Manager/Sr. Manager: Programme Partnerships

The Role 

Own the day-to-day stewardship of Opentree's government relationships — keeping existing partnerships active, healthy and well-documented between at all touchpoints. Drive the day-to-day work that underpins successful partnerships, including follow-through, compliance, event support, and coaching teams on effective relationship management. 

What You Will Own

The role spans five interconnected areas of ownership. You will operate across all of them simultaneously.

Partnership Management & Stewardship (~75–80%) 

• Hold the fort on existing government relationships — district, division, and state-level contacts already engaged with Opentree to ensure continuity and responsiveness even when the GM/CEO isn't the one in the room. 

• Own MoU tracking, renewal timelines, and compliance follow-through for all active government and institutional partnerships. 

• Maintain a live record of commitments made to and by government partners, and chase them to closure. 

• Do the operational groundwork of partnership maintenance: scheduling, meeting prep and notes, follow-up communication, documentation, and reporting inputs. 

• Support the planning and on-ground execution of government-facing events (e.g., International Day of Play) all the logistics, coordination, stakeholder follow-up. 

• Coach and upskill other team members (programme and field staff) on partnership management practices, so relationship stewardship isn't dependent on one or two people. 

• Flag relationship health, risks, or opportunities to the leadership to inform strategic decisions.

Programme Operations Coordination (~20–25%) 

• Coordinate with the Manager – Programme Operations to keep partnership-linked deliverables visible in the overall programme plan. 

• Represent on-ground partnership status accurately in internal review forums. 

• Feed field-level relationship insight into programme planning. 

Who We Are Looking For

You have spent years building relationships inside government and you understand how those relationships actually work. You are patient, persistent and genuinely comfortable sitting in a government office for a long afternoon. You know that trust built slowly is worth more than any agreement signed quickly.

You also know how to hold a complex programme together. You bring structure to ambiguity, keep multiple workstreams honest and make sure things get done without becoming the person who does everything. You think clearly, communicate simply and know how to run a room.

Most importantly, you believe that the measure of this work is not how well a programme runs, but whether the government eventually takes it and runs with it. That long-game thinking shapes how you approach everything.

Must-Haves

• 5–8 years in partnership management, government liaison, or programme coordination in 

development/education. 

• Government relationships:  Demonstrated ability to navigate and build relationships within government education systems at district level and above, ideally in Maharashtra. A track record of MoU management, institutional coordination, and sustained engagement with education authorities. Existing relationships are a strong advantage

• Marathi fluency:  Essential for deep field and government engagement across Maharashtra

• Proven ability to manage multi-workstream programmes with multiple stakeholders, dependencies, and moving deadlines

• Strong written and verbal communication: able to write a clear status note, run an aligned review, and represent the organisation credibly in senior external settings

• Comfort with data and digital tools — Google Sheets, project management platforms, comfortable building/maintaining trackers and dashboards (Sheets/Excel; PM tools a plus). 

• Appetite to work in ambiguity and able  building structure where none exists, without waiting for perfect information

• Strong follow-through and organisational discipline as this role is measured on consistency, not just relationship-building flair.

• Experience coordinating events or stakeholder convenings with government/institutional participants.  

Highly Valued

• Existing relationships with SCERT, DIET, or district education offices in Maharashtra

• Deep familiarity with Maharashtra’s education landscape: BMC schools, Zilla Parishad structures, SSA/SAMAGRA frameworks, and NEP implementation pathways

• Prior experience on teacher training, early childhood, or play-based learning initiatives with government systems

• Experience working closely with co-founders or senior leadership in a growing organisation

• Familiarity with evidence generation, M&E frameworks, or research-adjacent programme work.

• Existing familiarity with Opentree's current government partners (Ahilyanagar, Gadchiroli, Latur, Dharashiv, MCGM).

What You Will Find Here

• A 21-year-old organisation with deep roots, strong credibility, and genuine ambition for the next decade

• A role at the centre of Opentree’s most significant strategic shift — from programme delivery to systemic policy change

• Direct access and working partnership with the co-founders/co-CEOs; your voice will shape how the organisation grows

• A clear, written growth path into a Director-level role as government partnerships and systemic influence expand

• A motivated, mission-driven team that cares deeply about children, communities, and the quality of what they build

• Competitive compensation benchmarked to the development sector

LOCATION: Mumbai