Program Manager - ITI and Vocational Education in Bengaluru | Azim Premji Foundation

Azim Premji Foundation

Azim Premji Foundation works to build a fairer, more humane and sustainable society in India. Its largest effort is in school education, where it works alongside government school systems in several states, and it also supports civil society organisations working with people living in hardship. The Foundation runs its own institutions and field teams that stay in a district for years rather than months, so that change holds. Its work with government skilling and vocational education is a newer effort aimed at helping young people find decent work. This role sits within the Foundation's Resource Person Education unit, which places experienced people directly alongside government institutions to improve how they teach and run.

Role

The Program Manager will take the Foundation's ITI and vocational education strategy and turn it into a working programme on the ground. This means keeping the strategy alive as a living roadmap, planning the work that follows from it, and building the systems, partnerships and processes a young initiative needs. It is a strategic and hands-on role at the same time, suited to someone comfortable with ambiguity and able to bring different teams and institutions together around a shared plan.

Responsibilities

• Own and keep refining the programme strategy as a living document that tracks how the economy is changing, which skills will be needed, and which training interventions are required.
• Translate that strategy into a clear workplan and track progress against it.
• Support the recruitment and onboarding of Services and ITI-facing Resource Persons alongside the team.
• Build and manage relationships with government departments, industry bodies and training partners.
• Lead advocacy work, including conferences and forums with MSDE and industry partners, to build agreement around skilling reform.
• Publish findings from the programme so others can use them.
• Engage closely with the 2 to 3 pilot Government ITIs in North Karnataka and Bengaluru.
• Make sure learning from the field feeds back into the strategy.
• Prepare structured reporting for internal leadership and outside stakeholders.
• Organise and lead monthly review meetings.
• Represent the initiative in external meetings.
• Travel often within and outside Karnataka as the work needs.

Requirements

• 6 to 10 years of overall experience in programme or project management.
• Experience in the social sector, public policy, strategy consulting or a related field.
• Prior experience in a Program Manager or equivalent leadership role, owning an initiative's direction, timelines and outcomes.
• Proven writing experience, having authored reports, strategy notes, policy documents or similar written work that others used to make decisions.
• Strong written communication skills for reporting and for representing the initiative outside.
• Experience managing relationships with many stakeholders, including government departments.
• Experience directly managing a team and being accountable for its delivery.
• Comfort working in a programme that is still taking shape, with room for ambiguity.
• Ability to drive collaboration across different teams and functions.
• Ability to build systems and processes from the ground up.
• Sector background in skilling or vocational education is not required; transferable programme management ability matters more.
• An undergraduate degree in engineering, or a postgraduate degree in engineering, management, economics or a related field, is welcome.
• Skills, experience and demonstrated problem solving are valued more than a specific academic qualification.
• Based in Bengaluru, with willingness to travel extensively within and outside Karnataka.

Benefits

• Work on a national skilling question at one of India's most respected philanthropic foundations.
• Shape a new initiative from its early stage rather than run one already fixed.
• Direct access to senior leadership through monthly reviews and reporting.
• Work with government departments, industry bodies and MSDE on skilling reform.
• Field engagement with pilot Government ITIs in North Karnataka and Bengaluru.
• A team culture built around long-term presence and learning from the ground.

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