medical Units.
• In-depth knowledge of Government sector/NHM approach to community/public health care.

Responsibilities

• Lead project management and implementation with technical teams to ensure high program quality.
• Develop implementation plans, budgets, procurement timelines and track progress against plans.
• Coordinate with government, donors, NGOs and communities to ensure stakeholder engagement.
• Supervise financial operations, budgets, and donor reporting.
• Recruit and mentor project teams; manage performance reviews and capacity building.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic planning

Budgeting

Monitoring & Evaluation

Coordination

Education

Master’s in Social Work / MBBS / Development Studies / Public Health

Tools

MS Office

Job description

About Smile Foundation

Smile Foundation works for the welfare of underprivileged children and their families through intensive programs focused on education, healthcare, skilling and women empowerment and Empowering Grassroots. Started in 2002 by a group of young corporate professionals, today Smile has evolved into a national level development organization impacting lives of over 1.5 million underprivileged children and their families with project presence in 25 states across India, 10 offices

Position: Project Lead - Health

Functional Area: Programme

Experience Required: 5-10years

Job Location: Head Office, New Delhi

No. of Position: 1

Supervises: 12-15 Project Team members

About Role

Smile Foundation will be implementing Community Health project in Agar Malwa district in Madhya Pradesh and will be overall responsible for overseeing all aspects of implementation and ensuring high program quality standards maintained throughout the project period. The Project Lead will also ensure that all project implementation resources are used effectively and transparently in meeting project objectives. As Project Lead, She/he will provide technical and management leadership to the site-level staff, who will implement field activities. She/he will closely work with the project’s technical team including Advocacy and Research to ensure rolling out of intervention plan and technical integrity of program.

She/he will need to relate to and work effectively with people from diverse backgrounds, professional experiences, and personalities. The position may require up to 20-30% travel. She/he will coordinate, leverage, manage and motivate key players towards ensuring synergy, achieving results and promote ownership of the results.

Job Description

Project Management & Implementation

• Lead to setting performance goals/targets for implementation of the project.
• Lead the development of implementation plan/ strategy, work schedules, resource allocation charts, procurement timelines, project budgets, and progress tracking systems with the technical team of the project.
• Plan for improving the efficiency of operations and quality of all aspects of implementation.
• Lead on-time implementation and achieve end-to-end deliverables of work plan: plan, execute, monitor, and conclude health initiatives as per the PIP.
• Review of progress and ensure that project targets are achieved as per the annual work plans.
• Lead the implementation of the plan including Mobile Medical Unit for improving the efficiency of field operations and quality of all aspects of implementation
• Conduct regular field visits to ensure quality, compliance, and coordination
• Plan route maps and service schedules in coordination with field staff.

Government Liaison & Stakeholder Engagement

• Develop and maintain strong external relations, with government, donors, and public and private sector partners. Represent the organization in meetings, workshops, and joint reviews with stakeholders including government, donors, NGOs, and local communities.
• Support efforts to disseminate project results to all key stakeholders.
• Provide updates on the progress made, direction, approaches and successes of the program to external and internal stakeholders.

Supervision of the Financial Management

• Supervise overall financial operations: manage budgets and expenditure tracking.
• Review and authorize payments, reimbursements, invoices, travel claims, procurement transactions, and petty cash disbursements following organizational policy.
• Support audits, internal reviews, and donor funded financial reporting.
• Prepare periodic financial outlook.

Human Resource Development and Administration

• Recruit project team according to project requirements, develop and implement systems of performance appraisal, job reviews and promotions.
• Conduct regular team meetings and knowledge-sharing sessions to monitor progress and foster innovation.
• Assess departmental skill sets and ensure the team size and capacities are in line with the project targets.
• Identify training needs of field staff based on critical review of the project performance. Work with the technical leads for the project to prepare and implement the plan for providing differentiated inputs for efficiency and quality improvement of field staff.
• Facilitate creation of a positive organizational climate to enable people optimize their short term and long-term performance.
• Manage administrative functions including vendor development related to implementation of the project.
• Manage the development and administration of the operations budget by reviewing and monitoring of expenditure.

Monitoring, Evaluation & Reporting

• Contribute to development/improvement of reporting and analysis formats. Work with the Research, Monitoring and Evaluation team to develop appropriate data collection procedures/systems.
• The Project Lead will be responsible for critically reviewing project performance through field visits, survey data, and program MIS data, creating project dashboards based on real time data collection and generating actionable data that influence choice of innovations.
• Measure early success and failures of demonstration models within the project.
• Support in documenting learnings from innovations/ demonstration models and support metrics development for scale up of successful model.
• Establish result-based monitoring frameworks to track activity outputs, outcomes, and financial performance aligned to organizational goals
• Prepare and submit regular operational and financial reports—monthly, quarterly, and annual to the donor.
• Conduct periodic reviews and audits, implement corrective actions as needed, and update project plans to align with emerging needs and risks.

Donor Relationship & Internal Coordination

• Coordinate with internal teams (finance, M&E, communications) to align budgets and collate impact data for donor presentations.
• Ensure compiling and disseminating high-quality periodic reporting in line with donor and Smile Foundation requirements (Monthly, Quarterly, Half Yearly and Annual progress/ Financial reports)

Risk & Compliance Management

• Identify programmatic, financial, and compliance risks, develop mitigation strategies, and escal
• Ensure compliance with national regulations, donor guidelines, and organizational policies including procurement standards and audit requirements Support project closure planning, financial reconciliation, and final audit handover as per guidelines.

Education Qualification & Skills

• Master’s Social work / MBBS/ BAMS/ Development Studies/ Public Health or relevant filed experience.
• Proven experience in research and study.
• Experience of implementing large size (Minimum 3 CR) integrated community health Project/s including Mobile Medical Units.
• Minimum 3-4 years of working experience in UN agencies (UNICEF, WHO)/Bilateral agencies on leadership positions in Health Projects.
• In-depth knowledge of Government sector/ NHM approach to community/Public health care.
• In-depth knowledge of National Family Health Survey/ The National Quality Assurance Standards (NQAS).
• Prior experience in market dynamics and market-based interventions, particularly to improve public health.
• Skills and experience in strategic planning, management, supervision, and budgeting, and managing complex activities involving coordination with multiple program partner institutions.
• Demonstrated ability of mobilize commercial partners, M&E agencies, Government systems, and other Partners.

Competencies

• Initiating action: Taking prompt action to accomplish objectives; taking action to achieve goals beyond what is required; being proactive.
• Communication: Clearly conveying information and ideas through a variety of media to individuals or groups in a manner that engages the audience and helps them understand and retain the message. Able to give and take during a conversation in a balanced way, listening as well as speaking at appropriate intervals.
• Planning and organizing: Establishing courses of action for self and others to ensure work is completed efficiently.
• Decision Making: Identifying and understanding issues, problems, and opportunities, comparing data from different sources to draw conclusions; using effective approaches for choosing a course of action or developing appropriate solutions; taking action that is consistent with available facts, constraints, and probable consequences.
• Continuous learning: Actively identifying new areas for learning; regularly creating and taking advantage of learning opportunities; using newly gained knowledge and skill on the job and learning through their application.

Note: Candidates will be reviewed on rolling basis.