Lead – Implementation

1. POSITION VACANT: Lead – Implementation, Room to Read India, Patna, Bihar

2. ORGANISATION BACKGROUND:

Room to Read India was established in 2003 and presently has programs in twelve states – Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi NCR, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh. Room to Read is a global organization transforming the lives of millions of children by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education. Since 2000, Room to Read has benefited more than 52 million children across 29 countries.

For more information about, Room to Read India please visit: www.roomtoreadindia.org.

3. JOB DESCRIPTION/ RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Lead – Implementation shall be responsible for Room to Read’s operations in a geographic area, a state in this case. S/he is primarily responsible for ensuring government relations at state level, timely and effective implementation of programs at the field office, including implementation, spending, hiring, local procurement, inventory management, distribution and logistical support.

The position is required to take initiative for project management, improving work approaches, partnerships, selection of projects sites, and ensuring adequate staff to work at the field level. S/he will work to strengthen coordination and collaboration within teams and across all CO (Country Office) program teams, maintaining and ensuring constructive communication, building team morale within individual teams and contributing to a positive working environment. The incumbent shall report to the Principal Lead- Implementation and will have dotted line reporting to various stakeholders from the Country Leadership Team. The entire state team will report to Lead-Implementation and base location will be Patna, Bihar.

Key Job Responsibilities:

A. System Strengthening and System Integration:
(1) Working closely with State officials in ensuring government system strengthening and institutionalization of RtR programs in the states;
(2) Preparation of overall strategic plan, basis local context and RtR Vision plan 2025 for the respective state and continuously reviewing the same;
(3) Organizing various discussions/consultations with Government to work towards system strengthening and positioning RtR as a thought leader in Literacy and Girls Education program;
(4) Building body of evidence that can push appropriate policy/practice changes backed by robust evidence;
(5) Support INCO Op’s in proposal development and country growth plan as needed

B. External Coordination, Branding, and Networking:
(1) Attends to donor affairs including hosting donor and project site visits in collaboration with programs staff;
(2) Develop and lead media advocacy plan for the state;
(3) Assist RtR communication team in promotion of RtR programs through active media liasioning in state in accordance with the strategy, policies and guidelines of RtR;
(4) Scanning of education landscape in the state and positioning RtR as a thought leader through strategic management;
(5) Take lead in dissemination of program results, sharing program report to government and other agencies in suggestions with OPS team;
(6) Meets regularly with local government representatives, NGO partners, school administrators and parent groups to represent RtR;
(7) Promotes and protects the reputation of Room to Read in external settings, ensuring that the organization’s experience and expertise is well communicated and consistently presented, and that we are looked upon as a professional Education organization.

C. Management and Coordination:

(1) Ensures efficient and effective coordination across all elements of the Literacy Program and Girls’ Education Program in his/her region;
(2) Supervises and oversees the work of the field staff and is responsible for optimizing their productivity through effective management and leadership techniques (i.e., coaching/advising);
(3) Ensures staff are consistently complying and adhering to policies, procedures and guidelines articulated in the CO handbooks and facilitates the dissemination of information to all staff members to promote transparency;
(4) Supports staff through consultation with CO-level technical team to regularly assess staff capacity building needs;
(5) Ensures the performance management process is well-planned and conducted in a timely manner for all field staff. This includes setting performance goals, conducting progress check-ins, providing feedback, conducting year-end appraisals, and making recommendations for staff development and career advancement;
(6) Collaborates with Human Resources to handle recruitment and training of staff according to need;
(7) Leads and facilitates field staff in bi-weekly or monthly meetings to review progress against plans, find solutions to problems, share lessons learned, exchange expertise across programs, and to motivate and encourage teamwork;
(8) Ensures that field-staff are aware of and understand the programs’ goals and objectives, working approaches and methodology, and have all necessary information related to annual plans, targets, and implementation calendars;
(9) Conducts regular field visits to monitor and verify the programs’ progress and impact, understand the challenges, and needs of stakeholders (e.g., RtR staff, Social Mobilizers, Field Facilitators, communities, children, etc.), and suggest appropriate solutions;
(10) Develop and implement plans for on-line material development in consultation with Country office as per the state specific context;
(11) Perform other tasks as assigned by the Sr. Manager – Operations and Country Management Team.

D. Financial Management:
(1) Supervises fund disbursement, reviews and approves the field monthly and quarterly financial expenses in accordance with financial and purchasing policy and procedures;
(2) Timely submission of cash forecast, booking of monthly bills and variance tracker;
(3) Monthly tracking of all expense vis-à-vis the budgets and flagging any deviations to concerned person;
(4) Coordinates the timely completion of annual planning and budgeting;
(5) Ensuring full utilisation of respective budgets as per the financial guidelines;
(6) Co-ordinate and answer any audit queries for the state.

E. Reporting and Documentation:
(1) Develops high quality quarterly report for distributing to partners, if applicable;
(2) Prepares high quality monthly and quarterly donor programmatic reports, coordinate with concerned Program, Finance and OP’s department in INCO for finalizing and sharing the report on time;
(3) Ensuring high level of data quality for all reporting purposes;

(4) Preparation of appropriate case studies for submission to donors/communication team.

F. Percentages of Work of State Head:

4. QUALIFICATIONS, EXPERIENCE AND COMPETENCIES:

Qualifications:
(1) Master's degree in Education, Social Sciences, Social Work, Management, or a related discipline.

Experience:
(1) Minimum 12 years of relevant experience, including at least 5 years of management experience in related sector;
(2) Experience in working closely with Government departments and education systems;
(3) Prior experience in community engagement and mobilization, stakeholder management, and partnership development;
(4) Proficiency in the local language will be preferred.

Skills & Competencies:
(1) Strong strategic planning and leadership capabilities;

(2) Excellent program and project management skills;

(3) Strong government liaisoning, stakeholder engagement, and partnership-building abilities;

(4) Proven people management and team development skills;

(5) Strong financial planning, budgeting, and resource management capabilities;

(6) Excellent analytical, problem-solving, communication, and reporting skills;

(7) Passion for improving education outcomes, literacy, and gender equality.

5. COMPENSATION OFFERED:

Room to Read offers a competitive salary with excellent benefits. Benefits include thirteenth month bonus, health insurance and a retirement plan. The non-monetary compensation includes a unique opportunity to be part of an innovative, meaningful, and rapidly growing organization that is changing transforming the lives of millions of children in developing countries on literacy and gender equality in education.

6. LOCATION: Patna, Bihar

7. REFERENCE- LI-BH-RTR

8. CONTACT INFORMATION:

Team SAMS
Strategic Alliance Management Services P Ltd.
1/1B, Choudhary Hetram House, Bharat Nagar 
New Friends Colony, New Delhi 110 025
Phone Nos.: 011- 4081 9900; 4081 9926

9. APPLICATION PROCESS:

Eligible candidates interested in this position are requested to apply online using the link below on or before July 31, 2026.

Room to Read is an equal opportunity employer committed to identifying and developing the skills and leadership of people from diverse backgrounds. As a child-safe organization, Room to Read expects all personnel to adhere to its Child Protection Policy and Child Protection Code of Conduct.