Open Positions – Circle In – The Convergence Foundation

The Convergence Foundation (TCF) is a grant-making incubator run by philanthropist Ashish Dhawan that builds and scales new foundations in key areas of India’s development sector. We identify critical void in the key economic and social development areas, partner with outstanding institution builders and work on building long-lasting organisations. We aim to build 20+ new foundations in the next 15 years that will create impact at scale in the sectors they operate in. We’re looking for smart, nice, and mission driven people to join us on this journey. ✨ Visit tinyurl.com/BuildTCF to learn more! Our journey While The Convergence Foundation is relatively new (Spring 2021), our first philanthropic project goes back a decade. Our founder, Ashish Dhawan, is one of the founders of Ashoka University, a liberal arts university, and later started Central Square Foundation (2012) focused on school education. In 2018, we started incubating organisations outside the education sector.

Our current portfolio includes:

Ashoka University

Central Square Foundation

India Leaders for Social Sector

Asian Century Foundation

Air Pollution Action Group

Centre for Effective Governance of Indian States

Accelerate Indian Philanthropy

Foundation for Accelerating Science and Technology

Circle-In

Foundation for Economic Development

ChangeInkk

Our values:

1. Mission driven

2. Lead by example

3. Excellence through high standards

4. Continuous learning

5. Entrepreneurial drive

6. Highly leveraged

7. Be humble and kind

Why join us?

• We are solving some of the toughest challenges of India.
• We are a start-up!
• You will work with really smart, humble and driven people.
• You will be constantly learning.
• You will be a part of a large and rapidly growing ecosystem.
• Further career opportunities!

Circle In aims to drastically improve women’s economic empowerment in India. Women’s empowerment is both a moral imperative and a prerequisite for India’s social and economic progress. However, in 2021, India dropped 28 places in the Global Gender Gap Index, and now ranks 140 out of 156. The barriers to women’s economic empowerment, such as limited economic opportunities, lack of agency and decision-making power, and fundamental infrastructure (e.g. safety, mobility) are complex and interlinked, and require a holistic approach to the problem.

To accelerate women’s economic empowerment in India, Circle In will initially focus on three key areas:

Employment: doubling the female labor force participation rate and increasing female-owned enterprises from 20% to 30% in the next 15 years
Safety: Women are, and feel safe at home, at work, and in public places

Agency: Increasing women’s decision-making power at home, at work, and in the community

Circle In aims to be the leading organisation working on women’s economic empowerment in the country. This will require taking a foundation approach and utilising a variety of levers, such as building political salience, engaging with the private sector, innovating and using markets, providing seed funding and shaping supply, and building the ecosystem in this area. Circle In is being incubated by The Convergence Foundation, an organisation set up by Ashish Dhawan to identify critical voids in the social sector and build strong, long-lasting organisations to solve complex problems. We are supported by champions and advisors, including Megha Chawla (Partner, Bain & Company), Sri Rajan (former Chairman, Bain & Company), Ashwini Deshpande (Founding Director of Centre for Economic Data and Analysis at Ashoka University), and Shaveta Sharma-Kukreja (co-Managing Director at Central Square Foundation).

1. Program Manager (PM), Centre for Economic Data and Analysis (in partnership with Circle In)

Years of  experience: 2-5 years

Archetype : Program management

Location: Delhi/NCR

Skills: Stakeholder Management, Parnership Building, Project Implementation, Communication

Problem Statement

India has seen a massive drop in female labor force participation (LFPR), from 26% in 2005 to 16.1% in 2020. India’s FLFP lags in comparison to that of its neighbouring countries like Bangladesh (30.5%) and Sri Lanka (33.7%), which are some of the lowest in the world. This comes at a time when the education levels among women have been increasing and awareness and efforts towards enhancing women empowerment are on the rise. Most of these efforts as well as the wider discourse on the issue have been geared towards addressing supply-side constraints such as social norms. However, we hypothesize that the poor rate of FLFP can be improved in the short- to medium-run by targeting demand-side barriers. Women have borne a disproportionate loss of jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Given that they have accounted for 23% of the total jobs lost between March 2020 and March 2021, it is more important now than ever to remove barriers to women’s entry/ re-entry/ retention/ progression in the workforce – both in terms of entrepreneurship and jobs.

About the Centre for Economic Data and Analysis

The Centre for Economic Data and Analysis (CEDA) has been set up by the Economics Department of Ashoka University with the primary objective of facilitating informed debate and discussion about economic and social development issues in India. It meaningfully contributes to public discussions on policy relevant issues through blog posts, summaries of research papers, commentaries on economic and social issues, etc.

As part of its efforts towards women empowerment, CEDA has partnered with Circle In. Circle In aims to be India’s leading organisation for understanding and mitigating barriers to women empowerment with a focus on women’s economic empowerment. Circle In will work with key stakeholders across the ecosystem, including the government, to run scalable, high-impact interventions and reform policies to support women empowerment. Circle In is incubated and supported by The Convergence Foundation, an organisation set up by Ashish Dhawan to identify critical voids in the social sector and build strong, long-lasting organisations to solve complex problems.

The CEDA-Circle In partnership’s core focus will be on identifying and testing high-impact interventions, working with the private sector to increase women’s participation in the workforce, and building networks/coalitions of industry champions to drive change. There are three broad components of the project – conducting thorough research of the sector, designing and implementing private sector initiatives, and creating a data portal. The CEDA-Circle In partnership will focus on the private sector initiatives arm of the project.

CEDA-Circle In has received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) to understand demand-side barriers to FLFP and to support champions for women’s economic empowerment.

Key people supporting Circle In:

• Megha Chawla (Partner, Bain and Company)
• Sri Rajan (former Chairman, Bain and Company)
• Ashwini Deshpande (Founding Director of CEDA at Ashoka University)
• Shaveta Kukreja (co-Managing Director, Central Square Foundation)
• Ashish Dhawan (Founder, The Convergence Foundation)

Position Summary

We are looking to hire an exceptional Program Manager (PM) to join the team in an exciting time of organisational growth and development. This role will require working closely with organisation leaders at CEDA and Circle In to identify and test innovative interventions to reduce barriers to women’s work participation. Overall, the PM will provide intellectual and management support, aligned with the missions, goals and targets of CEDA-Circle In.

This is a high-energy, entrepreneurial role and a great opportunity for those who enjoy working in a start-up environment and care deeply about women empowerment and the impact sector. This role includes working with senior stakeholders and engaging with them on strategic projects that have the potential to solve key challenges to economically empowering women in India.

This role is based out of the Centre for Economic Data and Analysis and will work closely with the team from Circle In.

Key Responsibilities

• Create a comprehensive data-driven sector report, encompassing an overview of different segments within the sector
• Work with various stakeholders and initial set of champions to pilot high-impact interventions
• Execute organisational policy changes and/ or bold new initiatives with private sector champions to mitigate barriers to women’s economic empowerment
• Support the leadership team with research and insight, recommending an appropriate approach
• Mapping of existing data sources on women’s employment, particularly in the private sector, and to support efforts to seek out more data
• Work closely with the leadership team on creating and maintaining deep engagement with the government and private sector leaders
• Develop and maintain a strong influencer/ advisor network, and initiate/ participate in a wide range of initiatives, not limited to proposals, events, and networking
• Aid the development and implementation of activities and programs to build the organisation’s networking and communication capabilities
• Identify and onboard champions, experts, private sector leaders, and other organisations that Circle In can partner with to achieve strategic priorities
• Aid in the development and implementation of regular convenings, including closed-door convenings with private sector leaders and policy makers
• Take on diverse operational tasks to ensure organisational success

Required Qualifications, Skills and Abilities

• Undergraduate degree from a top tier institution. While there is no preference for a particular major or specialization, we expect to see a high degree of intellectual curiosity and sophistication
• 2-4 years of work experience in a challenging/ high growth environment
• Excellent analytical, critical thinking and problem-solving skills
• Solid planning and organizational skills with high attention to detail, accuracy, protocol, and deadline
• Excellent writing ability that is clear, concise and analytic in style
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and stakeholder-facing skills including solid presentation and facilitation skills
• High level of flexibility and responsiveness with the ability to shift priorities quickly and as organizational demands require

Desired Qualities

• High level of discretion in maintaining confidentiality of sensitive materials and issues
• Ability to take initiative and develop solutions quickly and effectively
• Ability to understand and consider organizational culture and change
• Ability to function and interact in a professional level capacity to sustain the mission, culture and best interests of the respective organizations
• Ability to adapt and exhibit confidence in a highly evolving, agile, and fast paced work environment
• Excellent research skills with the ability to distill important concepts in a structured, concise, yet comprehensive manner
• Broad and strategic mindset, creative aptitude and effective use of independent judgment
• Operating style suited to working in a small-organization setting, where teamwork and resourcefulness are highly valued

Compensation

Remuneration will be competitive with Indian philanthropy pay scales and will depend upon the candidate’s qualifications and experience.

Location New Delhi, India

2. Team Lead/ Senior Program Manager, CEDA-Circle In

Years of  experience: 6- 9 years , 9 -12 years

Archetype : Program management

Location: Delhi/NCR

Skills: Research, Program Design, Project Implementation, Data Analysis

Position

Team Lead (TL)/ Senior Program Manager (SPM), Centre for Economic Data and Analysis (in partnership with Circle In)

Problem Statement

India has seen a massive drop in female labor force participation (LFPR), from 26% in 2005 to 16.1% in 2020. India’s FLFP lags in comparison to that of its neighbouring countries like Bangladesh (30.5%) and Sri Lanka (33.7%), which are some of the lowest in the world. This comes at a time when the education levels among women have been increasing and awareness and efforts towards enhancing women empowerment are on the rise. Most of these efforts as well as the wider discourse on the issue have been geared towards addressing supply-side constraints such as social norms. However, we hypothesize that the poor rate of FLFP can be improved in the short- to medium-run by targeting demand-side barriers. Women have borne a disproportionate loss of jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Given that they have accounted for 23% of the total jobs lost between March 2020 and March 2021, it is more important now than ever to remove barriers to women’s entry/ re-entry/ retention/ progression in the workforce – both in terms of entrepreneurship and jobs.

About the Centre for Economic Data and Analysis

The Centre for Economic Data and Analysis (CEDA) has been set up by the Economics Department of Ashoka University with the primary objective of facilitating informed debate and discussion about economic and social development issues in India. It meaningfully contributes to public discussions on policy relevant issues through blog posts, summaries of research papers, commentaries on economic and social issues, etc.

As part of its efforts towards women empowerment, CEDA has partnered with Circle In. Circle In aims to be India’s leading organisation for understanding and mitigating barriers to women’s economic and social empowerment. Circle In will work with key stakeholders across the ecosystem, including the government, to run scalable, high-impact interventions and reform policies to support women empowerment. Circle In is incubated and supported by The Convergence Foundation, an organisation set up by Ashish Dhawan to identify critical voids in the social sector and build strong, long-lasting organisations to solve complex problems.

The CEDA-Circle In partnership’s core focus will be on identifying and testing high-impact interventions, working with the private sector to increase women’s participation in the workforce, and building networks/coalitions of industry champions to drive change. There are three broad components of the project – conducting thorough research of the sector, designing and implementing private sector initiatives, and creating a data portal. The CEDA-Circle In partnership will focus on the private sector initiatives arm of the project.

CEDA-Circle In has received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) to understand demand-side barriers to FLFP and to support champions for women’s economic empowerment.

Key people supporting Circle In:

• Megha Chawla (Partner, Bain and Company)
• Sri Rajan (former Chairman, Bain and Company)
• Ashwini Deshpande (Founding Director of CEDA at Ashoka University)
• Shaveta Kukreja (co-Managing Director, Central Square Foundation)
• Ashish Dhawan (Founder, The Convergence Foundation)

Position Summary

We are looking to hire an exceptional Team Lead (TL)/ Senior Program Manager (SPM) to join the team in an exciting time of organisational growth and development. This role will require working closely with organisation leaders at CEDA and Circle In to identify and test innovative interventions to reduce barriers to women’s work participation. Overall, the TL/ SPM will provide project design and execution support, aligned with the missions, goals and targets of CEDA-Circle In.

The TL/ SPM will work on creating actionable plans, sharpening priorities, and ensuring delivery of high-quality outputs in a timely manner. The role will involve undertaking research and scoping exercises, establishing and maintaining relationships with stakeholders, creating organizational growth and strategy plans, designing and piloting scalable interventions, and ensuring that the organisation has the strategic support necessary to achieve its goals. To ensure the private sector implementation component works in conjunction with the research and data pieces, the TL/ SPM will work closely with the leadership of the other verticals and the coordinator on key decision points and translation of research into action.

This is a high-energy, entrepreneurial role and a great opportunity for those who enjoy working in a start-up environment and care deeply about women empowerment and the impact sector. This role includes working with senior stakeholders and engaging with them on strategic projects that have the potential to solve key challenges to empowering women in India.

This role is based out of CEDA and will work closely with the team from Circle In.

Key Responsibilities

• Work with the CEO (and other top leadership) to execute workplans, with the aim of achieving the agreed targets and goals, in line with the budget
• Create a comprehensive data-driven sector report, encompassing an overview of different segments within the sector
• Work with an initial set of champions within the private and public sectors to pilot high-impact interventions
• Execute organisational policy changes and/or innovative initiatives with private sector champions to mitigate barriers to women’s economic empowerment
• Mapping of existing data sources on women’s employment, particularly in the private sector, and to support efforts to seek out more data
• Stakeholder mapping/ providing inputs into advocacy plans
• Work closely with the leadership team on creating and maintaining deep engagement with the government and private sector leaders
• Develop and maintain a strong influencer/ advisor network, and initiate/ participate in a wide range of initiatives, not limited to proposals, events, and networking
• Oversee the development and implementation of activities and programs to build the organisation’s networking and communication capabilities
• Identify and onboard champions, experts, private sector leaders, and other organisations that Circle In can partner with to achieve strategic priorities
• Plan and implement regular convenings, including closed-door convenings with private sector leaders and policy makers
• Take on diverse operational tasks to ensure organisational success

Required Qualifications, Skills and Abilities

• Masters and undergraduate degrees from top tier institutions. While there is no preference for a particular major or specialization, we expect to see a high degree of intellectual curiosity and sophistication
• 8-10+ years of work experience in a challenging/ high growth environment
  Entrepreneurial self-starter, passion for women empowerment, and desire to find innovative solutions to address barriers to improve women’s work
• Excellent analytical, critical thinking and problem-solving skills
• Solid planning and organizational skills with high attention to detail, accuracy, protocol and deadline
• Excellent writing ability that is clear, concise and analytic in style
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and stakeholder-facing skills including solid presentation and facilitation skills
• High level of flexibility and responsiveness with the ability to shift priorities quickly and as organizational demands require

Desired Qualities

• High level of discretion in maintaining confidentiality of sensitive materials and issues
• Ability to take initiative and develop solutions quickly and effectively
• Ability to understand and consider organizational culture and change
• Ability to function and interact in a professional level capacity to sustain the mission, culture and best interests of the respective organizations
• Ability to adapt and exhibit confidence in a highly evolving, agile, and fast paced work environment
• Excellent research skills with the ability to distill important concepts in a structured, concise, yet comprehensive manner
• Broad and strategic mindset, creative aptitude and effective use of independent judgment
• Operating style suited to working in a small-organization setting, where teamwork and resourcefulness are highly valued

Compensation

Remuneration will be competitive with Indian philanthropy pay scales and will depend upon the candidate’s qualifications and experience.

Location New Delhi, India

3. Chief Executive Officer, Circle In

Years of  experience: 20+

Archetype : Technical role

Location: Delhi/NCR

Skills: Leadership, Stakeholder Management, Partnership Building Research

Position

Founding Chief Executive Officer, Circle In

Position Summary

We are looking for an exceptional Founding CEO to join the team in an exciting time of organisational growth and development. S/he will contribute to nation- and institution-building and play a fundamental role in shaping the women’s economic empowerment landscape in India. The ideal candidate would be an entrepreneurial institution builder with high intellectual vitality, and someone who is incredibly passionate about women’s empowerment in India. We are looking for a stellar senior corporate leader who has built and run institutions, managed and led high performing teams, and wants to co-create the most impactful organisation working on women’s economic empowerment in India in the next 10 years.

The Founding CEO’s role is to establish Circle In as the pre-eminent organisation for enhancing women’s economic empowerment in India, with a focus on designing and implementing high-impact interventions in the form of policies, programs, or bold new initiatives. The Founding CEO will report to the founders/advisory board of the organisation.

In two years, we envision the following:

• Launch initiatives in the three areas that have been identified (employment, safety, agency) that include policy, programs, interventions, and creating an ecosystem
• Identify 2-3 more high potential areas to address the problem of women’s economic empowerment in India and launch initiatives
• Build an ecosystem around the organisation and specific areas, including a network of advisors and champions from research, academia, the private sector, the government, etc.
• Build Circle In into a best-in-class organisation with top talent

Key Responsibilities

The Founding CEO is expected to set up Circle In as a unique social sector organisation, creating an institution that consistently delivers the necessary impact towards achieving its long-term vision.

• Develop strategy and boot-strap its operating capabilities – articulate a business plan, design the organisational structure, hire and build a strong leadership team, allocate resources, and secure long term funding
• Undertake programs and projects with institutions in the ecosystem, private sector, and government to consolidate best practices for change
• Establish Circle In as a thought leader by building a robust network of partners, collaborators, and supporters
• Raise the level of debate and awareness amongst the government, corporates, private sector leaders, and academia about the essential need for enhancing women’s economic empowerment, and how to best achieve set goals
• Build and lead a high-quality leadership team. Over time, formalise objectives and key results for the team and the organisation
• Mentor and guide the leadership team for better engagement towards achieving increased conversions/ closures when engaging with private sector leaders and government officials
• Manage and optimise the organisation’s finances and allocate resources appropriately

Required Qualifications, Skills, and Abilities

• Graduate degree from a top tier institution. While the area of study can vary, passion for women’s empowerment is a must
• Entrepreneurial self-starter who is a hands-on leader, passionate about women’s empowerment, and interested in solving complex social problems
• Proven track record of successful senior leadership in corporate environment with high standards, with a minimum of 20 years of overall professional experience
• Highly motivated and able to inspire team members to work towards goals and targets, and take ownership of the organisation and mission
• Collaborative and active listener, leads with empathy and values teamwork and resourcefulness
• High intellectual vitality, the desire to continuously learn, read, and engage on a variety of topics. While the person may only have a basic understanding of the social sector, we highly value the willingness to learn
• The ability to build and nurture deep relationships with senior stakeholders in both the corporate and social sectors
• Adaptable and flexible to changing circumstances and needs of the role, including flexibility in working hours/ travel to ensure coordination with stakeholders in different locations and time zones
• Experience in strategic and operational excellence; has managed and led teams to achieve strong results across projects

Remuneration

Remuneration will be competitive with Indian philanthropy pay scales and will depend upon the candidate’s experience.

Location New Delhi, India