Project Manager

The Convergence Foundation; Delhi; On-site; INR 1,000,000 - 1,800,000; Full time

Job summary

The Convergence Foundation's PRAGATI initiative seeks a Program Manager – Investments to support growth of manufacturing enterprises in Deoria and beyond. Based in Delhi, you will coordinate with government bodies, private partners, and MPs to build a robust enterprise pipeline and facilitate scaling of MSMEs.

You will lead investment promotion, stakeholder engagement, and documentation, while tracking progress with dashboards and ensuring timely approvals across sectors.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field (Public Policy, Economic Development, Entrepreneurship) is required.
• Master's degree in a relevant discipline is preferred.
• Minimum 2 years of total experience in enterprise ecosystems, economic development, or government projects.
• Experience collaborating with central/state government agencies, development finance institutions, or entrepreneurs.
• Excellent communication, documentation, and stakeholder negotiation skills.

Responsibilities

• Support growth of manufacturing enterprises under Project Amrit Prayas Enterprise vertical.
• Build and maintain a robust investor pipeline with sector-wise outreach.
• Plan and execute investor-facing activities and present Deoria's strengths to investors.
• Identify and scale enterprises; assess needs for quality, branding, and market delivery.
• Conduct desk and primary research and draft Detailed Project Reports and feasibility studies.
• Navigate regulatory and planning approvals across departments for manufacturing units/services.
• Drive stakeholder engagement with communities, administrators, investors, and service providers.
• Track project progress with granular milestones and dashboards; ensure on-schedule implementation.
• Enable cross-vertical synergy and share best practices across projects.
• Maintain comprehensive knowledge management and project documentation.

Skills

Communication

Documentation

Stakeholder engagement

Education

Bachelor's degree in Public Policy/Economic Development/Entrepreneurship

Master's degree (preferred)

Job description

JOB DESCRIPTION: TEAM MEMBER/ PROGRAM MANAGER – Investments at PRAGATI

Programme for Rural Advancement, Growth and Transformative Initiatives (PRAGATI) is an initiative of The Convergence Foundation (TCF) aimed at accelerating economic growth in underdeveloped rural districts across India. The core idea is to design and test scalable, replicable models that can unlock prosperity in what we call Middle India. As a first step, PRAGATI has selected Deoria district in Eastern Uttar Pradesh as its pilot. Over the next two years, the initiative will develop and validate a district-level growth playbook that can be adapted across similar regions.

The on-ground implementation in Deoria is being carried out through Amrit Prayas, a 10-year economic development strategy anchored under the Deoria Development Alliance, led by Member of Parliament Shri Shashank Mani and supported by an experienced leadership team.

Amrit Prayas aims to significantly accelerate Deoria's economic trajectory—targeting ~9.2% annual GDP growth over the next decade and the creation of ~1.7 lakh additional jobs. The approach focuses on expanding non-farm employment, improving value creation across sectors, and ensuring environmental sustainability, while unlocking human potential.

At its core, PRAGATI (through Amrit Prayas) seeks to drive broad-based, inclusive growth—moving beyond isolated interventions to a coordinated, district-wide strategy. Implementation is designed at the village and cluster level, ensuring that growth is both deep and distributed.

Given the scale of ambition, this effort is envisioned as a whole-of-society mission—bringing together government, private sector, and citizens to collaboratively deliver long-term economic transformation.

About the role :

The Program Manager – Investments will be responsible to support growth of manufacturing enterprises in the focus areas under Project Amrit Prayas. This will include scaling existing local small and medium local enterprises, and facilitating set-up of new enterprises by national or international companies/ persons. The role will require cross-sectoral coordination with government bodies, private partners, local stakeholders, and the Member of Parliament's teams. It requires strong execution capabilities, documentation abilities, and building local knowledge and relationships. The Program Manager will report directly to the Team Lead for Investments.

Responsibilities:

• Support Strategic Implementation of the projects under Project Amrit Prayas Enterprise vertical, ensuring alignment with sustainability goals, and regional development objectives.
• Investment Promotion and Pipeline Building: Build and maintain a robust, sector-wise investor pipeline by conducting targeted outreach, preparing opportunity notes, and systematically tracking leads, conversations, and next actions in a live database/CRM.
• Investor Engagement and Events: Plan and execute investor-facing activities such as meetings, roadshows, and roundtables, and consistently present Deoria's sectoral strengths and enterprise pipeline to institutions, corporates, funds, and impact investors.
• Identifying and Scaling enterprises: Study the enterprises that are in the region, shortlist ones relevant to Amrit Prayas and approach them to understand what is needed to scale from perspectives such as quality, time, branding and market delivery. For scaling, evaluate current status, assess whether they can grow in scale, define a plan and connect with the right resources/functions.
• Identifying high‑impact interventions to grow the district's manufacturing base by analysing existing clusters and value chains, assessing gaps in infrastructure, finance, skills, technology, market access, and policy, and recommending new interventions to unlock scale for MSMEs and anchor units.
• Research and Documentation: Conducting desk and primary research for reports and drafting Detailed Project Report, Feasibility Report, pitch decks, and other related reports/ documentation.
• Facilitate Regulatory and Planning Approvals, navigating complex statutory processes including electricity clearances, land-use conversions, environmental and infrastructural NOCs, and inter-departmental approvals for manufacturing units/ service organizations.
• Drive Stakeholder Engagement: Engage with local communities, administrative bodies, investors, and service providers to secure buy-in, align interests, and mobilize support for project components and co-investment.
• Track Project Progress: Detailed micro-level plans for assigned interventions by prioritizing initiatives, identifying key stakeholders, defining clear actions, setting granular milestones, timelines, and targets aligned with district goals. Support to build a robust Monitoring Systems using dashboards, and milestone tracking to ensure implementation remains on schedule and aligned with strategic priorities.
• Enable Cross-vertical Synergy and Learning: Facilitating common enterprise frameworks, and performance benchmarks across projects to maximize impact and resource efficiency.
• Knowledge Management: Maintain comprehensive documentation of project status, lessons learned, best practices, and implementation reports to support internal reviews and facilitate replication or scale-up across districts.

Educational Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in the Public Policy, Economic Development, Entrepreneurship and relevant field (minimum qualification)
• Master's degree in relevant disciplines (preferred)

Professional Experience:

• Minimum 2 years of total experience with experience desirable in enterprise ecosystems, economic development or government projects.
• Experience in executing projects in collaboration with central/state government agencies, development finance institutions, or entrepreneurs.
• Ability to work in high-paced, multi-stakeholder environments and deliver results under tight timelines
• The ability to relate to local entrepreneurs but also to national or international entrepreneurs and market connectors.
• Excellent communication, documentation, and stakeholder negotiation skills

Location:

The base location will be Delhi with travel to Deoria, and any other place as required for work.

Remuneration:

Competitive and commensurate with experience and qualifications, aligned with sector norms for roles in enterprise building and development projects.