Senior Associate, The Livelihood Collective The STEP Foundation

The Convergence Foundation; India; On-site; INR 1,200,000 - 1,800,000; Full time

Job summary

The Livelihood Collective is seeking a Senior Associate to support TLC leadership across strategy, playbook development, program management and monitoring. You will connect the PMU with state teams and implementation partners, driving setup and delivery across two phases with hands-on execution and ecosystem engagement.

Ideal candidates have 4–5 years in consulting, program management, research or skilling, strong structured problem-solving, data orientation and stakeholder management, and

Qualifications

• Strong structured problem-solving and first-principles thinking.
• Comfort with data, monitoring and reporting; turn tracking into insight.
• Ability to manage multiple stakeholders and coordinate delivery across teams.
• Strong written and analytical skills for leadership- and funder-facing materials.
• Willingness to travel to program states and ITI clusters as needed.
• Independent operator with a passion for skilling and employment impact at scale.

Responsibilities

• Support the development and refinement of the 10-pillar ITI transformation playbook across states and modules.
• Drive program management and oversight for the PMU—planning, milestones, risks, and delivery across both phases.

Skills

Structured problem-solving

Program management

Data analysis

Stakeholder management

Travel readiness

Writing & reporting

Job description

Senior Associate, The Livelihood Collective

The Livelihood Collective (TLC) - ITI Transformation Roadmap

• Position: Senior Associate, TLC
• Reports to: TLC Leadership (Program Director / Program Manager, TLC PMU)

Job Description:

We are seeking a driven, structured problem-solver to join the Project Management Unit (PMU) of The Livelihood Collective (TLC) - a multi-funder collaborative transforming India's Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) from qualification factories into employment engines. TLC will prove and codify a 10-pillar transformation playbook across 8 clusters and ~120 ITIs in Maharashtra, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh, reaching ~1.1 lakh youth before scaling nationally.

As a Senior Associate in the central PMU, you will work at the heart of the program - supporting TLC leadership across strategy, playbook development, program management and monitoring, and acting as a key connector between the PMU, state teams and lead implementation partners. You will operate across both phases of the program: building and refining the playbook and systems in the set-up phase, and driving oversight, tracking and delivery through state implementation. It is a high-ownership role that blends structured thinking with hands-on program execution and real ecosystem engagement.

The ideal candidate can move seamlessly from structured analysis and playbook design to partner coordination and field immersion - and is energised by building something new in India's skilling ecosystem.

Key Responsibilities:

• Support the development and continuous refinement of the 10-pillar ITI transformation playbook - working across states and modules and codifying learning from the field
• Drive program management and oversight for the PMU - planning, tracking milestones, flagging risks and delays, and keeping workstreams on schedule across both phases
• Own outcome and progress tracking through the tech-enabled M&E backbone - supporting the north-star EET metric, ITI scorecards and cascaded reporting from ITI to PMU
• Liaise day-to-day with lead implementation partners (Medha, LAHI, Tata STRIVE) and state teams - coordinating plans, resolving issues and ensuring cluster-level delivery against outcomes
• Support baseline, mid-line and endline assessments and translate findings into cluster-level priorities and playbook refinements
• Prepare analysis, reviews and materials for the Steering Committee, Advisory Board and funders
• Support government engagement and ecosystem convenings at central, state and cluster level
• Contribute to research and knowledge products (e.g., employability, apprenticeship / OJT integration, digital skilling) that strengthen the model

Ideal Candidate Profile:

• Around 4-5 years of experience in consulting, program management, research, or the skilling / education / development sector
• Strong structured problem-solving and first-principles thinking, with a bias for execution
• Comfort with data, monitoring and reporting; able to turn tracking into insight and action
• Ability to manage multiple stakeholders and partners, and to coordinate delivery across teams
• Strong written and analytical skills for leadership- and funder-facing materials
• Willingness to travel to program states and ITI clusters as needed
• Independent operator with a passion for skilling and creating employment impact at scale